Nottingham Oriental Society

Oriental Society is a student-led society at the University of Nottingham that embraces the cultures of East and Southeast Asians. ‘Oriental’ is originally used geographically to include East and Southeast Asia, the Greater Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia to contrast the culture and civilisations of Asia with those of Western Europe. It is recently perceived to be a pejorative term referring to people from East and Southeast Asia. However, ‘Orient’ and ‘Oriental’ are not disparaging terms in British discourse. The society wishes to advocate, promote and celebrate this term to be part of our Asian identity and community at the University of Nottingham. As a society, we aim to create a welcoming community for the student body to socialise, celebrate, learn and relate to our culture and interests, to confidently promote inclusivity for students with different cultural backgrounds and to create a greater appreciation of cultural differences. We intend to create a home-like space for students at the University of Nottingham through internal subsidised events, such as, dim sum lunches and karaoke combined with collaborative external events and activities with our sponsors, other societies and interuniversity associations. This includes discounts at local Asian businesses in Nottingham, intersociety cultural and sporting events and collaborative events. Our current and future committees at the Oriental Society will remain confident in our vision to promote cultural awareness of East and Southeast Asians at the University of Nottingham.