Edward Said: Brief Bio
Edward Said is a preeminent preeminent scholar and an important figure in postcolonial studies. A professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University, he is also well known as an activist in iddle Eastern politics. Said was born in !erusalem, "alestine in #$%&. 'is mother was of Lebanese descent and his father was a successful "alestinian book merchant. (he family had homes in "alestine, Cairo, Egypt, and a vacation home in Lebanon. )n #$*+, while Said was a grade school student at a private English school in Cairo- the state of )srael was created and + percent of the "alestinian population was left without a home. Said did not return to "alestine until #$$. Said was a privileged child and had little interest in the conflict between )srael and "alestine. 'is educational life was one of private school wealth, but perhaps most importantly, it was in a multi/ethnic, multi/religious community. )n #$&#, Said was e0pelled from 1ictoria College in Cairo for poor behavior. Since his father had ac2uired American citi3enship some years earlier, Edward was also an American citi3en. 'e was sent to the United States and he finished high school at a private boarding school in 4ew England. Upon graduation he went to "rinceton University University and studied English literature and history. 'e pursued his graduate studies at 'arvard. 'is "h.5. dissertation was on !oseph Conrad. (he Sue3 Crisis made 2uite an impact on him as an Arab/"alestinian, but now established in academic life in the U.S., he did not get involved in politics of the situation. 'owever, the )sraeli victory over the Arab forces in #$67, and the )sraeli occupation of the last remaining "alestinian "alestinian territories, forced Said to take a political stance for the liberation of "alestine. )n #$6+ he wrote his first article about the "alestinian cause8 9(he Arab "ortrayed.9 )n #$7 Said went to visit his family in :eirut, and while there got caught up in the struggle for the liberation of "alestine. 'e became part of a community of academics and writers who were involved in various colonial and postcolonial struggles. 5uring this time Said translated the speeches of ;assir Arafat into English for the
literature began writing on contemporary Arab literature> such authors as 4aguib ahfou3, Elias ?houri, and the "alestinian poet ahmoud 5arwish. )n #$7&/#$76 Said was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study at Stanford University. )t was while he was at Stanford that he wrote Orientalism. @ver the ne0t three years, he published Covering Islam #$+#- and The Question of Palestine #$7$-, which, in conunction with Orientalism, has been called his trilogy. )n the #$+=s and #$$=s Said effectively used his fame to further the cause of "alestine and to advocate for human rights. )n the #$+=s Said actively lobbied the "alestine Liberation @rgani3ation "L@- to re/think the strategy of armed struggle toward liberation and urged "alestinians and all Arabs to understand the importance of mutual respect and co/ e0istence with )sraelis. 'e advocated a two/state solution. As a temperate voice, he made many friends within )srael. 5uring this period, Said became a target of personal attack by conservative !ewish and Christian Bionists. (hese attacks on Said suggest an 9@rientalism9 on the part of the right/wing Bionists. As an articulate Arab intellectual, Said was viewed as a threat. )n #$+& the !ewish 5efense League called him a 94a3i.9 A short time later his office at Columbia was burned. )n #$$# Said resigned his position on the "alestinian 4ational Congress, and broke with Arafat. 'e was critical of the peace agreement between )srael and the "L@ made at @slo, and felt that the "L@ 9lacked credibility and moral authority.9 (he #$$=s was a politically and personally difficult period for Said. )n #$$# he was diagnosed with leukemia. (he pain, suffering, and lengthy hospitali3ation prompted him to write a memoir. Out of Place relates the e0periences of his youth and his feelings of e0ile. Said=s illness went into remission, but it still took a toll on his health and lifestyle. )t was during this period that he returned to "alestine for the first time since his childhood. )n #$$% Said published his most comprehensive works on postcolonial study, Culture and Imperialism, and in #$$*, Representations of the Intellectual . (hese two books, in his field of comparative literature, brought him again into prominence in the academic community. Said became the president of the odern Language Association in #$$+. 5espite his illness, Edward Said has continued to be an activist for the peace, human rights and social ustice. As his health permits, he travels an international lecture route. 'e also writes a regular column for the Egyptian newspaper al/Ahram, which appears in English and Arabic and also online.
