'Watch like an Orientalist'

Hi guys,

I hope you all had a happy New Year's eve and could avoid jumping right back into the action like I did last Saturday... After a roughly week-long break, I had to teach the first block seminar on Orientalism in Western Media last Saturday, 6 hours from 10am to 4pm.
Suffice it to say, students are not exactly at their most attentive on Saturday morning (well, neither was I), I slept badly like I usually do when I have to teach, but in the end, the whole experience was a lot better than I expected.
Although, after spending 3 months with the 'leaders of tomorrow' at MIT :), switching back to German students' reading habits was kinda rough. Actually hardly anybody had read or even printed out the texts, I sometimes even painstakingly scanned myself at Hayden (thanks, guys...). The discussion, however, were quite fruitful although I ended up talking more than I originally wanted to do.
Whatever, the interesting insight for me is that you quickly get into the habit of seeing orientalisms all over the place :) Since we are looking at literature, paintings, ads, music, film, comic books, games etc. in class, it occurs to you that orientalism may have become more subtle also even more pervasive. Of course it has to do with the pop culture <=> high culture distinction which, at least in Germany, is still a big deal. A medium like computer and video games which hardly ever conceived of itself as high culture is so full of orientalism it's orientalist research galore! :) I'm also very interested in fan remakes like the TinTin parodies etc. which either take up orientalist themes from the original properties or use the material and conventions of the original to create their own! Very fascinating. I'm planning to write an article on it with my friend Philipp in Bonn, a really bright guy working on his PhD in Islamic Studies. We even though about creating a project on Orientalism in Contenporary Popular Culture and get funding :) Anyone interested to join us :) ?
I hope you are having a good time in Cambridge, Bombay/Mumbai and elsewhere! Hope to hear from you,

Stefan