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Case Study 2: Orientalism

Case Study 2: Orientalism. The Book and the Concept by Edward W. Said. 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.”

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Case Study 2: Orientalism

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  1. Case Study 2: Orientalism The Book and the Concept by Edward W. Said

  2. 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.

  3. A Constructed Notion • “[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.

  4. 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; • Recurring image of the Other; • Helped to define the “West” by contrast.

  5. 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.”

  6. 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.

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