Orientalism Edward W. Said

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OrientalismEdward W. Said

• Knowledge Structures
• 17610580
• Professor Marija Dalbello

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Orientalism was written to show European-American
power over the orient and the mystification of
the Other.

• Argument put forth by Said is contained in the
  analytical method he puts forth for the reader.
• Namely, the classic Oriental view is the result
  of an academic bias necessitated by Western
  Colonial and Post-Colonial politics
• The Oriental is portrayed as a static Other
  creating a culture that is an object lacking
  humanism.
• The Western goal was to justify colonial
  politics, economics and hegemony over the
  centuries.

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Knowledge that is true is not political rather
it is based on ones experience knowledge is
something that must be gained.

• Saids work asserts its credibility as he writes
  as one who is experienced in the study of both
  the Occident and the Orient
• Said is a Palestinian Exile
• Said writes as a Professor of English and
  Comparative Literature at Columbia University
• He is a Western Oriental
• His grasp of History is broad and impressive in
  its scope as it relates to his analysis

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Orientalism is designed to challenge the bias
imbedded in the Western consciousness

• The Orient was, for centuries, based upon an
  intellectual construct that reinforced conditions
  of inequality
• Said successfully argues the nature of cross
  cultural discourse needs to be reexamined
• The Orient that Said places in front of the
  reader is of cultures, traditions, and
  societies polarized by a Western power agenda
• Cultural growth is denied the Orient with
  progress claimed and administered by the Occident

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Journals

• Between the years 1979 through 1981 hundreds of
  articles have been written about Orientalism.
• In 2000, Eddie Yeghiayan, the Special Collections
  Librarian of University of California Irvine,
  compiled a list of reviews on Orientalism.
• 32 of the essays were From Political Science and
  Historical Journals.
• 32 were from Academic Journals.
• 25 from Newspaper articles.
• 10 from Literary Journals.
• 1 from other sources.
• Orientalism was such a controversial essay that
  it was able to impact many different thought
  genres after the first couple years of its
  publication.

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Orientalism Saids knowledge of Orient Scholars
is very deep and broad in its scope

• Prominent scholars, from Renan, Lane to Marx, saw
  the Orient as a locale requiring Western
  attention, reconstruction even redemption
• Early 20th Century view in Imperial Britain was
  of a place that was the rather necessary
  furniture of Empire Lord Curzon
• Later part of 20th century Kissinger as man of
  power portrays Orient in classic sense whereas
  Philosopher Foucaults theories are applied to
  show how basic ideas of humanity in the Orient
  are changed by the history they seek to represent
• Knowledge of the Orient and other cultures can
  not come from political or even vicarious
  experience It must rise from actual experience
  of the humanity studied

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Orientalism and Knowledge Structures and the
Information Professions

• Orientalism was written to show the impact of
  mystifying the other.
• As an MLIS candidate, it is important to realize
  that mystification still takes place today, in
  the form of ones own biases.
• Information Professionals deal with users that
  create bias, as well as repeat historical biases.