Framing the East: An Exploration into Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s Speeches and Orientalism
Location
Snydor Performance Hall
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Presentation Type
Oral presentation
Entry Number
2386
Start Date
4-16-2025 3:00 PM
End Date
4-16-2025 3:15 PM
School
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Keywords
Orientalism, Speeches, George Bush, Tony Blair, Iraq Crisis, Middle East
Abstract
Orientalism is a theory that explains the way in which the Western world views or depicts the East. This is especially relevant during the 2003 Iraq conflict, when it concerns the speeches given by George Bush and Tony Blair. This paper aims to answer the question, “Did Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s speeches have any Orientalism consistency that may be influential with concern to the Iraq crisis?” The hypothesis proceeds that Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s speeches did in fact have an Orientalist tone. The data that was gathered and looked at was through a collection of Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s speeches which started right after the 9/11 attacks carried on to after the start of the United Kingdom's and United States’ participation in the Iraq conflict. The findings are conclusive to the hypothesis, the amount of words that were repeated in their speeches revealed to obtain an Orientalism tone.
Primary Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. David Richards
Primary Faculty Mentor(s) Department
Associate Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences Chair of the International Relations and Political Science Department
Additional Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Brian Crim Dr. Nichole Sanders
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Framing the East: An Exploration into Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s Speeches and Orientalism
Snydor Performance Hall
Orientalism is a theory that explains the way in which the Western world views or depicts the East. This is especially relevant during the 2003 Iraq conflict, when it concerns the speeches given by George Bush and Tony Blair. This paper aims to answer the question, “Did Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s speeches have any Orientalism consistency that may be influential with concern to the Iraq crisis?” The hypothesis proceeds that Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s speeches did in fact have an Orientalist tone. The data that was gathered and looked at was through a collection of Tony Blair’s and George Bush’s speeches which started right after the 9/11 attacks carried on to after the start of the United Kingdom's and United States’ participation in the Iraq conflict. The findings are conclusive to the hypothesis, the amount of words that were repeated in their speeches revealed to obtain an Orientalism tone.