Orientalism

Study Guide by Course Hero

relations. The work has had an enormous impact on the field of

What's Inside cultural anthropology (study of human cultural variations), not
just in Middle Eastern studies, but also for the development of
historical anthropology (study of the historical significance of
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 culture) and postcolonial anthropology (study of the cultural
impacts of colonialism on societies). Said's method of analysis
a Main Ideas .................................................................................................... 1
is unusual in his combination of literary analysis with
d In Context .................................................................................................... 2 anthropological themes and historical context. This method
creates a rigorous framework for understanding the
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 5 development and relevance of Orientalism. Equally, his
argument that Orientalism is a Western creation based on
h Key Figures ................................................................................................. 6
imperialist values contributes to the current discourse on
postcolonialism.
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 8

PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR

c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 10
The cultural history of Orientalism is offered in a descriptive
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 22 and authoritative tone using first-person narration.

m Glossary ..................................................................................................... 24 ABOUT THE TITLE

The title Orientalism refers to a system of beliefs held by
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 24 Europeans from the 18th to the 20th centuries regarding the
native populations of Asia and the Middle East. These beliefs
were based on inaccurate stereotypes, erroneous
characterizations, and generalizations—all of which formed the
j Book Basics impetus for the imperialist and colonial activities that take
place when one country exerts political, economic, and social
AUTHOR control over another.
Edward W. Said

YEARS PUBLISHED
1978
a Main Ideas
GENRE
Argument

AT A GLANCE
The "Orient" Is a Western
In response to Western treatment of the Middle East, Said
explains how the framework of Orientalism developed
Creation
historically and how it persists today. Said's text remains
The basis of Said's argument in Orientalism is that the concept
relevant because Western relations with the Middle East
of the "Orient" as understood and used by the
continue to be marred by enduring stereotypes and imperialist
Orientalism Study Guide
West—specifically France, England, and the United States—is
not the "real" Orient. Rather, it is a constructed understanding
of what citizens believe the Orient to be. This fundamental
misunderstanding is based on centuries-old descriptions and
entrenched power dynamics between East and West. The goal
of these early depictions was to facilitate imperialist actions in
the East. Said argues these early depictions underlie modern
relations with the "Orient," or what is today considered the
Middle East and Asia.
Orientalism Continues Today
Said spends the majority of the text on the relations between
the East and the countries of France and England. However, in
Chapter 3, Part 4 as well as in the Preface and Afterword, he
describes how America, having risen to the position of a major
world power during the 20th century, has adopted the
traditional Orientalist perspectives toward Eastern countries.
Since the initial publication of his work, Said argues that
because of the current political situation in the Middle East, the
stereotypical representations and imperialist views of Western
power in contrast to that of the East have become only more
entrenched.
Orientalism
Literary and Religious Tradition
Fundamental to Said's argument, and part of what makes his
analytical technique so effective, is the fact that the Orientalist
traits he discusses are based on earlier literary, scholarly, and
religious texts relating to the East. Many of these texts
encompass several categories. For example, Dante Alighieri's
literary work includes religious themes, and British writer
Edward Lane's scholarly depiction of An Account of the
Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836) includes
both literary and religious tones. Thus, Said's analytical
approach of literary analysis is appropriate for the
identification of these initial Orientalist themes that formed the
basis for the later imperialist views of the West. As a result,
while previous scholars had broached the subject of
Orientalism, Said's argument is more rigorous thanks to the
method he used to approach the subject. Through literary
analysis, Said was able to approach Orientalism with a breadth
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
In Context 2
and depth previous scholars were unable to attain.
Knowledge and Power
Said argues at the outset of the text that the effectiveness of
Orientalism is derived from perceived knowledge and power.
Using the early literary and scholarly texts, the West was able
to dictate a degree of "knowledge" about the Orient—even if
this "knowledge" was fundamentally flawed and stereotypical.
This knowledge then formed the basis for power. The West
created a discourse whereupon the East was "backward" and
"less advanced" than the West. Thus, the West had an
obligation to facilitate "progress" in the East. One of the most
obvious examples of this was the building of the Suez Canal, a
massive undertaking the West justified based on the perceived
benefits it would bring to Egyptians. However, in actuality, the
Egyptians were largely left out of the planning process. The
building of knowledge and power is an idea that persists
throughout the book and structures Orientalism across both
time and space.
d In Context
The Middle East
When speaking of the Orient, Said refers to the continent of
Asia and, for the purposes of his text, the countries of the
Middle East (including Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Israel, and Palestine). Prior to World War II (1939–45), this
Arabic-speaking region was known as the Near East, but this
term transitioned during World War II to become the Middle
East, defining the area extending from the Mediterranean Sea
to Southwestern Asia.
By the time of Said's birth in 1935, the Middle East had been
reorganized and divided by world powers. Prior to World War I
(1914–18), the Ottomans, originally a Turkish tribe from
Anatolia, had ruled the entire region of the Middle East since
the 15th century. However, after an initial period of territorial
growth and expansion, the Ottoman Empire was characterized
by territorial concessions to European countries (mainly
England and France) and a slow decline in power. During
World War I, the Ottoman Empire was, practically speaking,
dissolved (although officially the dissolution of the Ottoman
Orientalism Study Guide
Empire would not occur until 1922) and reorganized according
to new national and political boundaries. The results of these
boundary reorganizations by Britain and France are generally
recognized as having shaped the conflicts to come in the
region, since boundaries that existed after World War I were
entirely unrecognizable when contrasted with those of the
Ottoman Empire.
When Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot agreement
(1916), they did not foresee the negative impacts such
reorganizations would have on the cultural groups living in
these regions. The agreement divided the Middle East into
British and French "spheres of influence," or regions of
imperialism where a country exerts its power over another
region through territorial and economic control. Britain
controlled the region currently including Iraq, Jordan, and
Israel, while France claimed parts of Turkey (shared with Italy
and Russia), Syria, and Iraq. This reorganization (without any
attempt to include input from Arabic countries), combined with
the rise of nationalism (attachment of specific groups of
individuals to a particular territory often for economic, religious,
or ethnic reasons) within the affected countries, exacerbated
tensions in the region.
The reorganizational efforts of World War I (1914–18) were
marked by periods of relative stability as the Middle East
adjusted to the territorial changes. However, by the 1940s and
1950s, nationalism would play an increasingly large role in
shaping the actions of Middle Eastern nations. During this
period, three major nationalist movements arose: Israeli
nationalism or Zionism, which was organized around the idea
of a Jewish homeland in Palestine; Palestinian nationalism; and
Egyptian nationalism. These nationalistic sentiments resulted
in the rise of conflict in the Middle East prior to World War II.
One of the most well-known instances of this conflict is the
Arab Revolt (1936 and 1939) in Palestine. This was a revolt
against British rule because of rising tensions between the
Arab and immigrant Jewish populations—the direct result of
having two competing nationalistic groups within the same
territory.
These nationalistic tensions persisted and were increased
even further after World War II; the Cold War (1947–91, rivalry
between the United States and the Soviet Union over the
spread of communism and nuclear proliferation); and the
Vietnam War (1954–75, conflict between North and South
Vietnam over the spread of communism; the United States
supported South Vietnam). Thus, the initial reorganization of
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
In Context 3
the Middle East by Britain and France after World War I
exasperated tensions between different ethnic groups that
resulted in the rise of nationalism—framing the continuing
conflicts that occurred during Said's lifetime. Equally, it is the
history of British and French imperialism that resulted in Said's
focus on these countries in Orientalism.
The nationalistic conflict increasingly focused on the issue of
whether there should or should not be a Jewish state. By the
end of World War II, opposition to the establishment of a
Jewish state, as had been proposed by Israeli nationalists or
Zionists, was spearheaded by the Arab League, a coalition of
Arab states including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan
(modern-day Jordan), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen (the
composition of the league has changed since its initial
formation). The league had formed in 1945 at the end of World
War II as an organizational body with the aim to mitigate the
conflict that had characterized the region up to this point. By
this time, some countries, such as Egypt and Iraq, had already
gained independence. However, others, such as Syria and
Yemen, would not be independent until 1946 and 1967,
respectively.
In contrast to the wishes of the Arab League, the United
States, under President Roosevelt, supported the formation of
a Jewish state in Israel, and on November 29, 1947, the state of
Palestine was divided by the United Nations into separate Arab
and Jewish states. The partition ignited a war between Arabs
and Jews in 1948, which ended in a truce that failed to
recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish state in Israel.
In 1967 conflict between Israel and Arab nations once again
came to a head, leading to the Six-Day War. Israel's victory led
to their occupation of Arab-claimed regions, including the Sinai
and Old Jerusalem. Israel refused to return these occupied
areas unless the Arab nations recognized the Jewish
state—something the Arab nations refused to do. In
1978—coincidentally, the year Orientalism was published—the
Camp David Accords ultimately led to a peace treaty between
Egypt and Israel. The United States was fundamental in the
structuring of this diplomatic outcome, but by this point, Islamic
fundamentalism was on the rise.
In 1980 the countries of Iraq and Iran went to war over
territorial disputes. The countries of the Middle East—apart
from Egypt—continued to refuse to acknowledge the
legitimacy of the Jewish state of Israel. Iraqi aggression toward
surrounding states in the Middle East continued, and reached
Orientalism Study Guide
its climax a decade later in the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), a
conflict involving the United States. Said later credited
this—along with the terrorist attack on New York City on
September 11, 2001—for the public criticism he received,
labeling him "anti-Western." Overall, the rapidly changing
political landscape over the period of Said's life—as well as
continued U.S. involvement in Middle Eastern affairs—account
for the viewpoint he takes in Orientalism and the changes in
response to his work over time.
Cultural History and Literary
Analysis
Orientalism is based on an analytical approach known as
"cultural history" that is used within the field of cultural
anthropology, the study of modern human culture and
interactions. Said uses the cultural history approach, generally
used to evaluate a group of people, to show how Western-
Eastern relationships were constructed by the idea of
Orientalism. In order to do so, Said looks at the historical basis
for the concept and discusses the modern implications. Said
analyzes the historical context of Orientalism to understand
the contemporary anthropological definition of the terms
Orient and Orientalism.
By the time Orientalism was published in 1978, the terms had
been, for the most part, replaced with more culturally specific
terms, such as Arabic, Islamic, and Jewish. Said's argument is
thus that the terms Orient and Orientalism are culturally
inappropriate because they refer to the period when these
territories were under imperialist control. This thesis frames
the entire text. While the words Orient and Orientalism had
fallen out of use, the power dynamic they implied between the
East and the West (with the West having power over the East)
continued to persist. Part of Said's goal is to explain how this
initial power dynamic continued to persist and subjugate the
East. Orientalism marked a major turning point in
conceptualizing the West's relationship with the East in the
postcolonial period that Said describes (when the East was
officially independent from colonial rule by another country).
Thus, the work falls into what is known today as postcolonial
anthropology, or anthropology dedicated to interrogating the
traditional colonial viewpoint and empowering disenfranchised
voices. Said does so by showing how the traditional colonial
viewpoint continued to affect the Middle East, using historical
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
In Context 4
examples grounded in literature.
Part of the uniqueness of Said's work is his use of explication
to break apart portions of a literary text, examine the usage of
specific words or phrases, and discern the implied meaning.
This technique requires an understanding of the underlying
historic and literary context and the ability to accurately
describe the literary devices being used—such as figurative
language or point of view. Said uses this approach to support
his argument that the framework for Orientalism was based on
textual sources and that these textual sources show a
continued history of colonialist speech stretching from the
initial colonization of the Orient to the postcolonial world of the
Middle East. His methodology aids in the understanding of the
power dynamic between the West and East over time, and the
strength of his argument is grounded in Said's background in
literary criticism, or the study of how to interpret literature.
Anthropological Impact
Despite the limited attention Said gives to anthropological
theory in Orientalism, mentioning only a few authors from the
field directly within the text, the book had an immense impact
on later anthropological works dealing with not only the area
traditionally known as the Orient but with colonialized cultures
worldwide. That said, Orientalism was not the first text to
criticize the colonialist tone of anthropological texts. British
anthropologist Kathleen Gough and Saudi anthropologist Talal
Asad did so starting in the 1960s. They were followed by other
authors—American anthropologists Dell Hymes, Gerald
Berreman, Laura Nader, and Vine Deloria Jr. all wrote on the
same theme. Their premise was that anthropologists, aiming to
study humanity with the goal of benefiting individual cultures,
were utilizing techniques that furthered the colonization of
suppressed cultures. Specifically, they argued that
anthropologists treated different cultural or ethnic groups as
subjects of study rather than as groups of individuals with their
own voices and issues. Thus, they wanted to see anthropology
transition from a field that described different cultures and
ethnic groups to a field that focused on advocacy within the
framework of the needs of a particular group.
Orientalism follows within this tradition, although it is critical of
the traditional representations of the Orient that were largely
focused on the Orient's lower cultural position relative to the
Western hemisphere. While Orientalism was one of the first
widely cited postcolonial texts, the work was also condemned
Orientalism Study Guide
as being "anti-Western," heedlessly critical of anthropological
thought and critical without providing an alternative solution.
The anti-Western critique was leveled initially at Said in
reaction to his focus on providing the perspective of the Middle
East subjugated by the West. Said focused solely on the
negative aspects of the West. The anti-West critique increased
later in Said's life as the United States became more involved
politically and militarily in the Middle East, and nationalism rose
within the United States. Said, an active political proponent of
Palestinian rights, was increasingly viewed as a threat.
The accusation that Said was unnecessarily critical of
anthropological thought stemmed from the fact that Said
interacted minimally with anthropological theory within the text
itself. Addressing the last critique that he failed to provide an
alternative solution, it was not his goal within the text to do so.
Said set out in Orientalism to fully define a problem that had
been expressed incompletely prior to the publication of the
work. The solution was inherent in the pages of the text—in
order to stop framing the Middle East within a colonialist,
power-based framework, it was necessary to change how the
Middle East was conceptualized. Said believed this could be
done by showing the historical basis for Orientalism. Said
addresses many of these criticisms within the Preface and
Afterward of Orientalism as well as in other texts he produced.
Despite these criticisms, Orientalism not only brought forth a
new form of historical anthropology, but it also provided a
framework for later postcolonial works. Previous
anthropological works focused largely on modern cultures and
modern interviews with individuals to the exclusion of historical
interactions. Equally, for those works that did explore the
historical basis of a culture or ethnic group, they failed to do so
in such a rigorous and text-based manner. Said was able to
show future authors how framing an issue or topic within its
historical context could be important as another line of
evidence for their arguments. Equally, in contrast to earlier
anthropological authors, Said explicitly described how
colonialism left legacies that affected the following
generations. This is an idea that had not been discussed
before but was used from this point on by later authors, such
as Indian scholars Gayatri Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha, two
postcolonial theorists from the 20th century, to describe
similar processes occurring around the world.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Author Biography 5
a Author Biography
Early Life and Education
Edward Said was born November 1, 1935, in Jerusalem to
Palestinian Christian parents. His early life was characterized
by numerous moves and feelings of displacement. In 1947 the
United Nations allowed for the partition of Palestine into
separate Arab and Israeli states, which led to a series of
military conflicts over many years. That year, Said's family
moved to Cairo, Egypt, where Said attended English schools
until age 16, before his family moved again, this time to the
state of Massachusetts in 1951. Said went on to earn a
bachelor of arts degree at Princeton University in 1957 and his
master of arts degree at Harvard three years later. He earned
a PhD in English literature from Harvard in 1964. One year prior
to receiving his PhD, Said joined the faculty at Columbia
University as a professor of comparative literature (study of
the interrelationships of literary works from differing cultures).
Said's doctoral thesis turned into his first book, Joseph Conrad
and the Fiction of Autobiography (1966), which was generally
well received and recognized for its contribution to
comparative literary studies. Said would later draw on his
background in comparative literature to reveal the structure of
Orientalism. In the following years, Said studied and explained
the workings behind the Arab-Israeli wars (series of military
conflicts over partition, 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982).
Because of his Palestinian background, Said took an inherent
interest in the topic of Middle Eastern politics and international
relationships, and he became immensely political during this
time. He supported the idea of a Palestinian state and argued
not against Israeli rights, but rather against nationalistic
powers, such as the United States, that pushed particular
agendas. Rather than support one side over another, Said
argued for an agreement that benefited—or appeased—both
sides.
Career and Political
Involvement
In 1977 Said was elected to the Palestine National Council with
the goal of promoting Palestinian political views. However, in
Orientalism Study Guide Key Figures 6