Introduction to Orientalism and
Orientalism
Orientalism is: “the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, and peoples by • Western scholars.” “the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, • designers and artists”
The former meaning has negatie connotations because it refers to the study of the East by Westerners shaped by the attitudes of the era of European imperialism in the !"th and !#th centuries. $t implies old%fashioned and pre&udiced outsider interpretations of Eastern cultures and peoples. This iewpoint was most famously articulated and propagated by Edward 'aid in his controersial !#(" boo) Orientalism, which was critical of this scholarly tradition and of a few modern scholars, including *rinceton +niersity professor ernard -ewis. Meaning of the term •
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Orientalism and Orient , derie from the -atin word oriens /east/, /rising 0sun1/2, and, e3ually li)ely, from the 4ree) word 5h5oros5, the direction of the rising sun2. /6rient/ is the opposite of Occident . 7espite /6ccident/ being uncommon English usage, both the /6rient/ and /6ccident/ usages are current in French and 'panish. 'imilar words are the French%deried Levant and Anatolia, deriing from the 4ree) anatole, two further locutions denoting the direction from which the sun rises.2
The Terms The Orient signifies a system of representations framed by political forces that brought the 6rient into Western learning, Western consciousness, and Western empire. The 6rient e8ists for the West, and is constructed by and in relation to the West. $t is a mirror image of what is inferior and alien /6ther/2 to the West. Orientalism is /a manner of regulari9ed or 6rientali9ed2 writing, ision, and study, dominated by imperaties, perspecties, and ideological biases ostensibly suited to the 6rient./ $t is the image of the 56rient5 e8pressed as an entire system of thought and scholarship. The Oriental is the person represented by such thin)ing. The man is depicted as feminine, wea), yet strangely dangerous because he poses a threat to white, Western women. The woman is both eager to be dominated and stri)ingly e8otic. The 6riental is a single image, a sweeping generali9ation, a stereotype that crosses countless cultural and national boundaries. Latent Orientalism is the unconscious, untouchable certainty about what the 6rient is. $ts basic content is static and unanimous. The 6rient is seen as separate, eccentric, bac)ward, silently different, sensual, and passie. $t has a tendency towards despotism and away from progress. $t displays feminine penetrability and supine malleability. $ts progress and alue are &udged in terms of, and in comparison to, the West, so it is always the 6ther, the con3uerable, and the inferior.
Manifest Orientalism is what is spo)en and acted upon. $t includes information and changes in )nowledge about the 6rient as well as policy decisions founded in 6rientalist thin)ing. $t is the e8pression in words and actions of -atent 6rientalism.
Chronological implications of the Orient •
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$n time, the common understanding of 5the 6rient5 has continually shifted East, as Western e8plorers traeled farther in to sia. $n terms of The 6ld World, Europe was considered The 6ccident The West2, and its farthest%)nown e8treme The 6rient The East2. $n iblical times, the Three Wise ;en 5from the 6rient5 were actually ;agi from /The East/, relatie to
li)ewise Europe was un)nown in and to the Far East. $n contemporary English, Oriental is usually synonymous for the peoples, cultures, and goods from the parts of East sia traditionally occupied by East sians and 'outheast sians racially categorised /;ongoloid/. This e8cludes $ndians, rabs, and the other West sian peoples. $n some parts of the +nited 'tates, the term is considered derogatory> for e8ample, Washington state prohibits use of the word /6riental/ in legislation and goernment documentation, preferring the word /sian/ instead.
Earlier Orientalism
The first 56rientalists5 were !#th century scholars who translated the writings of 5the 6rient5 into English, based on the assumption that a truly effectie colonial con3uest re3uired )nowledge of the con3uered peoples. This idea of )nowledge as power is present throughout 'aid5s criti3ue. y )nowing the 6rient, the West came to own it. The 6rient became the studied, the seen, the obsered, the ob&ect> 6rientalist scholars were the students, the seers, the obserers, the sub&ect. The 6rient was passie> the West was actie. 6ne of the most significant constructions of 6rientalist scholars is that of the 6rient itself. What is considered the 6rient is a ast region, one that spreads across a myriad of cultures and countries. $t includes most of sia as well as the ;iddle East. The depiction of this single 56rient5 which can be studied as a cohesie whole is one of the most powerful accomplishments of 6rientalist scholars. $t essentiali9es an image of a prototypical 6riental%% a biological inferior that is culturally bac)ward, peculiar, and unchanging%%to be depicted in dominating and se8ual terms. The discourse and isual imagery of 6rientalism is laced with notions of power and superiority, formulated initially to facilitate a coloni9ing mission on the part of the West and perpetuated through a wide ariety of discourses and policies. The
language is critical to the construction. The feminine and wea) 6rient awaits the dominance of the West> it is a defenseless and unintelligent whole that e8ists for, and in terms of, its Western counterpart. The importance of such a construction is that it creates a single sub&ect matter where none e8isted, a compilation of preiously unspo)en notions of the 6ther. 'ince the notion of the 6rient is created by the 6rientalist, it e8ists solely for him or her. $ts identity is defined by the scholar who gies it life.
