A Reading and Reflection on: Edward Said's Orientalism
Introduction
Orientalism is a exploration of thought behind the colonialism as way to dominate the east by the west both politically and economically. The Author Edward Said, a Palestinial-American scholar and a prominent critic of the late twentieth century, had experienced the life in Jerusalem at the time of 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He had his education from prestigious schools in Europe and America.
Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between “the Orient” and (most of the time) “the Occident.” Edward Said sees a deeply rooted idea, beliefs or intentions in the west which is used to control, and manipulate the Orient world (p. 12). In this work, Said seeks to identify the dynamics behind the imperialist view of the world, which are so prevalent that its indistinguishable from the truth and the judgment it produces (p. 20).
Summary
Orientalism is an interdisciplinary work that relates to many different academic faculties. It seeks to explore how the Orientalism (the Western view about the East, the Orient) has been instrumental in creating the colonization and post-colonization western point of view which has little to do with the real orient. Orientalism while it had its origin in the western imagination of the East, it established its root in power, domination, hegemony and authority. To develop his idea Edwar Said has divided the book into three main chapters: The scope of Orientalism, Orientalism Structures and Restructures and Orientalism now.
Edward Said saw that the original source of the Orientalism is are those who created literatures on the Orients. He calls them Orientalists, that they put forth the idea that the Orientals are naïve and do not know politic therefore Westerners should rule over them and help them. Therefore they made the westerner civilized and justified their invasion of the East.
Said gives his definition and scope that Orientalism incorporates all people whose activities are related to the east. “Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient-and this applies whether the person is an anthropologist, sociologist, historian, or philologist-either in its specific or its general aspects, is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is Orientalism”( P.10). The Orientalism is problematic because it happened completely in the west without any exchange from the East, that the Occident possessed the intellectual authority over the orient for Orientalism. Hence, Orientalism produced its own culture, and political motivation (P.28). The West formulated their knowledge on the Orient when they occupied the land, therefore for Said “the Orientalist reality is both antihuman and persistent. Its scope, as much as its institutions and all-pervasive influence, lasts up to the present” (p.52). For Edward Said it declares unsubstantiated truth or impressions as if they are absolute without verifying or giving a second thought it may not be the truth. Following paragraph exemplifies the problem of the Orientalism:
Thus, Mohammed is an imposter, the very phrase canonized in d’Herbelot’s Bibliothèque and dramatized in a sense by Dante. No background need be given; the evidence necessary to convict Mohammed is contained in the “is” One does not qualify the phrase, neither does it seem necessary to say that Mohammed was an imposter, nor need one consider for a moment that it may not be necessary to repeat the statement. It is repeated, he is an imposter, and each time one says it, he becomes more of an imposter and the author of the statement gains a little more authority in having declared it. p.82-83
Said concludes that Orientalism cannot be separated from its uses in colonial purposes. He points out to Napoleon and says that Orientalism was for the conquest of Egypt which was a historical and geopolitically significant. p. 93-95. This way, a literary and scholarly discipline was made into a policy toward orient. Said also sees that the Orientalism fails to see the dynamism in the Orient where the west is the actor, the Orient is a passive reactor. They did not see any other Orient’s cultural, political and social historical reality other than their response to the west. (p. 121).
In Chapter 2, Edward Said shows how Orientalism and political development have reciprocal relationship. According to him, Orientalism is used to achieve a political goal at the same time Orientalism is depended on such political development to gain its knowledge about the orient (p. 132). For Edward Said, some renowned scholars such as Sacy, Renan and Mark were Orientalists in their point of view. Sacy utilized Orientalism to appreciate the Arabic poetry, Philology of Renan is the Orientalist point of view. For Marx, Said writes:
Marx was concerned with vindicating his own theses on socio-economic revolution; but in part also he seems to have had easy resource to a massed body of writing, both internally consolidated by Orientalism and put forward by it beyond the field, that controlled any statement made about the Orient (p. 170).
Even though the west tried to be the as literal and as original it could be in regard to the study of the orient language it ended of creating another form of Orientalism by making dictionaries, commentaries in the west for the west. Said terms it “necessary furniture of British Empire” (p.230).
Even now, the post-colonial period, the Orientalism is repeating itself in its original form. He writes: “Orientalism staked its existence, not upon its openness, its receptivity to the Orient, but rather on its internal, repetitious consistency about its constitutive will-to-power over the Orient” (p. 239-238). The relationship between the Orientalist and Orient was essentially hermeneutical: while trying to translate and understand it remained outside of orient. For Edward Said, Orientalism is still there which is actually diving the East for the West. (p. 261). These days Orientalism is changing its stance. The Orientalists pretend to speak for the orients as if they can’t speak for themselves. Edward Said quotes Marxt Orienalits statement to condemn them, “they cannot represent themselves; they must be represented” (p. 313). Orientalists do not see that Orients are capable of standing for themselves.
Reflection
Though Edward Said is produced long ago, and the history has changed ever since then, his writing still hits the mark when we discuss about the Orientalism. Orientalists still speak about the Orients in their own terms and give names and meaning to the Orients. The Orientalists still influence the western governments formulate their view and relationship with the Eastern countries. However, the influence of Orientalism is far-reaching than ever, because it has infiltrated in the institution of the Orient itself. After Reading Orientalism by Edward Said, my eyes have opened up and are able to see the effects of Orientalism even upon me, who is from the Orient.
Sometimes westerners come to the east and try to represent the eastern culture people and language; try to judge / speak for their preservation and such. Though it sound a positive outcome of Orientalism, however it is the Orientalists’ move because they still view the Orients are inferior and not capable of helping themselves. They speak for their government, sovereignty, and so on. Edward Said clarified that its time to leave the Oriental affairs in the Orient hands.
Mt. Everest is the highest peak in the world and situated well into the East in the Himalayas. However, the name is not an Oriental, but a western. The original name is Sagarmatha. This is what the Orientalists do; they give their own name and properties to the things that do not belong to them. With their power and technology they popularize them and force the orientals to abide by their norms.
However there are many negatives exposed about the Orientalism throughout the book.
Can we say Orientalism is always wrong should be avoided? Can Orientalism be utilized to learn the truth and find a common understanding between the East and the west? Can Orientalism be seen as one of the point of view in this post-modern era of the twenty first century? These are the question I would like to be discussed.
