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.