Contemporary Orientalism
'aid argues that 6rientalism can be found in current Western depictions of /rab/ cultures. The depictions of /the rab/ as irrational, menacing, untrustworthy, anti%Western, dishonest, and%%perhaps most importantly%%prototypical, are ideas into which 6rientalist scholarship has eoled. These notions are trusted as foundations for both ideologies and policies deeloped by the 6ccident. 'aid writes: /The hold these instruments hae on the mind is increased by the institutions built around them. For eery 6rientalist, 3uite literally, there is a support system of staggering power, considering the ephemerality of the myths that 6rientalism propagates. The system now culminates into the ery institutions of the state. To write about the rab 6riental world, therefore, is to write with the authority of a nation, and not with the affirmation of a strident ideology but with the un3uestioning certainty of absolute truth bac)ed by absolute force./ ?e continues, /6ne would find this )ind of procedure less ob&ectionable as political propaganda%%which is what it is, of course%%were it not accompanied by sermons on the ob&ectiity, the fairness, the impartiality of a real historian, the implication always being that ;uslims and rabs cannot be ob&ectie but that 6rientalists. . .writing about ;uslims are, by definition, by training, by the mere fact of their Westernness. This is the culmination of 6rientalism as a dogma that not only degrades its sub&ect matter but also blinds its practitioners./ Edward Said and "Orientalism" 'aid@s central ideas on “orientalism” Anowledge about the East is generated not through actual facts, but through imagined • constructs that imagined /Eastern/ societies as being all fundamentally similar, all sharing crucial characteristics that are not possessed by /Western/ societies. This Ba priori@ )nowledge set up the East as the antithesis of the West. • 'uch )nowledge is constructed through literary te8ts and historical records which are • often limited in terms of their understanding of the actualities of life in the ;iddle East.
efore 'aid@s 6rientalism: /6riental/ was widely used to mean the opposite of /occidental/ 5western52. The • comparisons were generally unfaorable to the former, but respected institutions li)e the 6riental $nstitute of Chicago, the -ondon 'chool of 6riental and frican 'tudies or +niersitD degli studi di Napoli -56rientale, carried the term with no e8plicit reproach. fter 'aid@s 6rientalism: The word /6rient/ fell into disrepute after the word /6rientalism/ was coined. • Following ;ichel Foucault, 'aid emphasi9ed the relationship between power and )nowledge in scholarly and popular thin)ing, in particular regarding European iews
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of the $slamic rab world. 'aid argued that 6rient and 6ccident wor)ed as oppositional terms, so that the /6rient/ was constructed as a negatie inersion of Western culture. ?ad far%reaching implications beyond area studies in ;iddle East, to studies of imperialist Western attitudes to $ndia, China and elsewhere. 6ne of the foundational te8ts of postcolonial studies. 'aid later deeloped and modified his ideas in his boo) Culture and Imperialism !##2.
'aid puts forward seeral definitions of 56rientalism5 in the introduction to Orientalism. 'ome of these hae been more widely 3uoted and influential than others: / way of coming to terms with the 6rient that is based on the 6rient5s special place in European Western e8perience./ p. !2 /a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between 5the 6rient5 and most of the time2 5the 6ccident5./ p. 2 / Western style for dominating, restructuring, and haing authority oer the 6rient./ p. 2 /...particularly aluable as a sign of European%tlantic power oer the 6rient than it is as a eridic discourse about the 6rient./ p. G2 / distribution of geopolitical awareness into aesthetic, scholarly, economic, sociological, historical, and philological te8ts./ p. !2 •
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$n his *reface to the HH edition of 6rientalism, 'aid also warned against the /falsely unifying rubrics that inent collectie identities,/ citing such terms as /merica,/ /The West,/ and /$slam,/ which were leading to what he felt was a manufactured /clash of ciilisations./ Criticisms of Said ?istorian ernard -ewis: 'aid5s account contains many factual, methodological and conceptual errors. • 'aid ignores many genuine contributions to the study of Eastern cultures made by • Westerners during the Enlightenment and Iictorian eras. 'aid5s theory does not e8plain why the French and English pursued the study of $slam • in the !Gth and !(th centuries, long before they had any control or hope of control in the ;iddle East. 'aid has ignored the contributions of $talian, 7utch, and particularly the massie • contribution of 4erman scholars. -ewis argued that 6rientalism arose from humanism, which was distinct from • $mperialist ideology, and sometimes in opposition to it. 6rientalist study of $slam arose from the rejection of religious dogma, and was an important spur to discoery of alternatie cultures. -ewis criticised as /intellectual protectionism/ the argument that only those within a • culture could usefully discuss it.
