Edward W. Said ( )  Palestinian-American scholar;  Mixed cultural experience: “a Palestinian going to school in Egypt, with an English first name, an American passport, and no certain identity.”  Ph.D. from Harvard; taught at Columbia University.  One of the creators of postcolonial theory and postcolonialism as a field of studies.

A Constructed Notion  “[N]either the term Orient nor the concept of the West has any ontological stability; each is made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identification of the Other.” (Edward Said)  Ex.: “Far East” as a term applied to East Asia is a Medieval European geopolitical construction.

Orientalism (1978) by Edward Said “ Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient’s special place in European Western experience.” The Orient, according to Said:  Based on preconceived notions.  The place of Europe’s colonies;  The source of its civilizations and languages;  Its cultural contestant;  Recurring image of the Other;  Helped to define the “West” by contrast.

Orientalism in Edward Said’s Words  “Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between ‘the Orient and […] ‘the Occident’.”  “Orientalism [is] a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having control over the Orient.”

Orientalism  “European culture gained in strength and identity by setting itself off against the Orient as a sort of surrogate and even underground self.”  “The Orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture.”  A large number of “Orientalist” texts were produced in the “West,” constructing the “Orient” as “Westerners” saw it.  “Domestication of the exotic” in Western cultures.