8/12/2019 Orientalism.rtf
1/1
Orientalism: a Brief DefinitionEdward Said
[From Orientalism, New York: Vintage, 1979!
"nlike t#e $meri%ans, t#e Fren%# and Britis#&&less so
t#e 'ermans, ()ssians, S*anis#,
+ort)gese, talians, and Swiss&a-e #ad a long tradition of
w#at s#all .e %alling Orientalism, awa/ of %oming to terms wit# t#e
Orient t#at is .ased on t#e Orient0s s*e%ial *la%e in
E)ro*eanestern E2*erien%e 3#e Orient is not onl/ ad4a%ent to
E)ro*e5 it is also t#e *la%e of E)ro*e0sgreatest and ri%#est and
oldest %olonies, t#e so)r%e of its %i-ili6ations and lang)ages, its
%)lt)ral%ontestant, and one of its dee*est and most re%)rring
images of t#e Ot#er n addition, t#e Orient#as #el*ed to define
E)ro*e or t#e est8 as its %ontrasting image, idea, *ersonalit/,
e2*erien%eYet none of t#is Orient is merel/ imaginati-e 3#e Orient
is an integral *art of E)ro*ean material%i-ili6ation and %)lt)re
Orientalism e2*resses and re*resents t#at *art %)lt)rall/ and
e-enideologi%all/ as a a mode of dis%o)rse wit# s)**orting
instit)tions, -o%a.)lar/, s%#olars#i*,imager/, do%trines, e-en
%olonial .)rea)%ra%ies and %olonial st/les
t will .e %lear to t#e readert#at ./ Orientalism mean se-eral
t#ings, all of t#em, in m/ o*inion,interde*endent 3#e most readil/
a%%e*ted designation for Orientalism is an a%ademi% one, and
indeed t#e la.el still ser-es in a n)m.er of a%ademi%
instit)tions $n/one w#o tea%#es, writesa.o)t, or resear%#es t#e
Orient&&and t#is a**lies w#et#er t#e *ersion is an
ant#ro*ologist,so%iologist, #istorian, or
*#ilologist&&eit#er in its s*e%ifi% or its general as*e%ts,
is an Orientalist,and w#at #e or s#e sa/s or does is
Orientalism
(elated to t#is a%ademi% tradition, w#ose fort)nes,
transmigrations, s*e%iali6ations, andtransmissions are in *art t#e
s).4e%t of t#is st)d/, is a more general meaning for
OrientalismOrientalism is a st/le of t#o)g#t .ased )*on ontologi%al
and e*istemologi%al distin%tion made.etween t#e Orient and most of
t#e time8 t#e O%%ident 3#)s a -er/ large mass of writers,among w#o
are *oet, no-elists, *#iloso*#ers, *oliti%al t#eorists, e%onomists,
and im*erialadministrators, #a-e a%%e*ted t#e .asi% distin%tion
.etween East and est as t#e starting *ointfor ela.orate a%%o)nts
%on%erning t#e Orient, its *eo*le, %)stoms, mind, destin/, and so
on t#e *#enomenon of Orientalism as st)d/ it #ere deals
*rin%i*all/, not wit# a %orres*onden%e
.etween Orientalism and Orient, .)t wit# t#e internal
%onsisten%/ of Orientalism and its ideasa.o)t t#e Orient des*ite or
.e/ond an/ %orrses*onden%e, or la%k t#ereof, wit# a real
Orient1&,;8