the early 90s he resigned to protest the Oslo Accords (set of

peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Michel Foucault
Liberation Organization) and the perceived detrimental
compromises and concessions of the Palestinian state. During As an anthropologist, Foucault focused on the anthropology of

this period, Said wrote a series of texts on the relationship control and deviance. Specifically, he was concerned with how

between East and West. These include such titles as power is created through action. Foucault's work was

Orientalism (1978), The Question of Palestine (1979), Covering important for providing a language to discuss the dynamics of

Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See power between groups of people.

the Rest of the World (1981), and Nationalism, Colonialism, and

Literature: Yeats and Decolonization (1988), among others.
Said gave numerous public lectures and media interviews, and
he was a vocal political advocate for the Middle East. While
much of his work was initially well received, it was increasingly
perceived as controversial because of the changing political
situation in the East and the degree of United States
involvement. At the time of the terrorist attacks in New York
City on September 11, 2001, the American media was
vehemently attacking Said's work as anti-Western.
Claude Lévi-Strauss
As one of the key figures of anthropology in the 20th century,
Lévi-Strauss pioneered the study of the fundamentals of
modern cultural anthropology through his focus on the
structure of cultural systems. He focused on elucidating
cultural similarities through studies of kinship, art, mythology,
religion, and linguistics, among other subjects. His work
influenced the study of anthropology and philosophy.

Later Life and Death

Even after being diagnosed with leukemia (cancer in blood-
forming tissues that affects the body's ability to fight infection)
in 1991, Said continued to support the idea of a peaceful
accord between Palestine and Israel. He used one of his other
passions, music, to further this end by helping organize an
orchestra with Israeli musician Daniel Barenboim that went on
to become the West-Eastern Divan in 1999. Ultimately, 12 years
after his initial diagnosis, Said succumbed to leukemia and
passed away in New York City on September 25, 2003.
Karl Marx
Marx's Communist Manifesto argued that the lower class
would rise up and take power from the upper class. The
influence of Marx's work on socialist movements worldwide
cannot be understated, and he has become a symbol for those
oppressed and disenfranchised by the state.

Over the course of his career, Said was an outspoken political

activist, literary scholar, academic lecturer, and public speaker.
He wrote on a variety of topics, from literary comparison to
commentary on scholars' political activism. However, Said is
best known for his contributions to the origin of power
dynamics and the ways in which they contribute to colonialism.

h Key Figures

Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.