'aid@s rebuttal: must be placed into its proper conte8t. • -ewis5 criti3ue of his thesis could hardly be &udged in the disinterested, scholarly light • that -ewis would li)e to present himself, but must be understood in the proper )nowledge of what 'aid claimed2 was -ewis5 own often mas)ed2 neo%imperialist
procliities, as displayed by the latter5s political or 3uasi%political appointments and pronouncements. 'pecifically, -ewis is aligned with prominent /thin) tan)s/ that promote /neoconseratie/ iews on +.'. ;iddle East *olicy ryan Turner@s criti3ue: There were a multiplicity of forms and traditions of 6rientalism. • Critical of 'aid@s attempt to try to place them all under the framewor) of the • orientalist tradition. 6ther critics: While many distortions and fantasies certainly e8isted, the notion of /the 6rient/ as a • negatie mirror image of the West cannot be wholly true because attitudes to distinct cultures dierged significantly. a logical necessity that other cultures will be identified as /different/, since otherwise • their distinctive characteristics would be inisible, and that the most stri)ing differences will hold up the mirror to the obsering culture the criticisms leied by 'aid at 6rientalist scholars of being essentialist can in turn be • leied at him for the way in which he writes of the west as a hegemonic mass, stereotyping its characteristics. Orientalism: Summary •
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ll discourse, particularly discourse about other cultures, is inherently ideological %% regardless of the sub&ect any historical discourse must be situated within a particular framewor) whose oerall structure is necessarily ideological %% 'aid situates his argument in the realm of 6rientalism, particularly the academic study and political and literary discourse surrounding rabs, $slam and the ;iddle East that originated primarily in England and France and later the +nited 'tates. this discourse actually creates rather than e8amines or describes2 a palpable diide between East and West %% this diide situates the West as a superior culture to the East %%This became politically useful for coloni9ation The discourse surrounding these countries is coded by a superiority that is not necessarily reflected in the realities of the concerned countries. JTherefore the study of someplace called the /6rient/ and of some people )nown as /rabs/ fails to ta)e into account the reality of the area as being the same place as the West i.e., part of the Earth2.
'aid summari9ed his wor) in these terms: •
/;y contention is that 6rientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed oer the 6rient because the 6rient was wea)er than the West, which elided the 6rient@s difference with its wea)ness. . . . s a cultural apparatus 6rientalism is all aggression, actiity, &udgment, will%to%truth, and )nowledge/ 6rientalism, p. HK2.
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/;y whole point about this system is not that it is a misrepresentation of some 6riental essence L in which $ do not for a moment beliee L but that it operates as representations usually do, for a purpose, according to a tendency, in a specific historical, intellectual, and een economic setting/ p. (2.
On Orientalism
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*rincipally a study of !#th%century literary discourse. strongly influenced by the wor) of thin)ers li)e Choms)y, Foucault and 4ramsci, engages contemporary realities and has clear political implications 6rientalism is often classed with postmodernist and postcolonial wor)s that share arious degrees of s)epticism about representation itself although a few months before he died, 'aid said he considers the boo) to be in the tradition of /humanistic criti3ue/ and the Enlightenment2.
The boo) is diided into three chapters: The Scope of Orientalism Orientalist Structures and Restructures Orientalism Now • • •
Chapter 1: The Scope of Orientalism outlines his argument with seeral caeats as to how it may be flawed • $t fails to include =ussian 6rientalism and e8plicitly e8cludes 4erman 6rientalism,. • Not all academic discourse in the West has to be 6rientalist in its intent but much of it • is. ll cultures hae a iew of other cultures that may be e8otic and harmless to some • e8tent, but when this iew is ta)en by a militarily and economically dominant culture against another it can lead to disastrous results. 'aid draws on written and spo)en historical commentary by such Western figures as • rthur
6ne apt representation 'aid gies is a poem by Iictor ?ugo titled /-ui/ written for Napoleon: y the Nile $ find him once again. Egypt shines with the fires of his dawn> ?is imperial orb rises in the 6rient. Iictor, enthusiast, bursting with achieements, *rodigious, he stunned the land of prodigies. The old shei)hs enerated the young and prudent emir. The people dreaded his unprecedented arms> 'ublime, he appeared to the da99led tribes -i)e a ;ahomet of the 6ccident. 6rientalism pg. "2 Thin): What notions of the 6rient as Bother@ do you find depicted here ?ow does the 6rient compare with the West Chapter : Orientalist Structures and !estructures 6utlines how 6rientalist discourse was transferred from country to country and from • political leader to author.
