A classic text, should be studied by all serious scholars

books:

	• Orientalism Edward W. Said Vintage, 1979 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 70 reviews view larger image
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The other side of anti-Semitism

The phenomenon Edward Said describes in his book is the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim traditions in society and literature. "Orientalism" is a term that describes a "discourse", a school of thought. And like anti-Semtism, which was one part of Orientalist prejudice in the 19th century, the discourse of anti-Muslim anti-Arab prejudice has a long and powerful history. Regrettably it infects leading scholars of the Middle East like Bernard Lewis. Said deserves credit for putting it all together. Although he is a harsh critic of Western imperialism and Israeli and American power in the Middle East, he hardly manifests racism towards any group.

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A classic text, should be studied by all serious scholars

This is an academic work, not for everyone's interests ortastes. But still it is a revolutionary look at how Westernscholarship "invented" the Orient from its own political and psychological needs to create a dehumanized "Other". Few books explain so well the intellectual origins of popular and academic stereotypes of the Middle East. Few books explain so well the failure of Western academics to accurately study other cultures in a useful way conducive to mutual understanding.

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Orientalism is an inaugural book for postcolonial studies

Although from the perspective of postcolonial and cultural studies in the late nineties Said's Orientalism may seem basic or unselfconscious, one must remember the importance of this book to a wide range of fields. Through his identification of the construction of the racist and imperialist discourses of academic Orientalism, Said forces those interested in literary and cultural studies to reflect upon their own status as intellectuals and their own complicity with Orientalism and, by extension, other exploitative modes of power. Said's book at least partially inaugurates contemporary debates about the literary canon, as well as really paving the road for a variety of approaches to postcolonial studies, including, most importantly, the work of Homi Bhabha.

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An account of how 'the West' perceives 'others'

Although some may find this book distasteful to their appetites because it might infringe upon their personal perceptions of themselves or their society, debasing the book to a work that they perceive as an attack upon their 'race', "Orientalism" actually attempts to address an issue concerning Western academic perceptions regarding non-Western people: Mainly that these perceptions are tainted. The very fact that some individuals perceive that the book is a personal attack upon a certain race validates the book itself. Said attempts therein to explain how certain perceptions about certain people persist in academia, permeating and sustaining prejudices within the non-academic world as well, because the Orientalist school appeals to the base of human emotions of jingoism and self-justification of 'superiority'. Debasing this explanantion by perceiving it as an attack upon any other 'race' reeks of the attitude that Said is trying to explain. No 'race' is at blaim, only the causal relationship between the perceptions that empire created and the people they attempted to govern. Interpretations that attempt to label Said's work as an attack upon a certain 'race' only show the true colors of those that make such arguments

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Superb Polemic

At first sight, arcane knowledge of the classical "Orient" and seemingly objective inquiry into cultures other than "ours" may not bear any great impact on politics or other more decisive facets of life. Said demonstrates, however, that knowledge does affect political power in extremely significant ways. He thoroughly documents how apparently "objective" scholars from Europe and later America formulated and taught academic dogmas about the "inferior East." These academic doctrines, in turn, acquired an aura of authority on the basis of their seemingly immense knowledge, and thus acquired the power to (mis)represent "the Orient" to the Occidental audience. Through various reductionist stereotypes, such Orientalist dogmas climbed their way into state-sponsored academic chairs and experts who, up to his very day, have the power to guide and direct national policies. Said's Orientalism is a forceful and cogent political argument against binary oppositions and harmful divisions which unfortunately still pervade much of "our" scholarship and politics.

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reviews: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, page 14

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