Orientalism Study Guide
Full Key Figure List
Key Figure Description
Michel Foucault was a French
philosopher, historian, and
Michel Foucault
anthropologist in the mid-​20th
century.
Claude Lévi-​Strauss was a 20th-
century anthropologist and one of
Claude Lévi-
the leading proponents of
Strauss
structuralism—the study of cultural
form and structure.
Karl Marx was a 19th-​century
German philosopher. He is best
Karl Marx known for The Communist
Manifesto, which formed the basis
of the socialist movement.
Dante Alighieri was a 13th-​century
Dante Alighieri Italian poet best known for his work
The Divine Comedy.
Abraham-​Hyacinthe Anquetil-
Duperron was an 18th-​century
Abraham-
linguist who first translated the
Hyacinthe
Zoroastrian text, Avesta. He also
Anquetil-​Duperron
wrote numerous others texts on the
Orient.
Arthur James Balfour was an
Arthur James English politician who officially
Balfour supported Zionism after World War
I.
Morroe Berger was a 20th-​century
sociologist specializing in the
Middle East. He served as a
Morroe Berger
professor at Princeton University
and wrote a number of influential
books on the subject.
Napoleon Bonaparte was a 19th-
Napoleon century French military leader who
Bonaparte led a campaign in Egypt to support
French interests.
François-​René, François-​René, Vicomte de
Vicomte de Chateaubriand was a 19th-​century
Chateaubriand French romantic author.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Key Figures 7
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer was a 14th-
century English poet, best known
for his work The Canterbury Tales.
Evelyn Baring, Lord Cromer, was a
19th-​century British diplomat who
Evelyn Baring,
served in Egypt for 24 years. His
Lord Cromer
influence fundamentally shaped the
rise of the country.
Benjamin Disraeli was a 19th-
Benjamin Disraeli century British statesman of Jewish
birth.
Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb
Hamilton was a 20th-​century Scottish
Alexander Orientalist scholar. He worked as a
Rosskeen Gibb professor and produced numerous
books on the topic.
William Jones was an 18th-​century
William Jones
British Orientalist.
Rudyard Kipling was a 19th-​century
British poet and novelist, best
Rudyard Kipling
known for his stories of British
imperialism.
Edward Lane was a prominent
Orientalist in the 19th century. After
living in Egypt, he produced the
Edward Lane
work Modern Egyptians and a
censored translation of The Arabian
Nights.
Ferdinand De Lesseps was a 19th-
Ferdinand de century French diplomat who was
Lesseps instrumental in the building of the
Suez Canal in Egypt.
Anwar Abdel Malek was a 20th-
century political scientist
Anwar Abdel
specializing in the Middle East. He
Malek
was highly influential in some of
Said's later works.
Louis Massignon was a 20th-
century scholar who focused on
Louis Massignon creating a mutual understanding
between Catholics, other
Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
Orientalism Study Guide Plot Summary 8

distinct experiences. Reflecting on the past 25 years since the

Simon Ockley was an 18th-​century
British Orientalist. He worked as a
Simon Ockley
professor and is best known for his
work History of the Saracens.
initial publication of Orientalism, Said suggests it is only
through the humanities that the "injustices" wrought by
Orientalism can truly be rectified.

Ernest Renan was a 19th-​century
philosopher, historian, and
Ernest Renan Orientalist who became involved in
French politics prior to the
formation of the Third Republic.
In the Introduction, Said explains that his purpose in writing the
book was to describe how the concept of Orientalism was
constructed historically, to serve French and British imperialist
agendas, as well as how Orientalism is constructed today.
Said's focus is on describing the framework for the creation

Silvestre de Sacy was a 19th- and perpetuation of the concept of Orientalism. He then
Silvestre de Sacy century French Orientalist and a describes the biases inherent in his work.
member of the French government.

Edward Said
Edward Said is the author of
Orientalism.
Chapter 1: The Scope of
William Robertson Smith was a
Orientalism
William Robertson
scholar who wrote on "kinship and
Smith
marriage customs" of the Orient. In the first chapter, Said explains what he means by
Orientalism. He defines the knowledge base created through
Constantin-​François de the literary, biblical, and scholarly works of early Orientalists. In
Constantin-
Chasseboeuf, comte de Volney, this way, Said sets up and describes the historical timeline for
François de
was a 19th-​century French
Chasseboeuf, the development of Orientalism through the 18th-20th
Orientalist, historian, and
comte de Volney centuries. In order to describe the transformations of
philosopher.
Orientalism over time and space, Said draws upon
Jacques Waardenburg was a 20th- anthropological scholars such as Claude Lévi-Strauss and
century Dutch religious scholar who Michel Foucault.
Jacques
focused on Islam and the
Waardenburg
relationship between Muslim and
Christian countries.
Chapter 2: Orientalist
Structures and Restructures
k Plot Summary
In this chapter, Said focuses on the construction of power from
the 18th to the 20th centuries. He argues that the modern
Orientalist is the product of an "accumulation" of ideas that
Epigraph, Preface, and persist, not because they are grounded in reality, but because
they exist in the first place and are seemingly backed by
Introduction secular authority. He discusses the work of two
Orientalists—Silvestre de Sacy and Ernest Renan—to
Said begins Orientalism with two quotes, one by 19th-century
emphasize that part of the power of the Orientalist worldview
German philosopher Karl Marx, and the other by 19th-century
was the ideology's self-perpetuation. This was accomplished
British statesman Benjamin Disraeli, setting the tone for the
through the development of a "knowing" vocabulary, and the
rest of the work to follow. In the Preface to the 2004
propagation of these ideas through the advent of mass text
anniversary edition, Said argues that the mindset of Americans
production and distribution.
has changed little since the initial publication of Orientalism.
Instead, they have increasingly come to see the Middle East as
a polar opposite, rather than a unique human culture with

Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.

Orientalism Study Guide Plot Summary 9

Chapter 3: Orientalism Now

In this chapter, Said describes the two forms of
Orientalism—latent and manifest. Latent Orientalism refers to
the worldview formulated in the 18th and 19th centuries that
underpinned later Orientalist ideas. Manifest Orientalism is
how those latent traits are incorporated into modern Oriental
policy. He argues that this continuation of Orientalism failed to
provide knowledge about the Orient, serving instead to create
caricatures. Said describes the specifics of Orientalism prior to
and after World War I and World War II. Having spent the
majority of the work describing English and French
Orientalism, in the last part of the chapter, Said turns to
Orientalism today in the context of the United States as a
major world power. He ends by arguing that the dehumanizing
beginnings of Orientalism continue to the present day.

Afterword
Fifteen years after the initial publication of Orientalism, Said
included an Afterword to address some of the critiques leveled
against the work within the context of political events since
that time. The main critique he addresses is the labeling of his
work as "anti-Western." He addresses this by arguing that his
criticism of Orientalism does not imply an anti-Western
viewpoint. He also claims there are two main reasons why his
work is seen as anti-Western. The first is the pervasiveness of
stereotypes, and the second is the current political climate. He
concludes by arguing that the East is complex and thus should
not be reduced to stereotypes or caricatures.

Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.

