After reading Edward Said’s Orientalism, I understand why his piece has created such a visible legacy not only at Columbia but across academia. His ideas are revolutionary, striking at the foundations of academic institutions all over the world. As an individual, studying Islam and the Middle East of which my interests include Sufism, Sectarianism, and Fundamentalism, I am the product of orientalism, no doubt. As a member of this new generation of orientalists, however, what exactly is my role in a field bloated with lasting legacies of cultural domination? Breaking out of the orientalist framework while using terms at the underpinning of orientalism seems paradoxical nor entirely possible. Nevertheless, I write this reflection with optimism. The fact that I have now been exposed to these power structures makes me feel excited, for I have essentially entered another theoretical realm. In this reflection, I discuss Said’s thesis, examine these power discourses, and pose questions that I think need elaboration from not only Said but today’s orientalists.
Orientalism as presented by …show more content…
To limit orientalism to one, concrete definition would only serve its agenda, for it appears to be fluid and adaptive to changing circumstances from 18th century imperialism to the 21st century globalization. To state his thesis simply, orientalism is the product of British and French power discourses that reaffirmed their political and cultural hegemony over those living in the Orient, a region and people they themselves signified and created. “Indeed my real argument is that Orientalism is…a considerable dimension of modern political-intellectual culture, and as such has less to do with the Orient than it does with ‘our world’”(12). These epistemological and ontological constructions have been the pillars separating the European or West from the Orient or
Orientalism as presented by …show more content…
To limit orientalism to one, concrete definition would only serve its agenda, for it appears to be fluid and adaptive to changing circumstances from 18th century imperialism to the 21st century globalization. To state his thesis simply, orientalism is the product of British and French power discourses that reaffirmed their political and cultural hegemony over those living in the Orient, a region and people they themselves signified and created. “Indeed my real argument is that Orientalism is…a considerable dimension of modern political-intellectual culture, and as such has less to do with the Orient than it does with ‘our world’”(12). These epistemological and ontological constructions have been the pillars separating the European or West from the Orient or