This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“In the process the uncountable sediments of history, which
include innumerable histories and a dizzying variety of peoples, languages,
experiences, and cultures, all these are swept aside or ignored, relegated to
the sand heap along with the treasures ground into meaningless fragments that
were taken out of Baghdad’s libraries and museums. My argument is that history is made by men
and women, just as it can also be unmade and rewritten, always with various
silences and elisions, always with shapes imposed and disfigurements tolerated,
so that “our” East, “our” Orient becomes “ours” to possess and direct.” – Edward
W. Said, Preface, Page xviii
“If he does not speak directly for
the Orientals, it is because they after all speak another language; yet he
knows how they feel since he knows their history, their reliance upon such as
he, and their expectations. Still, he
does speak for them in the sense that what they might have to say, were they to
be asked and might they be able to answer, would somewhat uselessly confirm
what is already evident: that they are a subject race, dominated by a race that
knows them and what is good for them better than they could possibly know
themselves. Their great moments were in
the past; they are useful in the modern world only because the powerful and
up-to-date empires have effectively brought them out of the wretchedness and
turned them into rehabilitated residents of productive colonies.” – Edward
W. Said, Part 1: The Cope of Orientalism, Chapter I: Knowing the Oriental, Page
34
“The Oriental is imagined to feel his world threatened by a
superior civilization; yet his motives are impelled, not by some positive
desire for freedom, political independence, or cultural achievement on their
own terms, but instead by rancor or jealous malice. The panacea offered for this potentially ugly
turn of affairs is that the Orient be marketed for a Western consumer, be put
before him as one among numerous wares beseeching his attention. By a single stroke you will defuse the Orient
(by letting it think itself to be an “equal” quantity on the Occidental
marketplace of ideas), and you will appease Western fears of an Oriental tidal
wave.” – Edward W. Said, Part 3: Orientalism Now, Chapter II: Style, Expertise,
Vision, Page 249
Is This An Overview?
History is made and written by
people, who can decide what information to share and withhold. Choices that give recognition to some people,
while ignoring others. A diversity of
experiences simplified to fit a wanted caricature. Orientalism is a general term for the East, a
derogatory term that makes a caricature of the East. An imposed term on the East by the West. The Orient’s institutions, traditions,
cultures are defined and represented by the West.
Orientalism is
about power. Provides justifications for
intervention, for conquest, for dominance.
Tied to the perceived superiority of the West over the inferiority of
the East. That the conquerors are
helping the conquered, that the conquered are the beneficiaries. That the conquerors know better about what is
needed for the conquered than the conquered.
The less powerful states cannot retaliate against the powerful state’s impositions,
therefore turn their efforts to repressing their own populations.
Caveats?
This book can be difficult to
read. Most of the book is a composition
of various examples of how the West treats and thinks of the East. While Western supremacy thoughts are
represented, Eastern supremacy thoughts are not. There have been various Eastern societies
which thought themselves to be superior to the West. Every people and cultures are capable of
seeing themselves as superior to another.