Orientalism Study Guide
c Chapter Summaries
Epigraph and Preface
Summary
Written in 2003, Said's Preface to the 25th-anniversary edition
of Orientalism speaks to the political context of the text since
its initial publication. He notes that since the initial publication,
the political situation in the Middle East and U.S. involvement in
Middle Eastern affairs have changed drastically. He
emphasizes that the book is still very much "tied to the
tumultuous dynamics of contemporary history." This is
exemplified by the degree of political instability still seen in the
Middle East at the time. He claims the mindset of Americans
has changed little since the initial publication of Orientalism
and argues that, in fact, the United States has likely become
more diametrically opposed to viewing the Middle East as a
unique human culture with distinct experiences. At the same
time, Said believes, the Middle East is "scarcely better" with its
"anti-Americanism." Thus, Orientalism is perhaps more
pertinent today than ever. Said believes that as an explicitly
"humanistic" text, his book has the capacity to provide
"reflection" and a "rational argument" against Orientalism. He
concludes by saying the fundamentally reductive categories of
"the West," "Islam," and "America" are flawed. They provide for
the equally reductive creation of "us" versus "them" sentiments
that serve only to solidify feelings of animosity and provide no
venue for improvement. Said suggests that these categories
should be dissolved and, through the humanities, more
descriptive categories should be utilized. It is only through the
humanities that "injustices" can truly be rectified.
Said also includes two quotations: one by Karl Marx, "They
cannot represent themselves; they must be represented," and
the other by Benjamin Disraeli, "The East is a career." These
quotations set the tone for the work to come, and emphasize
two main points. First, Marx's quotation refers to the idea
expressed in his most famous work, The Communist Manifesto.
The voice of the disenfranchised is being suppressed. Thus, it
is necessary for others to become their voice. Second, the
commitment to study the East is just that, a commitment. The
East is extraordinarily complex, in contrast to what the
framework of Orientalism might suggest.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 10
Analysis
The Preface to the 25th-anniversary edition of Orientalism was
written at a time when Said's work had already been praised
for its insightfulness and criticized for its anti-Western, pro-
Arab sentiments. Said notes that his feelings on the subject
have ranged from "irritation" to a sense of "irony." As
Orientalism is inherently tied to the modern political
atmosphere, public acceptance is very much dependent on
current political leanings. Although he does not mention this in
the Preface, Said had been publically ridiculed, with members
of the press actively working to discredit his reputation.
Although the recognition of Western imperialism does not
imply the support of Arab terrorism, this erroneous connection
was made by many who saw Said's support of an Arab state as
support for Islamic terrorism and anti-Semitism. In the Preface,
Said notes the paradox of this position and argues that since
the initial publication of Orientalism, the general sentiment
toward the East has changed very little, and American
imperialist policies are still in effect. It is clear that by this point
in his life, Said sees the humanities as the main way through
which this imperialist framework can be changed. This
viewpoint has been built over many years and more fully
expressed in some of his later published works. By noting this
at the beginning of the 25th-anniversary edition, Said is
attempting to structure the reader to approach the work
strictly as a humanist endeavor. Nothing has fundamentally
changed about how the West interacts with the East. The
imperialist paradigm persists. Thus, the Preface acts as a call
to action as much as it acts as an introduction to the text
within the context of modern politics.
The Epigraph is equally important. The ideas expressed by the
two quotes Said chose to include provide insights into his
mindset. The choice to place Marx's quote before that of
Disraeli's suggests that it is precisely because the
disenfranchised cannot represent themselves that the East is
so difficult to interpret. Not only is Said expressing the
sentiment that the East is more complex than suggested, it has
been made more complex by the fact that the very framework
meant to describe it has not done so. Thus, it is necessary to
speak for the disenfranchised, since the Orientalist framework
has suppressed their voice. Said's choice of a quote using the
word East is telling, as it does not break down the Orient
further into a series of complex cultures. Rather, it begins with
the simplest category to argue that this category itself is
fundamentally flawed. It is within this context that Orientalism
Orientalism Study Guide
begins.
Introduction
Summary
Said begins Orientalism by explaining how Orientalism is
defined within three different contexts. Academically, the term
refers to the act of studying or otherwise engaging with the
Orient. In a more informal context, Orientalism is a way of
thinking about the Orient when contrasted with the
Occident—the West. Finally, Said evokes Michel Foucault's
concept of discourse to describe how historically, Orientalism
is a specifically "Western style for dominating, restructuring,
and having authority over the Orient." He states his goal in
writing Orientalism is to describe how the concept of
Orientalism was constructed historically, to serve French and
British imperialist agendas, and how Orientalism is constructed
today. His focus is on describing the framework for the
creation and perpetuation of the concept of Orientalism.
After defining Orientalism and laying out his thesis, Said moves
to a discussion of the assumptions behind his work. He clarifies
that while the concept of Orientalism is constructed, the Orient
itself is, in fact, a real location. Secondly, to study the Orient
means, inherently, the need to study the power dynamics
between the Orient and the Occident. Finally, while Orientalism
is a construct, it has very real consequences for the Orient and
is not easily subject to change because of hegemony, that
condition when "certain cultural forms predominate over
others." While Orientalism is not inherently a political text, the
subject necessitates a discussion of politics as Orientalism is
both a cultural and political construct. A large array of
literature exists on the Orient. However, Said chooses to frame
his work within the confines of how Orientalism has been
shaped by the French, British, and Americans.
Analysis
The Introduction attempts to define the term Orientalism,
contextualize the work, and lay out the inherent biases of the
author. Said claims his work is primarily a humanistic text and
uses anthropological methodology to formulate his argument.
While it is not an ethnographic work—one based on the primary
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 11
collection of observations from a current human
population—Said uses anthropological methods, namely
historical ethnology and an acknowledgment of the
assumptions and inherent biases of his work to evaluate the
historical constructs still affecting present-day society.
In his definitions of Orientalism, Said makes clear that the
concept is a construct, or a framework of thinking created by
outside agents. Said claims Orientalism has been created
through the domination of one culture, the Occident, over
another, the Orient. However, he emphasizes that Orientalism
is a cultural construct and has very real implications for the
interaction between the Orient and the Occident.
In describing his biases, Said is practicing academically sound
anthropology. One of the tenets of cultural anthropology is
cultural relativism, or the idea that, when considered within the
context of their own culture, all actions by a particular group
are morally equivocal. This implies that all cultures should be
viewed within the context of their cultural lens. However, this is
impossible since anthropologists have their own cultural view
and biases. In order to address this, the anthropologist is
expected to detail his or her biases so the reader may take this
information into account. For instance, Said's inclusion of his
Christian background as an Arab Palestinian in the West,
allows the reader to place his perspective in context.
Chapter 1, Part 1
Summary
In Chapter 1, Part 1, Said defines what he means by
Orientalism. He does so through the evaluation of specific
Orientalists at a time when the Orient itself was defined
generally as "Asia or the East, geographically, morally,
culturally." In 1910 Arthur James Balfour addressed his
qualifications for being "superior with regard to people you
choose to call Oriental." He argued he was able to speak
regarding the Orient based on his knowledge of the Orient
civilization.
Another well-known Orientalist was Lord Cromer, England's
representative in Egypt between 1883 and 1907. Rather than
speaking about the Orient as an abstract, Cromer spoke more
specifically about his experiences in India and Egypt,
emphasizing that both knowledge and power made the
Orientalism Study Guide
management of these countries easy. Said argues that these
aspects of Orientalism did not serve to justify colonialism after
the fact but rather provided the premise for colonial rule at the
outset. The initial creation of a framework of domination during
the 18th and 19th centuries allowed for domination to occur.
This framework was initially characterized as an "us" versus
"them" dichotomy, established by those who were in power,
and thus in a position to act as knowledge producers. Said
states that this is the basis of the "main intellectual issue raised
by Orientalism." In those cases where an "us" versus "them"
dichotomy arises, is it possible to avoid the "hostility expressed
by the division"? Said argues that to understand how the
framework of Orientalism arose, it is necessary to understand
the historical context under which it was generated. At its core,
Orientalism represented a system of "knowledge" and
perceived "power" regarding the Orient that framed
interactions with the West. Said concludes the chapter by
setting up the historical timeline for the development of
Orientalism through the 18th–20th centuries he goes on to
describe in later parts.
Analysis
Said sets up his argument against Orientalism by focusing on
the views of two early Orientalists, Arthur James Balfour and
Lord Cromer. By beginning the text with specific definitions of
Orientalism, Said sets the tone for the rest of the text. Rather
than focus on flushing out a purely theoretical argument, he
uses specific, textual examples to support his ideas. While
previous scholarly works had broached similar ideas regarding
Orientalism, the strength of Said's text—and why it continues
to be considered one of the seminal anthropological works—is
the level of detail he provides across a wide span of history. In
order to do this, Said provides sections of Balfour and
Cromer's speeches, breaking down their arguments sentence-
by-sentence and word-by-word. From the outset, he provides
historical evidence for the use of the terms Orient and
Orientalism within literature.
Thus, Said is able to make the argument that these terms have
a historical basis found in literature. This is a fundamental
concept for his argument that Orientalism was formed from
previously conceived definitions and understandings. These
archaic understandings of a complex group of people, clumped
under the term Orient, were continuously used for centuries
and up to the present day. Said claims their basis is in original,
literary texts such as "Chaucer and Mandeville ... Shakespeare,
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 12
Dryden, Pope, and Byron."
Furthermore, by breaking down the individual arguments of
Balfour and Cromer, Said is able to evaluate their tone and
perspective to illustrate how they create an "us" versus "them"
dichotomy, how the Orient is dehumanized, and how the
natives' power to speak is removed. Using both Balfour and
Cromer, Said is able to show that, in the case of two different
Orientalists—one removed from the Orient and the other
directly involved in the everyday management of the
Orient—the framework for talking about the Orient remained
the same. Thus, Orientalism was not confined to a specific
group of people, but was a pervasive paradigm.
Chapter 1, Part 2
Summary
Said begins by stating that Orientalism is a field of learned
study. Until the mid-18th century, Orientalists were biblical
scholars. In the 19th century, academic Orientalists were
interested in the classical period of whatever language or
society they studied. When academic study of the modern
Orient gained traction, Said argues, Orientalists began to
construct "imaginative geographies," dividing East and West.
In order to describe how this occurred, Said describes Claude
Lévi-Strauss's argument that the mind creates order through
arbitrary categorization. This creates "imaginative knowledge,"
or the idea that through the construction of categories, these
groups are imbued with a set of qualifications that are seen,
erroneously, as "knowledge" about the category. Thus, "the
Orient was something more than what was empirically known."
He uses the example of two plays, The Persians and The
Bacchae, arguing that the dichotomy between the "Orient" and
the "West" is artificial and serves only to further the boundary
between the two groups. Thus, early literary and scholarly
works describing Orientalism served only to create categories
meant to "control" the Orient, a need born out of fear to
"domesticat[e] ... the exotic."
Said claims the categorization of the Orient made the Orient
appear more "knowable" to the West. However, since this
categorization was not grounded in fact, but was instead a
"self-reinforcing" and "closed system," this grouping resulted in
the perpetuation of erroneous information about the Orient. In
Orientalism Study Guide
and of itself, this is not problematic. Many societies do this to
the "other." However, since Europe was in a position of power
relative to the Orient, this characterization of the Orient was
harmful. Said says these categories were put into place in the