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This discourse was set up as a foundation for all or most all2 further study and discourse of the 6rient by the 6ccident. /The four elements $ hae described % e8pansion, historical confrontation, sympathy, classification % are the currents in eighteenth%century thought on whose presence the specific intellectual and institutional structures of modern 6rientalism depend” !H2. $n !#th century European e8ploration by such historical figures as 'ir =ichard Francis urton and Chateaubriand, 'aid suggests that this new discourse about the 6rient was situated within the old one. uthors and scholars such as Edward William -ane, who spent only two to three years in Egypt but came bac) with an entire boo) about them ;anners and Customs of the ;odern Egyptians2 which was widely circulated and read as truth throughout Europe, including by people li)e urton who in turn based their studies on all preious Western studies. Further traelers and academics of the East depended on this discourse for their own education, and so the 6rientalist discourse of the West oer the East was passed down through European writers and politicians and therefore through all Europe2.
Chapter : Orientalism #ow 6utlines where 6rientalism has gone since the historical framewor) 'aid outlined in • preious chapters. The boo) was written in !#(" and so only coers historical occurrences that happened up to that date.2 'aid suggests that the discoery of oil in the rabian *eninsula and the shift in • regional power interests from England and France to the +nited 'tates were important eents that shaped and reshaped 6rientalist ideas. 'aid suggests that the colonial mentality of the English and French perceptions of the • East shaped much of the +nited 'tates5 iew of the region as well 'aid also suggests that notions of the 6rient were retranslated by people from the • region who had gone to the West to study. 'o for e8ample a 'audi college student studying in the +' might return to 'audi rabia with a retranslated notion about himself that is situated within Western 6rientalist discourse. 'aid ma)es his oerall statement about cultural discourse: /?ow does one represent • other cultures What is another culture $s the notion of a distinct culture or race, or religion, or ciili9ation2 a useful one, or does it always get inoled either in self% congratulation when one discusses one5s own2 or hostility and aggression when one discusses the 5other52/ O2.
While there is much criticism centered on 'aid5s boo), the author himself repeatedly admits his study5s shortcomings both in this chapter, chapter ! and in his introduction. Influence Orientalism is certainly Edward 'aid5s most influential wor) and has been translated into at least G languages. $n 6ctober HH, one month after 'aid died, a commentator wrote in a -ebanese newspaper that through Orientalism /'aid5s critics agree with his admirers that he has singlehandedly effected a reolution in ;iddle Eastern studies in the +.'./ ?e cited a critic who claimed since the publication of Orientalism /+.'. ;iddle Eastern 'tudies were ta)en oer by Edward 'aid5s postcolonial studies paradigm/ Daily Star , 6ctober H, HH2. Een those who contest its conclusions and critici9e its scholarship, li)e 4eorge *. -andow of rown +niersity, call it /a ma&or wor)./
?oweer, Orientalism was not the first to produce criticism of Western )nowledge of the 6rient and of Western scholarship: Bbd%al%=ahman al
4eorge *. -andow is a professor of English and rt ?istory at rown +niersity in the +nited 'tates. ccording to -andow, 6rientalism certainly has had a great influence on postcolonial theory since its publication in !#(". ?oweer, many 3uestions hae been raised by 'aid@s manifesto. -andow, in addition to finding 'aid5s scholarship lac)ing, chides 'aid for ignoring the non%rab sian countries, non%Western imperialism, the occidentalist ideas that abound in East towards the Western, and gender issues in Orientalism. -andow also finds Orientalism# s political focus harmful to students of literature since it has led to the political study of literature at the e8pense of philological, literary, and rhetorical issues. -andow points out that 'aid@s arguments are made by focusing only on the ;iddle East and completely ignore China,
one%way, but cross%cultural, and that 'aid fails to ta)e into account other societies or factors within the East. 6ne of the principal claims made by -andow is that 'aid did not allow the iews of other scholars to feature in his analysis> therefore, he committed “the greatest single scholarly sin” in Orientalism.
6ther critics discuss 'aid@s bac)ground when considering his point of iew and his ability to gie a balanced academic assessment of 6rientalism. Edward 'aid was born in the ritish ;andate of *alestine to a wealthy family who sent him to the nglican school of 't 4eorge in
-ewis and other critics of 'aid@s wor) feel that omissions and inaccuracies are an attempt by the author to coney his “attitude” and feelings on 6rientalism as academic study to underpin his personal beliefs and causes. bridged from %i&ipedia2
