Edward W. Said (1935 - 2003)

Palestinian-American scholar;

Mixed cultural experience: “a
Palestinian going to school in
Egypt, with an English first
name, an American passport,
and no certain identity.”

Ph.D. from Harvard; taught at
Columbia University.

One of the creators of
postcolonial theory and
postcolonialism as a field of
studies.
A Constructed Notion
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“[N]either the term Orient
nor the concept of the West
has any ontological
stability; each is made up of
human effort, partly
affirmation, partly
identification of the Other.”
(Edward Said)

Ex.: “Far East” as a term
applied to East Asia is a
Medieval European
geopolitical construction.
Orientalism (1978) by Edward Said
“Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based
on the Orient’s special place in European Western experience.”
The Orient, according to Said:

Based on preconceived notions.

The place of Europe’s colonies;

The source of its civilizations and languages;

Its cultural contestant;
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Recurring image of the Other;

Helped to define the “West” by contrast.
Orientalism in Edward Said’s Words

“Orientalism is a style of
thought based upon an
ontological and
epistemological
distinction made between
‘the Orient and […] ‘the
Occident’.”

“Orientalism [is] a
Western style for
dominating,
restructuring, and having
control over the Orient.”
Orientalism

“European culture gained in strength and identity by
setting itself off against the Orient as a sort of surrogate
and even underground self.”

“The Orient is an integral part of European material
civilization and culture.”

A large number of “Orientalist” texts were produced in
the “West,” constructing the “Orient” as “Westerners”
saw it.

“Domestication of the exotic” in Western cultures.