19th and 20th centuries through a long history of literature,
such as Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. These
categorical descriptions create "imaginative geography," or a
constructed landscape that divides East and West.
Analysis
Using a historical approach, Said begins by describing the
beginning of Orientalism as based on religious texts, the study
of language, and historical accounts. In essence, none of the
initial work on the Orient was concerned with the people
themselves as much as with their cultural attributes. In order to
describe how this ended up creating an image of the
"mythology of the Orient," Said turns to cultural anthropologist
Claude Lévi-Strauss. Trained in comparative literature, Lévi-
Strauss drew on the work of contemporary anthropologists to
describe how the mind organizes the surrounding world,
creating an Orient that was "something more than what was
empirically known about it."
This is fundamental to Said's argument. From the outset, the
understanding of the Orient was derived not from the people,
but rather a perception about the people of the Orient based
on cultural attributes. This understanding is inherently flawed,
especially from the postcolonial standpoint Said is taking here.
The voice of the Orient was being created by, and spoken
through, the words of the West. Said draws on literary texts,
specifically two plays, The Persians and The Bacchae, to
illustrate this point. He analyzes how East and West are
depicted, respectively, describing the literary devices used to
do so, such as the "motif of the Orient as insinuating danger."
Thus, the West was concerned mainly with an unknown or
potentially threatening culture. Here, Said is using literary
analysis to describe exactly how the Orient is being framed,
drawing on Dante's Divine Comedy and other texts to detail
how a physical, cultural geography is created through words.
He later extended this line of analysis to contemporary media
studies in Covering Islam.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 13
Chapter 1, Part 3
Summary
Said uses a series of examples to discuss how the West was
able to advance on the East. He argues the initial attitude
toward Orientalism was framed by the perceived threat of
Islam. The early works by Simon Ockley (author of History of
the Saracens), Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron's
translation of Avesta, and the codification of Indian laws and
languages by William Jones were born out of a sense of "duty"
to recover a portion of the Oriental past. They also provided
the background for Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. Unlike
leaders of earlier expeditions, Napoleon was the first to
prepare prior to traveling to the Orient, using works such as
Voyage en Égypte et en Syrie by Comte de Volney (1787). Thus,
Napoleon arrived in the Orient accompanied by a team of
Orientalist intellectuals with plans to dominate Egypt.
"Everything said, seen, and studied" was written down in
Description de l'Égypte (1809–28), and it was done in a way
that emphasized the Orient's ancient connection with Europe.
Thus, everything that was good about the Orient was framed
as the product of a European connection. The book
emphasized the heroic nature of Napoleon and the greatness
of the project he was undertaking in a nation that had fallen
into barbarism. The pervading idea at the time was that once
Egypt was restored to its former glory, other Oriental nations
would fall in line. Said argues that Napoleon's journey marked
the point at which the language used to discuss the Orient
shifted from descriptive to "a means of creation." He claims this
shift can clearly be seen in the conception of the Suez Canal
by Ferdinand de Lesseps. The enormous amount of money and
effort required to build the canal was justified by the benefits
de Lesseps argued would be passed on to people who "could
never have done for themselves."
Analysis
Moving on from the literary tradition of Orientalism, Said
discusses the first texts to arise out of European and Eastern
contact as the first Orientalist texts. Despite "going beyond the
comparative shelter of the Biblical Orient," these initial works
detailing contact with individuals were written in a way to
reinforce the Oriental "myth." For instance, Said notes how
Orientalism Study Guide
Simon Ockley's History of the Saracens focuses on describing
Islam as "heresy." Said posits that prior to contact with the
Orient, there was very little to be done to prepare except to
read the early literary works. This reinforced the view
surrounding the Orient and did nothing to dispel the "threat" of
Islam.
Thus, when later contact with the Orient occurred—such as
Napoleon's expedition to Egypt as detailed in Description de
l'Égypte—the West began to assert its power over the East. In
order to serve his goal of domination over the East, Napoleon
categorized it, defining it in connection to the "distant
European past," thus making it inherently subservient to the
West with himself as the hero. Said says this served to
decrease the threat of Islam.
Said also claims the major change resulting from Napoleon's
expedition was that it "destroyed the Orient's distance,"
symbolized by the creation of the Suez Canal, which was
completed in 1869. The Orient was no longer the "other," but
was a physical location the West now had power over. Equally,
the Orient had become a product of Orientalism based on the
literature of the period. The problem with this characterization,
as Said argues in future chapters, is that the basis of
knowledge remained the same despite changing relations with
the Orient. Said uses this chapter to set the premise for how
Orientalism changed throughout history.
Chapter 1, Part 4
Summary
Said begins by describing what constitutes a "textual attitude."
It is a preference for textual information in contrast to oral or
experiential information. He goes on to explain why one might
prefer textual information to other forms. He also claims texts
provide a sense of knowledge about something unknown, and
this sense of knowledge reinforces the idea that textual
information is accurate. This occurs, in part, because textual
knowledge can create what Michel Foucault calls a
"discourse," or the "very reality they appear to describe." This
concept can be seen in Napoleon's and de Lesseps's
treatment of the Orient in which they interacted with the Orient
as a "fierce lion" that needed to be dealt with, because the
texts they read described the Orient as such. Thus,
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 14
"Orientalism overrode the Orient."
Said emphasizes that while the "official intellectual genealogy
of Orientalism" would fail to include travel literature, these
works were fundamentally important to the understanding of
how Orientalism was constructed. The dichotomy between
East and West has served to lump the entire Orient into one
category that fails to acknowledge the legitimate distinctions
between groups. Equally, the same characterizations of the
Orient that Orientalists originally developed are still in play
because of a commitment to this "textual attitude." Said
provides a portion of a lecture given by H.A.R. Gibb in 1945 at
the University of Chicago, and another lecture given in 1963 at
Harvard University, in which he uses the same discriminatory
language used to characterize the Orient. Said's aim is to
describe the pervasiveness of these text-based paradigms
over time.
Analysis
Orientalism has persisted in a form relatively unchanged since
its initial conception. Said is able to break down the
components of Orientalism, using techniques drawn from his
background in literary comparison because the basis of
Orientalism is not only inherently textual in nature but also
sustained through text. Despite physical encounters with the
Orient, Orientalists prefer to rely on their textual knowledge at
the expense of adapting to actual conditions. Said draws on
Foucault, Napoleon, and de Lesseps to illustrate how textual
knowledge creates the very reality described. In this case, the
Orient was something wild that needed to be controlled.
However, this was the case only because it was defined as
such within the texts.
Said also draws on contemporary scholars to support his
ideas. For instance, he describes how Anwar Abdel Malek used
the history of Orientalism to describe how the Orient became
an "object" of study. At the same time, it is clear the issue is a
contemporary one with opposing sides, as evidenced by Said's
reference to H.A.R. Gibb.
Chapter 2, Part 1
Orientalism Study Guide
Summary
Said details the changes that occurred in Orientalism in the
18th century in order to set the stage for Orientalism in the
19th and 20th centuries. Orientalism in the 18th century was
fundamentally different from the Orientalism that preceded it.
However, the paradigms it created were the same. In contrast
to earlier Orientalism, 18th-century Orientalism shifted from a
religious basis to a secular one. Said argues this occurred
because of an expansion "beyond the Islamic lands" to the rest
of the East, an increased understanding of Oriental history, a
perceived relationship in the histories of both the East and
West, and the "impulse to classify nature and man into types."
These elements secularized Orientalism, and in return, these
elements led to "imperialism" and "colonialism."
Said sets out to understand how this occurred, claiming this
mentality toward the Orient can be understood only through
the lens of history. Without the historical context of
Orientalism, it is impossible to understand how the formative
ideas surrounding the Orient were fashioned, and how those
ideas led to the imperialism and colonialism of the Orient. In
Said's ideas, the history of Orientalism created the "modern
Orientalist" who perceived of himself as a hero "rescuing the
Orient," the same paradigm that characterized the previous
centuries. However, now the concept was secularized and
characterized as "power that dwelt in the new, scientifically
advanced techniques of philology and of anthropological
generalization."
Instead of a religious basis, the modern Orientalists were
grounded in secular arguments that served only to increase
their authority despite having a fundamentally flawed premise
regarding the Orient. In essence, the modern Orientalist is the
product of an "accumulation" of ideas that persist not because
they are grounded in reality but rather because they existed in
the first place and are backed by secular authority.
Analysis
Said moves on to a discussion of the 18th century. He
specifically discusses the contribution of philological and
anthropological frameworks for understanding Orientalism
during this period, mainly as a method of categorizing the
Orient and claiming scientific validity. He employs
anthropological techniques to support his idea that, in reality,
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 15
the method of categorization is inherently flawed since the
categories were born out of historical and textual
generalizations about the Orient.
The shift to philological and anthropological explanations for
Orientalism is important for understanding the concept within
the context of the 18th century. Whereas previous centuries
focused on contextualizing Orientalism within the religious
context of the times, by the 18th century, the focus was on
scientific thought in a period known as the "Age of Reason," or
the Enlightenment. Said emphasizes this transition because of
what failed to change. While the argument for Orientalism
changed, the essential characteristics of Orientalism remained
the same. This explains how a fundamentally religious
framework for understanding the Orient has persisted up to
the present day.
What Said makes exceptionally clear is that the staying power
of Orientalism is the ability of Orientalists to categorize "vast
geographical domains into treatable, and manageable, entities."
He does not attempt to define the Orient or what Orientalism
should then be. He suggests directions it can go, but at its core
the Orient is inherently multifaceted and requires more
specialized scholars than the general term Orientalist can
accommodate.
Chapter 2, Part 2
Summary
Said describes the two main figures of the 18th century who
transformed Orientalism into a secular field: Silvestre de Sacy
and Ernest Renan. Said first discusses Sacy as the individual
who created the first "systematic body of texts" on
Orientalism. His efforts at translation, public presentation,
secularization, and linkage to public policy provide the premise
for Orientalism's spread within the academic world. Indeed, at
the time, every academic around the world "traced his
intellectual authority back to him." Sacy served to canonize
Orientalist thought and effectively confirm the position of the
Orient not as an unknowable divine, but rather as another
object of "European scholarship."
In contrast, Renan linked Orientalist studies to the popular field
of the day, philology. Best known for his work on Semitic
languages, Renan is known to have perpetuated racist and
Orientalism Study Guide
prejudiced views against Orientals, while at the same time
removing languages from the realm of the divine and affording
them a purely human construction. Said emphasizes that in the
context of the times, this was extremely effective in solidifying
Renan's own Orientalist views. Thus, "Semitic was not fully a
natural object" because of the negative views Renan placed
upon it, but neither was it "an unnatural or divine object." In
essence, what Renan was using philology to describe—the
relative unnaturalness of the Semitic language compared to
the Indo-European language—was actually being constructed
by the very language he was using to describe it. Renan's
approach served only to perpetuate his "European
ethnocentrism."
Renan's approach was extremely effective not only in
promoting his racists views but in solidifying himself as a
"cultural figure" that was then drawn upon for generations.
Said emphasizes part of the power of the Orientalist worldview
was the self-perpetuation of the ideology. There was no room
for self-questioning or doubt.
Analysis
Said discusses the work and influence of two
Orientalists—Silvestre de Sacy and Ernest Renan. He uses
these individuals as examples of how the transition from a
religious justification for Oriental views to an anthropological or
scientific argument allowed for the continuation of traditional
