Edward W. Said’s Followers (3,967)

Add New
Videos

Orientalism as a Tool of Colonialism 4/4

Add a comment

Orientalism as a Tool of Colonialism 3/4

Add a comment

Edward W. Said

Born

in Jerusalem, Mandate Palestine

November 01, 1935

Died

September 23, 2003

Genre

Nonfiction

Influences

Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Michel Foucalt and Theodo ...more

edit data

(Arabic Profile إدوارد سعيد)
Edward Wadie Said was a professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies. A Palestinian American born in Mandatory Palestine, he was a citizen of the United States by way of his father, a U.S. Army veteran.

Educated in the Western canon, at British and American schools, Said applied his education and bi-cultural perspective to illuminating the gaps of cultural and political understanding between the Western world and the Eastern world, especially about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East; his principal influences were Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Michel Foucault, and Theodor Adorno.

As a cultural criti (Arabic Profile إدوارد سعيد)
Edward Wadie Said was a professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies. A Palestinian American born in Mandatory Palestine, he was a citizen of the United States by way of his father, a U.S. Army veteran.

Educated in the Western canon, at British and American schools, Said applied his education and bi-cultural perspective to illuminating the gaps of cultural and political understanding between the Western world and the Eastern world, especially about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East; his principal influences were Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Michel Foucault, and Theodor Adorno.

As a cultural critic, Said is known for the book Orientalism (1978), a critique of the cultural representations that are the bases of Orientalism—how the Western world perceives the Orient. Said’s model of textual analysis transformed the academic discourse of researchers in literary theory, literary criticism, and Middle-Eastern studies—how academics examine, describe, and define the cultures being studied. As a foundational text, Orientalism was controversial among the scholars of Oriental Studies, philosophy, and literature.

As a public intellectual, Said was a controversial member of the Palestinian National Council, because he publicly criticized Israel and the Arab countries, especially the political and cultural policies of Muslim régimes who acted against the national interests of their peoples. Said advocated the establishment of a Palestinian state to ensure equal political and human rights for the Palestinians in Israel, including the right of return to the homeland. He defined his oppositional relation with the status quo as the remit of the public intellectual who has “to sift, to judge, to criticize, to choose, so that choice and agency return to the individual” man and woman.

In 1999, with his friend Daniel Barenboim, Said co-founded the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, based in Seville, which comprises young Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab musicians. Besides being an academic, Said also was an accomplished pianist, and, with Barenboim, co-authored the book Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (2002), a compilation of their conversations about music. Edward Said died of leukemia on 25 September 2003. ...more

Combine Editions
Edward W. Said’s books

Average rating: 4.15 · 73,746 ratings · 5,830 reviews · 189 distinct works • Similar authors

	Orientalism 4.13 avg rating — 27,647 ratings — published 1978 — 128 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Culture and Imperialism 4.18 avg rating — 5,574 ratings — published 1993 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Out of Place really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,354 ratings — published 1999 — 45 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Representations of the Intellectual 3.99 avg rating — 2,782 ratings — published 1994 — 37 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Question of Palestine 4.35 avg rating — 2,528 ratings — published 1979 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World by Edward W. Said, Luann Walther (Editor) 4.09 avg rating — 1,932 ratings — published 1997 — 48 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Power, Politics and Culture: Interviews With Edward W. Said by Edward W. Said, Bernard Lewis, Leon Wieseltier 4.25 avg rating — 588 ratings — published 2001 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reflections on Exile and Other Essays 4.32 avg rating — 480 ratings — published 2001 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Freud and the Non-European by Edward W. Said, Jacqueline Rose, Christopher Bollas 3.82 avg rating — 502 ratings — published 2002 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said by Edward W. Said, David Barsamian (Editor) 4.11 avg rating — 405 ratings — published 2003 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Edward W. Said…

Quotes by Edward W. Said (?)

“You cannot continue to victimize someone else just because you yourself were a victim once—there has to be a limit”
― Edward Said

tags: colonialism, imperialism, israile, palestine, postcolonialism, victim

740 likes

“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate."

(Los Angeles Times, July 20, 2003)”
― Edward W. Said

tags: imperialism

418 likes

“All knowledge that is about human society, and not about the natural world, is historical knowledge, and therefore rests upon judgment and interpretation. This is not to say that facts or data are nonexistent, but that facts get their importance from what is made of them in interpretation… for interpretations depend very much on who the interpreter is, who he or she is addressing, what his or her purpose is, at what historical moment the interpretation takes place.”
― Edward Said

tags: history, human-society, interpretation, knowledge

281 likes

See all Edward W. Said's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Challenge: 50 Books: Evan's 50 for 2009	42	715	Sep 08, 2009 11:24AM
Middle East/North...: 2011 Stop (3)- The Levant /sham	54	112	Jun 08, 2011 12:14PM
flight paths: February 14.5000000001 to February 29th	15	18	Feb 29, 2012 05:00AM
Fantasy Aficionados: TBR Mountain Decimation Challenge	367	155	Mar 17, 2012 08:08PM
Middle East/North...: "Orientalism" by Edward Said(Jan/May 2011)	163	220	Oct 11, 2012 05:15AM
Middle East/North...: The question of Palestine (September – October)	15	38	Oct 23, 2012 11:44PM
Chicks On Lit: Books about Places - A to Z.	118	209	Dec 29, 2012 02:21PM

More…

Edward W. Said’s Followers (3,967)

Add NewVideos

Edward W. Said

Combine EditionsEdward W. Said’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

Combine Editions
Edward W. Said’s books