On Orientalism Featuring Edward Said - Term Paper Example

On Orientalism featuring Edward Said: Orientalism, a concept coined by the renowned American intellectual Edward Said has attracted praise and controversy in equal measure. While remaining Said’s definitive scholarly work, its thesis is a condensation of themes found in his other works such as The Question of Palestine and Covering Islam. To be concise, Orientalism can be defined as the synthetic study and analysis of Oriental philology, linguistics, ethnography, etc. It also encompasses the interpretation of Eastern culture through the discovery, recovery, classification and translation of the canon of Oriental texts. (Windschuttle, 1999, p.32) While this is the idealized definition of Orientalism, Said redefined the term to mean a distorted and prejudiced account fo Eastern culture and tradition as projected by imperialistic Western scholars. Said’s scholarship and his personal life are always intertwined because of his background. He was born into a Palestinian Christian family that moved to the USA. This filled his formative years with contrasting tapestries of culture and religion, as well as offering him different perspectives on the Palestine-Israel conflict. In the documentary film ‘On Orientalism’ Said lays out his analysis of existing western scholarship on the Orient and how it contrasted with his own first hand experiences in the region. According to him, the stereotyped vision of Arabs as presented in western media and academia is a distortion and over-simplification of reality. Said asserts that dating from the Napoleonic conquest of Egypt in the 18th century, this sort of stereotyping is evident. (Kabbani, 1994, p.53) In the first two sections of the documentary that behind such stereotyping is the mistaken belief that geographies and peoples surveyed by imperialists are somehow barbaric and unsophisticated when compared to western norms. What is also evident is the process of homogenization, whereby the vast mosaic of Oriental culture, language, social norms and religious beliefs are bracketed and abstracted into a unified whole. According to Said, Orientalism is the range of strategies adopted by Western scholars and artists of last two centuries to impose their authority on the East. In their representations, the Orient is a theatrical stage annexed to Europe. It is a place of superlative erotic delights, oppressive rulers, a subservient yet privileged aristocracy and enduring spiritual truths. Such stereotyping of alluring harems and sagely men of the East is quite removed from what actually is. In this distorted view, history is altogether made unnecessary by the manufactured, illusory realm. Moreover, the people of the Orient are seen merely as problems to be resolved, subjects to be conquered and races to be dominated. (Varisco, 2007, p.50) But the reality is far from such constructions, as accounts of people who live in different regions of the Orient attest to. And as Said suggests in the documentary film, this set of illusions about the Middle East is not accidental or due to scholarly oversight. (The following two sections are chosen for critical analysis) In the third section of the documentary, Said identifies a subtle yet marked difference between the stereotyping of the Orient by former European imperial powers and that done by the United States of America. In the latter’s case, the contact with the Orient has not been direct, but rather derived through the European imperial experience. Having attained a position of a global superpower since the end of World War II, the United States has had a strategic and material stake in the Middle East. With the Arab world rich in energy resources, the US cannot afford to remain aloof to political events in this region. It is hence impelled to create favorable situations for corporate exploitation and political domination. The creation of Israel in the aftermath of WWII provided the US with an opportunity to get an enduring foothold in the Arab region - which it has established as expected. While the legitimacy of the state of Israel is not universally accepted by the international community, at least on a practical basis there was a need for a place of refuge for Holocaust survivors. Immediately after WWII, on the back of a global sympathy wave for the near-exterminated Jewish population of Europe, the United States managed to create the country of Israel. But the real motivations went beyond those of humanitarian ones. This would be evident in Middle East foreign policy decisions that unfolded in subsequent years. Hence, as Said notes, comprehending the real-politic compulsions of the United States is essential for understanding why Orientalism as an intellectual construct continues to thrive. In part 4 of the film, Said identifies another core component of his thesis, namely the vilification of Islam as the perpetual “other” in the socio-political considerations of American diplomacy. Giving several examples from the latter half of the twentieth century, Said argues that the demonizing of Islam is majorly motivated by political imperatives, including the ostensible Judeo-Christian alliance of the US and Israel. (Windschuttle, 1999, p.31) In the next part, Said observes that terrorism as a manifestation of Arab protest is hyped-up compared to equivalent atrocities carried out by America and its allies. Even in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, the immediate suspects that were rounded up were people of Arab origin. This is an example of deep-rooted stereotypical responses to the community and its behavior. Illustrating Saids perplexity at such indoctrination are the facts that emerged during subsequent investigation. It emerged that the mastermind and perpetrator behind the act of terrorism, which was intended to cause shock and awe among the civilian population, was none other than a thorough-bred American youth named Timothy McVeigh. The fact that his grievances were directed against his own government and his country’s flawed political system is quite instructive. (Little, 2002, p.69) The documentary film in discussion was shot toward the end of the last century; and Saids thesis would have only gotten reinforced in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and other targets. The kind of propagandistic media outrage after the terror strikes, especially the renewed demonizing of Islam that came with it, fits right into the Orientalist discourse. The vilification of Osama bin laden might be justified to an extent. But dragging Saddam Hussein and his imagined Weapons of Mass Destruction into the War on Terror agenda only goes on to show the visceral fear of Arab Muslims created by systematic media propaganda. It is most likely that the War on Terror campaign would not relent in the foreseeable future. In this scenario, keeping oneself informed about critical interpretations of geo-political conflicts is very important. Hence, both the documentary film and the book are highly recommended for the specialized as well as the general reader. The documentary film neatly encapsulates the content of the book of the same name. All students of history, culture and political science, especially within the United States, would widen their intellectual horizons by reading the book. And the documentary film will be a good starting point for acquainting oneself with Orientalism. Being only 40 minutes long, the documentary could even be screened during the class, which would also provide the students with an audio/visual relief. But the audience/reader should also keep in mind that Orientalism has invoked much controversy both within and outside American academia. For example, since the publication of the book in 1978, many sociologists and political scientists have made critical reviews of it, bringing to light some flaws in Saids arguments. Given the short duration of the documentary film, only Saids views could be covered in it, leaving no time for opposing viewpoints offered by such scholars as Scruton. Hence, a careful evaluation of Saids points and his detractors counterpoints should be considered before arriving at an inference. On balance, though, it is perhaps a reflection of the veracity of the books claims that thirty years after its publication Edward Said is considered by students of literature, political science, sociology and cultural studies as one of the pioneers of the post-colonial movement in criticism and multiculturalism in politics. The following final words serve as a strong recommendation for the work: “Its influence has been almost as widespread, not only in English departments across America and Europe but in sociology, anthropology and history. Orientalism has inspired its own academic field, post-colonial studies, which has generated some of the best critical work of the past two decades. It is almost inconceivable to imagine someone receiving a humanities PhD today without having come to terms with Saids legacy”. (Kabbani, 1994, p.53) Primary Reference: On Oreintalism, featuring Edward Said, retrieved from on 30th November, 2011 Secondary References: Kabbani, Rana. Imperial Fictions: Europes Myths of Orient. London: Pandora Press, 1994 (ISBN 0-04-440911-7). Little, Douglas. American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945. (2nd ed. 2002 ISBN 1-86064-889-4). Varisco, Daniel Martin. "Reading Orientalism: Said and the Unsaid." Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007. (ISBN 978-0-295-98752-1). Windschuttle, Keith. "Edward Saids "Orientalism" Revisited." New Criterion Jan. 1999: 30. Read More