Oriental paradigms. Just as the religious approach to
Orientalism of the 17th and early 18th centuries allowed for
imperial and colonial policies, the scientific approach to
Orientalism of the latter 18th century and beyond dictated
public policy on the Orient.
Traditional Oriental views were adapted to fit the period's
paradigm of thought, either through anthropology (Sacy) or
with philology (Renan). However, the very systems of study
used to characterize Orientalism in the 18th–20th centuries
were those sciences that were "premised on the unity of the
human species." It is through this paradox that Said
characterizes the nonrational basis of Orientalism. Even when
framed as "a science of all humanity," the basis for Orientalism
was inherently flawed. It was concerned not with the good of
the cultural groups defined under the "Orient" but rather with
the ability to maintain control over these groups through
knowledge and power.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 16
Said also claims that through the categorization of these
groups, they lost their human qualities and were no longer
"fully a natural object." Thus, placing them under the guise of
scientific thought had two purposes: the first to place
Orientalism within the context of modern policymaking, and the
second to obfuscate the purpose of Orientalism. If the
expressed goal of anthropological and philological thought is
to make clear the unity of humanity, there should be no
questioning the intent behind Orientalism when placed within
the context of these fields of study. Said makes this paradox
clear through his discussion of how the East, in contrast to the
West, was considered "inorganic" even as it was being
discussed within the context of a field concerned with
humanity. It was within the context of the "philological
laboratory" that the Orient was transformed into an
"Occidental cultural figure."
Chapter 2, Part 3
Summary
Said discusses how in the late 19th century, Orientalism was
characterized and categorized mainly through the
development of a "knowing vocabulary." While Renan and
Sacy's works served to "reduce the Orient" to create a sense
of understanding, the latter half of the century was
characterized by Orientalists who used language to create
their own visions of the Orient. This was made possible by a
series of efforts in the early 19th century to make the Orient
"subordinate intellectually to the West," dehumanized through
a discussion only of abstract "Orientals" rather than individuals,
and the establishment of texts and terminology that allowed
for the creation of the "Orient" as seen through the eyes of
European scholar-travelers.
There are three different types of travelers: those who travel
for scholarship's sake; those who travel for scholarly interest,
but are not dedicated Orientalists; and those who travel for
personal reasons. Said argues that in all cases, there is no
fundamental difference in the outcome of their accounts
regarding the Orient because they all use similar structures of
language. The Orientalist description of the Orient was
advanced by the large degree of travel to the Orient at the
time, serving to increase the available lexicon about the Orient.
Said discusses the work Modern Egyptians by Edward Lane
Orientalism Study Guide
and argues that Lane's lack of narrative, commitment to
disseminating information, and level of detail served to
dehumanize the Orient and helped create a discourse
solidifying Orientalists as the holders of specialized knowledge
about the Orient.
Analysis
Said places a great deal of emphasis on the comparability of
Orientalism, both through time as well as across philology and
"popular stereotypes." The strength of Said's comparison case
is not in what changes but rather in what stays the same. He
claims that because of the comparability of Orientalism across
cultures, the Orient was perceived as weak and malleable. He
emphasizes this point by revealing how Karl Marx
characterizes the Orient within this pervasive paradigm using
Marx's own words. Despite arguing for the strength of the
economically disenfranchised, Marx continues to see the
Orient as subservient to England.
While the comparability of the Orient facilitated the creation of
knowledge, the establishment of authority by Orientalists
resulted in the continued establishment of the power of the
West over the East. Said again relies on textual analysis to
support his point, arguing that Orientalist authors such as
Lane, who wrote Modern Egyptians in 1836, created a sense of
authority through drama, "manipulation of narrative voice," and
the degree of "detail" he employed. In this way, Lane was able
to construct his own knowledge about the Orient—rather than
depict the real story—and become an authority on the subject.
In this way, Orientalist knowledge was "specialized." This ability
to literally remake and construct the history of the Orient is
fundamental to Said's argument that Orientalism itself does not
have anything to do with the Orient. It is instead a purely
Western construct.
Chapter 2, Part 4
Summary
Part of the reason Orientalists characterized the Orient as
inferior was the history of how the Orient interacted with the
West in the 19th century. Knowledge about the Orient was
transmitted to the West by European travelers. The response
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 17
of these "pilgrims" was to guard against the "unsettling
influences" of the Orient, at least according to European
sensibilities. While the "pilgrimage" was slightly different
between English and French travelers because of the different
histories of interaction with the Orient, their experiences were
both characterized by passage through "the Biblical lands."
The English passed through India where "imaginative play was
limited by the realities of administration," whereas the French
were freer in their choice of location but consequently relied
more on imagination than shared experience in their writings.
The Orient was the product of those who visited and wrote
about it. Previously, Said established the Orient as "less a place
than a topos, a set of references." Now, in the 19th century,
information about the Orient came from personal experiences.
All of these ideas were propagated as scholarship during the
period through the advent of mass text production,
dissemination, and research.
Analysis
The choice to name the chapter after pilgrims and pilgrimages
is indicative of Said's view that the relationship between East
and West was one grounded in a religious framework. The
original texts about the Orient, such as Dante's Inferno and
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, were religious in nature. Later
works about the Orient were also religious in nature, framed as
a pilgrimage, and thus inherently personal and subjective in
nature. Said dichotomizes the English and the French for the
first time in the work to argue for slightly different
interpretations of the Orient based on the specific pilgrimage
routes taken by citizens of their respective countries. However,
as is made clear through the textual analysis of such works as
Chateaubriand's Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem, the pilgrimage
served as a method of justification for the pilgrim's religion.
Thus, the Orient becomes a "decrepit canvas awaiting [the
pilgrim's] restorative efforts."
It is beneath this religious framework that the conquest of
Islam becomes transformed into a moral obligation that is then
perpetuated throughout the history of Orientalism. Throughout
the chapter, Said contrasts Chateaubriand's work with Lane's
in order to explain how the creation of knowledge in Lane's
work differs fundamentally from the creation of power in
Chateaubriand's work. The goal of the Orientalist is no longer
the mere accumulation of knowledge. It is rather the creation
of a specific mythology that places the Orient within the
Orientalism Study Guide
context of needing a moral savior in the form of the Christian
pilgrim.
Chapter 3, Part 1
Summary
Said distinguishes between "latent" and "manifest" Orientalism
in this section. Latent Orientalism refers to the background of
Orientalism formulated in the 18th and 19th centuries that
underpins later Orientalist ideas. This form of Orientalism does
not change. In contrast, manifest Orientalism is how those
latent traits are incorporated into modern Oriental policy. While
latent Orientalism cannot change, manifest Orientalism can,
and does. Latent Orientalism explains why throughout the
history of Orientalism, the Orient was seen as a place
"requiring Western attention, reconstruction, even redemption."
In the 19th century, the manifest theories of Orientalism were
best explained through the "ideas about the biological bases of
racial inequality." This formed the basis of how the colonial
powers of Britain and France believed they had "penetrated
and possessed the Orient." In essence, the long-standing ideas
that the Orient was weak, subservient, and understood only as
part of the West resulted in the colonial ideas of later
centuries. Two mechanisms led to this: through the increase in
the spread of knowledge about the Orient, and through the
reduction in metaphysical and physical distance between the
Orient and the Orientalists themselves. Regarding the second
mechanism, there was a tension between latent and manifest
Orientalism at the time. Orientalists began to advise the
government on the Orient, effectively influencing public policy.
Conflict occurred and was ultimately resolved as the "real"
Orient collided with the latent Orientalist ideas, resulting in
early 20th-century manifest Orientalism.
Analysis
Said begins the section entitled "Orientalism Now" by stating
how modern Orientalism is a "school of interpretation." He
goes on to describe how this school of interpretation is
structured through latent and manifest Orientalism. If
Orientalism is a school of interpretation, it is then able to
become a product of "political forces." This "political product"
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 18
is what the majority of people then experience as Orientalism.
By dividing Orientalism into "latent" and "manifest" Orientalism,
Said is able to describe how it is possible for the basis of
Orientalism to remain the same, while the details that allow it to
be manipulated for political purposes can change, depending
on the period or the nation. He says the development of latent
Orientalism is what allowed the creation of such ideas as
"second-order" or "social Darwinism," which categorized and
ranked cultures and societies based on race.
Thus, it was from these "latent" desires of conquest and
Oriental inferiority that the modern political relationship with
the Orient was framed. Said supports this through a discussion
of the political climate in Britain and France regarding the
Orient, exemplified by their "carving up the Near Orient ... into
spheres of influence" following World War I. Latent Orientalism
thus explains why during this period, the British and French
saw themselves as having "traditional entitlement" over the
Orient. The difficulty during this period, however, was the
collision between the traditional latent, academic Orientalism
and the modern manifest, policy-oriented Orientalism. The
result was occasional contradictions as the "essential" Orient
was conversely refuted and supported by policy-advising
Orientalists. While Said has emphasized the differences
between English and French Orientalism up to this point, he
suggests the difference between latent and manifest
Orientalism is of greater importance.
Chapter 3, Part 2
Summary
Said begins with a discussion of "Kipling's White Man." This
"White Man" was a generalized European who held specific
views regarding the Orient. His duty was to help the "colored
races." The White Man had knowledge the Orient did not, and
as a result, he held a position of power over the Orient.
Individuals did not exist within the Orient. Instead, they were all
lumped together under this larger category, serving only to
distinguish them as the "other." Rather than being described
further by ethnic traits, an Oriental individual was "first an
Oriental and only second a man." Other categories, such as
"the Arab" and "the Semite" referred to phonological
distinctions backed up by a series of "scientific"
Orientalism Study Guide
generalizations and categorizations that were not actually
indicative of any true "Arab" or "Semitic" traits.
However, because of the pervasive paradigms that had
persisted up to this point, there was an inability to argue with
these categorizations. The White Man was further supported in
his distinction from the Orient by perceived scientific
categories classifying races during this period. Said describes
how in the early 20th century, this "knowledge" of the Orient
was translated into political activity. The Orientalist became
the agent for translating knowledge about the Orient into
public policy. For instance, following World War I, British
archaeologist T. E. Lawrence discusses restoring the Orient.
However, he argues for the reestablishment of the Orient from
a "White Orientalist" perspective. This furthered Western
politics but did not address the actual needs of the Orient. In
this respect, the Orientalist became the "representative
Oriental," or the spokesperson for a group of people who were
not given their own voice. Interestingly, Orientalists proclaimed
a liberalism they themselves were undermining. Rather than
providing knowledge about the Orient, they were actively
hindering "the process of enlarged and enlarging meaning."
Analysis
Said argues that "Kipling's White Man" is a physical
manifestation of latent Orientalist views. At a time when the
Orientalist was being employed to create public policy, a
physical manifestation of these Oriental ideas was being
created in the form of Kipling's White Man. While Rudyard
Kipling gave words to this persona, the idea itself was a
generic, but widespread, character. Said points out this
creation as a way to argue that the idea of the Orient has
become so removed from reality, so generalized, that the white
"scientist" himself had become generalized as well.
In essence, the idea of the Orient had become so entrenched
at this point that there was "no escape." Said provides
evidence for this in the work of William Robertson Smith, a
scholar who wrote on the "kinship and marriage customs" of
