Edward-Said-and-orientalism

EdwardSaidandOrientalismOutline•1.EdwardSaid•2.Orientalism-content-keywords-remarksandcriticism•3.ASummaryofOrientalism•4.EarlyvsContemporaryIntroductiontoEdwardSaid•November1,1935–September25,2003•HewasbornaPalestinianArabintheJerusalemcityofMandatoryPalestine,andwasAmericanthroughhisfather,WadirSaid,whowasabusinessman,andanAmericancitizen,whosoldieredintheU.S.ArmyintheFirstWorldWar.•Palestinian–Americanliterarytheoretician,UniversityProfessorofEnglishandComparativeLiteratureatColumbiaUniversity,andapublicintellectualwhowasafoundingfigureofthecriticalfieldofpost-colonialism.Assuch,EdwardSaidwasanadvocateforthepoliticalandhumanrightsofthePalestinianpeople.•“APalestiniangoingtoschoolinEgypt,withanEnglishfirstname,anAmericanpassport,andnocertainidentityatall.Tomakemattersworse,Arabic,mynativelanguage,andEnglish,myschoollanguage,wereinextricablymixed:Ihaveneverknownwhichwasmyfirstlanguage,andhavefeltfullyathomeinneither,althoughIdreaminboth.”Achildhoodlived“betweenworlds”—inCairo(Egypt)andinJerusalem(Palestine)—untilhewas12yearsold.•1951--expelledfromVictoriaCollegeforbeingatroublemaker,sentfromEgypttotheUnitedStates.•1957--aBachelorofArtsdegreefromPrincetonUniversity•1960--aMasterofArtsdegree•1964--andaDoctoralDegreeinEnglishLiteraturefromHarvardUniversity.•Career--EdwardSaidworkedinmanyfamousuniversities,suchasColumbiaUniversity,HarvardUniversity,StanfordUniversity,YaleUniversityandsoon.BooksWrittenbySaidïdwasbestknownforthebookOrientalism(1978).Orientalism:somefactsaboutthebook•Colonialdiscourse:“operatetointerpellatecolonialsubjectsbyincorpratingtheminasystemofrepresentations”•Why“MyideainOrientalismistousehumanisticcritiquetoopenupthefieldsofstruggle,tointroducealongersequenceofthoughtandanalysistoreplacetheshortburstsofpolemical,thought-stoppingfurythatsoimprisonusinlabelsandantagonisticdebatewhosegoalisabelligerentcollectiveidentityratherthanunderstandingandintellectualexchange.”•When“IhavebeenreadingaboutOrientalismforanumberofyears,butmostofthisbookwaswrittenduring1975—1976,whichIspentasaFellowattheCenterforAdvancedStudyintheBehavioralSciences,Stanford,California.”•Importance“Orientalismcontinuestobediscussedandtranslatedallovertheworld,inthirty-sixlanguages.”Orientalism:contenthowthescienceofOrientalismdevelopedandhowtheOrientalsstartedconsideringtheOrientalsasnon-humanbeings.SaidpointstheslightchangeintheattitudeoftheEuropeanstowardstheOrientalsandhowthetwomostrenownedorientalisesofthe19thcenturyworkedandgaveOrienatlismanewdimension.howthegeographyoftheworldwasshapedbythecolonizationoftheEuropeansandchangingcircumstancesoftheworldpoliticsandchangingapproachtoOrientalisminthe20thcentury.•Imaginativegeography:“thisuniversalpracticeofdesignatinginone’smindafamiliarspacewhichis“ours”andanunfamiliarspacebeyond“ours”whichis“theirs”isawayofmakinggeographicaldistinctionsthatcanbeentirelyarbitrary.”“…arbitrary…imaginativegeographyofthe‘ourland—barbarianland’varietydoesnotrequirethatthebarbariansacknowledgethedistinction.Itisenoughfor‘us’tosetuptheseboundariesinourownminds;‘they’become‘they’accordingly,andboththeirterritoryandtheirmentalityaredesignatedasdifferentfrom‘ours’.”dreams,fantasiesandassumptionsimaginative,notmaterialeffectsKeyWords•Representations:contraryto“‘natural’depictions”“Inanyinstanceofatleastwrittenlanguage,thereisnosuchthingasadeliveredpresence,butare-presence,orarepresentation.”“thewrittenstatementisapresencetothereaderbyvirtueofitshavingexcluded,displaced,madesupererogatoryanysuchrealthingas‘theOrient’.”•TheOrient:“acollectivenounSaidusestorefertotheseplaces”•asystemofrepresentationsconstructedbyandinrelationtotheWest.Itisamirrorimageofwhatisinferiorandalien(“Other”)totheWest.•Origin“whichsinceNapoleon'sinvasionofEgyptinthelateeighteenthcenturyhasbeenmadeandre-madecountlesstimesbypoweractingthroughanexpedientformofknowledgetoassertthatthisistheOrient'snature”•Changing“TheOrientwasalmostaEuropeaninvention,andhadbeensinceantiquityaplaceofromance,exoticbeings,hauntingmemoriesandlandscapes,remarkableexperiences…Itstimewasover.”“Incontrast,theAmericanunderstandingoftheOrientwillseemconsiderablylessdense…Moreover,thevastlyexpandedAmericanpoliticalandeconomicroleintheNearEast(theMiddleEast)makesgreatclaimsonourunderstandingofthatOrient.”•TheOriental:thepersonrepresentedbysuchthinking.Degeneratecowardliness,laziness,violence,lust…neededtobecivilizedRacialstereotypes:anArabian,anIndianoraChinese…GenderedstereotypesTheman:feminine,weak,yetstrangelydangerous,posingathreattowhite,Westernwomen.Thewoman:botheagertobedominatedandstrikinglyexotic.•TheOrientalist:“Anyonewhoteaches,writesabout,orresearchestheOrient—andthisapplieswhetherthepersonisananthropologist,sociologist,historian,orphilologist—eitherinitsspecificoritsgeneralaspects,isanOrientalist…”•Orientalism:manifoldmeanings“…byOrientalismImeanseveralthings,allofthem,inmyopinion,interdep