Summary: Introduction to Orientalism by Edward Said

Edward Said opens his introduction to Orientalism by arguing that "The Orient was almost a European
invention" (Orientalism, p.1). He goes on to explain that "the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the
West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience" (ibid, p.1-2). Said claims that Orientalism is
a man-made discourse, alluding to the Foucaultian influence on his book. The fact that Orientalism is a
discourse does not mean it is a lie that would simply disappear by pointing out the truth. It is rather a
construction of reality which is embedded in very factual mechanism of reality ranging from politics and
military through law and economics all the way to literature and cinema. All these rely on what Said calls
"an ontological and epistemological distinction made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) "the
Occident" (ibid, p.2)

Said's Orientalism analyses mostly texts, but he strongly holds that there is no separation between ideas,
images and representations and actual material reality. Therefore he uses his analysis of texts to show
how Orientalism has formed as a highly powerful system of control due to the combination of actual
institutions of power and discursive ones. Both military and literary excursions, both political and cultural
endeavors, both administrative and anthropological practices and theories all served together to
establish Europe's superiority over the Orient.

Said continues to blame contemporary research in being Eurocentric by not recognizing its own bias
position and the political nature of its so called "pure" knowledge. Said demonstrates how a "canon" of
knowledge was crystallized to serve as the basis for everything that could be written by the West about
the East (and even if an Eastern person were to write about himself, he would also have the abide by
these premises in order to be heard and considered).

In the final part of his introduction to Orientalism Said states his own personal dimension and
biographical interest in his subject of study, acknowledging their political influence on his research.

Summary: Orientalsim / Chapter 1: The Scope of Orientalism

Chapter 1 of Edward Said's Oreintalism describes how the science of orientalism developed as a system
of knowledge in modern times. According to Said, the Western Orinetals structured the world as made
of two opposing elements, ours and theirs. These were not just geographical divisions but more
importantly epistemological ones. The West and East were to be cultural distinctions, differences in
civilization or lack of it. In Western eyes orients were incapable of taking care of themselves, they were
lazy, lustful, irrational and violent but also exotic and mysterious. The self-proclaimed superiority of the
West over the East also led Western scholars to think that they are more apt to understands the orients
than the orients themselves, thus "orientalizing" them and subjecting them to Western standards which
did not favor them.

According to Edward Said researchers and men of administration took a very Eurocentric and therefore
biased and selective approach to understanding the Orient and the orients. All accounts of the Orient
according to Said were prone to generalizations, attributing collective significance to acts of individuals.
The West also used its own terminology to define and analyze the Orient, applying terms were unknown
to their subjects. This is how concepts of the Orient were developed by Western eyes and for Western
eyes.

Orientalism for Said was fundamentally a system of self projection. The Orient served as a mirror for the
West who wanted to see himself as superior. By describing the oriental as uncivilized the West attempt
to proclaim its own civilization. Said also employs the Freudian mechanism of projection, arguing that
Europe projected everything it didn't want to acknowledge about itself onto the Orient (including sexual
fantasies). The point of Said's chapter 1 of Orientalism is that Western Knowledge of the East was never
neutral since it was always involved with a political and cultural agenda.

Orientalism / Chapter 2: Orientalist Structures and Restructures

In chapter 2 of Orientalism Eward Said describes a shift in Western attitude towards the Orient in
modern times. According to Said Orientalism as a field of knowledge romanticized the non-Western
world for Western viewers. The shape and content of the Orient was devised by Western eyes for
western eyes. The Orient was to become the exotic, a land of sunshine and romantic fantasies.

Said explains that the Orient as the West's "other" in the 19th century took on a new modern shape
which saw it as an "unspoiled" and innocent form of human existence compared with the highly civilized,
therefore complicated and even "unnatural" Western world. This does not mean that Westerners saw
the Orient as superior to them, on the contrary, the purity of the Orientals made them inferior to the
sophisticated West. The Orient's innocence was cause for the West to justify controlling them, even for
their own sake.

Another justification provided by Orientalism for the rule of the West over the East was a form of social
Darwinism which pointed to the fact that the West developed faster than other parts of the world as
proof of the Westerners as biologically superior. The higher development rate of the West led to
Westerners "discovering" others and not the other way around. This was seen as additional proof of the
West's evolutionary advantage.

Chapter 2 of Orientalism also includes an analysis by Said on the works of dominant Orientalists in the
19th century (like Silvestre de Sacy and Ernest Renan). Said shows the bias and prejudice inherited in
their works and offers a genealogy of their development. Finally, in the final part of chapter 2 of
Orientsalism Said describes how the image of the Orient was a cause for pilgrimage making excursions to
visit and receive inspiration for it while protecting themselves from "its unsetting influences"
(Orientalism, p.166) ltural agenda.

Summary: Orientalism / Chapter 3 : Orientalism Now

The third and final chapter on Edward Said's "Orinetalism" is devoted to exploring the most recent (for
Said's time) developments in Orientalism and the manner in which the Orient was perceived and treated
by the Occident.

Said opens chapter 3 of "Orientalism" by describing how European colonialism was the geographical
basis of Orientalism, both in geo-political and cultural aspects. Orientalism and colonialism were both
driven by a quest for knowledge and power and their results and products were knowledge and power
(see Foucault on knowledge and power).

Said then moves on to talk about 20th century politics and change in the relationship between East and
West. One of the main differences in the 20th century is that Orientalists became much more involved in
the everyday lives of Orientals, unlike their predecessors who were uninvolved observers. People
studying non-Western cultures attempted to live with them and integrate with them (like Lawrence of
Arabia for example). This was not driven by a wish to resemble the Orients but rather by a wish to gain
more knowledge about them and to rule them better.

Like in chapter 2 of "Orientalism", Said explores works by important Orientalists (like Massignon and
Gibb) that now take on a more liberal position, but without losing their bias and prejudice. The main
attempt was to portray Islam as a weak and inferior religion.

Said holds the center of Orientalism shifted from Europe to the US following World War 1. Orientalsim in
the US was related to social sciences (unlike linguistics in Europe). Orientalism as a field of study was
aimed to assist the government in finding ways to control non-Western societies. Decolonization
processes following World War 2 did not mean the end of Orientalism which was made implicit instead
of explicit. Even in the age of globalization and higher interaction between East and West Arabs are all
terrorists while all Japanese know Karate.

Said concludes "Orientalism" by arguing that Orientals should get a less passive position in the
construction of their own image. He also warns about the practice of making generalizations in human
sciences.