the Orient. In an analysis of Smith's writing, it is clear that the
traditional categories are in place with all natives of the Orient
placed under generalized terms such as the Arab, and a
generalized religious term of Mohammedanism. Smith
exemplifies the White Man's vantage point, characterizing the
Orient as "totalitarian," or without cultural variation. Once
again, it is clear—given Said's ability to characterize the Orient
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 19
based on Orientalist literature—that the basis of Orientalism
remains textual.
In contrast to earlier Orientalist endeavors, those after World
War I were "imperial agents" who forsook the actual narrative
of the Orientals for the constructed, Orientalist narrative. Said
supports this idea by analyzing the work of T.E. Lawrence, a
British military officer. In his work, Lawrence becomes a
"representative Oriental." Oddly enough, the Orientalist "sees
himself as accomplishing the union of Orient and Occident"
when in actuality, he is perpetuating Orientalist ideals. Thus,
and this is Said's ultimate point, the Orientalist point of view
"retards the process of enlarged and enlarging meaning" as it
pertains to the Orient.
Chapter 3, Part 3
Summary
Said is concerned with the differences in Orientalist reasoning
between the periods prior to and immediately following World
War I. Prior to the war, it was assumed that the Orient was in
"need of Western enlightenment" and "domination." In contrast,
after the war, the degree of unrest in the East and calls for
independence resulted in the transformation of the Orientalist
role.
Said focuses on two 20th-century Orientalists during this
period, Gibb and Massignon, breaking down their work to
reveal that the reasoning behind Orientalist ideals shifted, but
the baseline assumptions and arguments remained the same.
This was accomplished through the Orientalists'
"estrangement" from Islam that "intensified their feelings of
superiority about European culture." During this period, the
lack of progressive movement beyond old Orientalist
conceptions about the West despite new developments
around the world was in stark contrast to other humanistic and
scientific fields. This characterized Orientalism during the
interwar period up to the present day.
Said explores Gibb and Massignon's work in detail. While they
came from very different backgrounds and approached their
Oriental scholarship differently, the underpinning assumptions
characterizing Oriental scholarship from the 19th century
remained unchanged in the 20th century. While the specific
requirements changed over time, it cannot be argued that in all
Orientalism Study Guide
cases they were meant to serve a Western purpose through
the creation of knowledge about the Orient. This knowledge is
based on the premise that the Orient is the "other" and cannot
speak for itself. Thus, the Orientalist must speak "the truth
about Islam."
Analysis
Said expands on the same argument, moving forward in
history. He claims the only difference between Orientalism
before and after World War I is the reasoning behind the
Orientalist framework. Interestingly, during this period,
Orientalism was in a "retrogressive position" when compared
to the other fields of study because it continued to be tied to
"its Biblical 'origins'" and to the fear of Islam. While the
geographical area characterized as the Orient was under
reorganization after the war, it was a relatively peaceful period
compared to the conflict to come. However, in this period, the
beginnings of Arabic and Israeli nationalism were on the rise. In
this way, Orientalism acted as a system for "certain kinds of
statements" about the Orient in order to continue the
separation and differentiation between the Orientalists and
their subject. This separation was based on the fear of the
"destruction of the barriers that kept East and West" separate,
barriers that appeared increasingly weakened with the
changing political climate.
During this period, in part because of the new geographical
and political delineations of space that were occurring in the
Orient, Orientalism was being "broken into many parts."
However, each facet of Orientalism was still based very much
on the traditional views of the Orient. Said uses the work of
Gibb and Massignon to provide evidence that the Orientalist
representations persist because they serve a larger purpose.
In this case, the larger purpose provides five "representations
of the Orient": the imprint of the scholar; what the Orient is or
should be; to argue against a different representative of the
Orient; to create a discourse about the Orient responding to a
particular period; and to respond to modern "cultural,
professional, national, political, and economic requirements."
Chapter 3, Part 4
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 20
Summary
Said focuses in this final section on the period after World War
II and up to the modern day. At this point, he notes that
America had displaced England and France as the major
Orientalist nation. America was mainly concerned with the
Orient as it related to public policy, although by this time, the
term had been displaced by other categories such as "Japan,
Indochina, China, India, Pakistan."
America asserted itself over the Orient in four different areas.
The first is in the area of popular representation, and the
replacement of a literary background with one based on the
social sciences. Following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the
world's increasing hunger for oil, the popular image of the Arab
was negative and stemmed from the fear that "the Muslims (or
Arabs) will take over the world." Equally, the Orientalist
discourse was based not on the traditional literary texts.
American scholars focused instead on "facts" that argued the
same baseline. This stems from the fact that after World War II,
the Orient became a matter of administrative policy for
America. Thus, philological studies were replaced by
"objective" texts and "expertise."
The second area where America asserted itself was through
the transformation of Orientalist studies from purely scholarly
in form to overtly political. Third, Americans perpetuated the
"myth of the arrested development of the Semites," and thus
justified the need for the West to control their operations.
Finally, America embraced the fact that Orientalism is
fundamentally valid because of the premise it is based upon.
Those who could argue against it are unable to voice an
opinion because the very mechanism they wish to speak out
against has taken their voice. In his final paragraph, Said
states, "Orientalism failed to identify with human experience,
failed also to see it as human experience." From the beginning
of Orientalism's conception, the Orient has been dehumanized,
explaining why these perceptions continue even today.
Analysis
At this point, Said's argument takes a different turn. Rather
than discuss the same countries of France and England, he
turns to the modern condition of the Orient and America's role
on the world stage. Said focuses on the particulars of
American Orientalism as it relates to public perception and
Orientalism Study Guide
politics. However, the key words he has used throughout the
text to describe Orientalism, such as fear and imperial,
continue to be used to describe American Orientalism. The
difference is that American Orientalism has moved even
further away from its literary basis. Rather than draw on the
original Orientalist texts, the American Orientalist at this point
"applies" his social "science to the Orient." The emphasis is on
facts. However, Said argues through the example of Morroe
Berger that the original Orientalist framework remains in place.
Rather than a "catholic issue," Said claims it is "an
administrative one, a matter for policy."
Said also raises an important question regarding the
appropriateness of "ethnic origins and religion" versus "socio-
economic" descriptions of the Orient. He poses this as a
"fundamental question" of modern Orientalism but fails to
provide an answer. However, he does argue that it is likely "to
insist on both." This is at the core of what Said is arguing for
throughout the text. Rather than use single-dimension
descriptions to describe cultural groups, it is necessary to take
each group and place it in its own religious, ethnic, social, and
economic context before offering an "explanation" or sense of
understanding on the level of policy-making.
While the majority of Said's work up to this point has been
based on criticism of his peers and predecessors, he notes
"there is scholarship that is not as corrupt." While he fails to
note it within this text, Said's arguments have been built upon
the work of previous scholars. In later works, he calls these
individuals out specifically, but what makes Orientalism so
notable is the breadth and depth he goes into in order to
evaluate the impact of Orientalism.
Afterword
Summary
Fifteen years after the initial publication of Orientalism, Said
included an Afterword to address some of the critiques leveled
against the work within the context of political events since
that time. He states the largest critique leveled against his
work has been its "alleged anti-Westernism." He refutes this by
claiming that his criticism of Orientalism does not imply he is "a
supporter of Islamism or Muslim fundamentalism." Rather, he
argues his point was to show the Orient was made into the
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 21
"other" by the West, as cultures are apt to do. In and of itself,
this is not negative. However, when policy-makers are using
the same stereotypical definitions of the Orient as their
predecessors did centuries ago, this is ineffective as it "hides
historical change" and "hides the interests of the Orientalist."
Thus, it is necessary to understand the historical context of
how these identities were formed in order to understand how
they are being used today. There are two main reasons Said's
work is considered anti-Western. First, it is easier to cling to
stereotypes, and second, the political events that occurred
since the initial publication of Orientalism have turned public
and scholarly opinion against Arab nations. Said maintains that
Orientalism was written to support multiculturalism and
suggests that his views regarding the relationship between
Orientalists and Orientals could be applied to the discourse
between other groups such as Native Americans or African
Americans. He concludes that, in general, cultural groups
should not be defined on the basis of geography and language
alone. Different cultural groups are not easily defined or
categorized, and as such, they should not be reduced to
stereotypical caricatures in order to facilitate public policy.
Analysis
In the Afterword, Said addresses the main points of criticism
that immediately followed the book's publication. He spends a
great deal of time addressing what he calls "the book's alleged
anti-Westernism." He asserts that by leveling criticism at
Orientalism, he is not inherently supporting "Islamism or Muslim
fundamentalism." Yet, this is how his work has been perceived.
Said attempts to clarify that it was not his intention to create
an anti-Western tone. Rather, it was his intention to show how
the West constructed the "identity" of the Orient.
The explicit purpose of his book, rather than to present an anti-
Western viewpoint, was to "liberate intellectuals" from the
falseness of the Orientalist framework. Perhaps more
importantly, Said intended for his work to be utilized in other
regions of the world and for other cultural groups. In this
respect, he contributed greatly to postcolonial anthropology,
which sought to give voice to the disenfranchised. Said ends
his work with a discussion of the other works he wrote in the
years after Orientalism. In this way, he attempts to provide
physical evidence of his efforts to address the criticisms
leveled against Orientalism. His conclusion makes clear that
there remains much to be done in the field of Orientalism.
Orientalism Study Guide
g Quotes
"The result is usually to polarize ...
the Oriental becomes more
Oriental, the Westerner more
Western."
— Edward Said, Chapter 1, Part 1
Said is addressing what he sees as one of the foremost
questions raised by Orientalism, mainly whether it is possible
for different cultures to be genuinely divided into distinct
categories. He claims that the use of categories serves to
further distinctions even if the distinctions are inaccurate.
"There is nothing ... reprehensible
about such domestication of the
exotic ... but ... [there is] limited
vocabulary and imagery that
impose themselves as a
consequence."
— Edward Said, Chapter 1, Part 2
Said is referring to a point he makes throughout the text,
mainly that the categorization of the Orient is made through an
inherently human process.
The human mind prefers categorization and order. However,
Said argues this does not excuse the entrenchment of these
initial characterizations into enduring stereotypes.
"The Orientalist attitude ... shares
with magic ... the self-containing,
self-reinforcing character of a
closed system."
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Quotes 22
— Edward Said, Chapter 1, Part 2
Said is referring to the self-perpetuating nature of Orientalism.
Once the initial knowledge base was formed, it was sustained
over centuries.
"Orientalism carries within it the
stamp of a problematic European
attitude towards Islam."
— Edward Said, Chapter 1, Part 3
This quote speaks to a larger theme of modern Orientalism
Said touches on in the Preface, Afterword, and Chapter 3, Part
4. At its core is the relationship between not only Europe but all
modern world powers. There exists a fundamental bias against
Islamic nations stemming from these initial Orientalist
frameworks.
"It seems a ... human failing to
prefer the ... authority of a text to ...
direct encounters."
— Edward Said, Chapter 1, Part 4
In this quote, Said is referring to the preference of Orientalists
throughout time to draw on traditional Orientalist texts that
perpetuate stereotypes, rather than engaging directly with
natives in the East.
"Once we ... think of Orientalism as
a ... Western projection ... we will
encounter few surprises."
— Edward Said, Chapter 1, Part 4
By this point in the text, Said has framed his argument and
posits that Orientalism is not actually a system of knowledge
Orientalism Study Guide Quotes 23

