What is Imagined Dualism

In Virtual Orientalism, Jane Naomi Iwamura extends Edward Said's theory through an analysis of the US post-war visual culture to trace the genealogy of the icon of the East she calls the ‘Oriental Monk'. The aim of the chapter is to explore the appropriation of the notion of Zen, particularly its application and exploitation as an aesthetic ‘style', and the mechanisms behind such phenomena. The chapter extends Iwamura's thesis to elaborate on the function of the Virtual Monk to question the development of its ontology in the contemporary world of neoliberalism and social media to introduce the concept of VO/ID, which has been deployed by capitalist corporations to market Zen as a lifestyle product/service. It offers an insight into the process of identification within the framework of orientalism, that is, the way in which the Self and the Other come into being, and offer Gen as a possible solution to the VO/ID expansion.