about the Orient. Rather, it is a system of knowledge for
suppressing and governing the Orient.
"Power that dwelt in ...
scientifically advanced techniques
of philology and of anthropological
generalization."
— Edward Said, Chapter 2, Part 1
Said argues that by the 19th century, Orientalism was framed
by Western pilgrims who structured individual accounts of the
Orient. Because of this framework, the religious components
of Orientalism were maintained along with the stereotypical
accounts, but individual distinctions—namely between the
French and English experiences—were largely reduced.
"What seems to have influenced
Orientalism most was a fairly
constant sense of confrontation."

In Chapter 1, Said spends the majority of his time explaining the — Edward Said, Chapter 3, Part 1
development of a system of knowledge. In Chapter 2, however,
the majority of his efforts are spent describing how this system
It is telling that Said begins his section detailing "Orientalism
of knowledge led to the development of a power dynamic
Now" with a sentence describing the "sense of confrontation"
between East and West. Said emphasizes that this "power" is
felt between East and West. This dynamic continues to
derived from "science."
characterize the relationship between East and West today.

"Orientalists are neither interested "The distinctive differences

in nor capable of discussing between races, civilizations, and
individuals; instead artificial languages [were] ... radical and
entities ... predominate." ineradicable."
— Edward Said, Chapter 2, Part 3
— Edward Said, Chapter 3, Part 2

As part of the system of power dynamics, one of the most

Said argues the differences among Eastern and Western
powerful was the transformation of the Orient into a group that
cultural groups created by Orientalism were later solidified into
was not seen as fully "natural." This allowed the West to fully
irrefutable categories.
embrace imperialism.

"It operates as representations

"The Orient was a place of
usually do ... in a specific historical,
pilgrimage and ... Orientalism took
intellectual, and even economic
its form, style, and intention from
setting."
the idea of pilgrimage there."
— Edward Said, Chapter 3, Part 3
— Edward Said, Chapter 2, Part 4

Said claims that the specifics of modern Orientalism rely on

Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.

Orientalism Study Guide
the explicit setting in which Orientalism is being expressed.
This ties to Said's argument that there are two forms of
Orientalism: latent and manifest. While the basic Orientalist
framework remains, it is manifested differently, based on the
current political situation.
"Orientalism failed to identify with
human experience, failed also to
see it as human experience."
— Edward Said, Chapter 3, Part 4
Said ends the text with a statement summarizing the impact
Orientalism has had since its initial conception.
"To criticize Orientalism ... is in
effect to be a supporter of
Islamism or Muslim
fundamentalism."
— Edward Said, Afterword
Here, Said addresses the argument of some of his most vocal
critics. Their main criticism is that Said holds an "anti-Western"
sentiment. In his Afterword, however, Said claims he is merely
attempting to point out issues with the current system.
"Studying the historical dynamics
... is more demanding than sliding
back into stereotypes."
— Edward Said, Afterword
Said argues that the reason stereotypes have persisted so
long is because it is easier to fall into stereotypical Orientalist
depictions, and that the current political situation has induced
fear that supports these initial depictions.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Glossary 24
m Glossary
Arab (n) an Arabic-speaking individual inhabiting the Middle
East
colonialism (n) a policy of control in which one nation controls
another to the benefit of the controlling nation
culture (n) a group of individuals who share a similar
worldview, religion, language, and belief system that is passed
on through generations
imaginative geography (n) a perceived geography rather than
a physical geography
Islam (n) a religion founded by the prophet Muhammad and
outlined in the Koran
Muslim (n) a practitioner of Islam
mythology (n) a worldview for constructing explanations
derived from a set of collectively held beliefs
nationalism (n) a policy or mindset asserting the benefits of
one's own country over other nations
Occident (n) the Western Hemisphere encompassing the
Americas and Europe
philology (n) the study of the structures of, historical
development of, and relationships among languages
Semite (n) a Jewish individual, or a descendant of the ancient
or modern groups living in southwest Asia
semitic (adj) a language subfamily that includes the Akkadian,
Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Hebrew, and Phoenician languages
Zionism (n) a movement with the aim of establishing a Jewish
state
Zoroastrianism (n) a pre-Islamic religion still practiced by
some Iranian descendants today
e Suggested Reading
Ali, Tariq. Conversations with Edward Said. Seagull, 2006.
Childs, Peter. Post-Colonial Theory and English Literature: A
Orientalism Study Guide Glossary 25

Reader. Edinburgh UP, 1999.

Macfie, Alexander Lyon. Orientalism: A Reader. New York UP,

2000.

Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. Vintage, 1993.

Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.