Edward Said
Edward Said
#### Full Name and Common Aliases
Edward Wadie Saïd was born on November 1, 1935, in Jerusalem, Palestine (now Israel). He is commonly known by his initials, E.W. Said.
#### Birth and Death Dates
November 1, 1935 – September 25, 2003
#### Nationality and Profession(s)
Said was a Palestinian-American literary critic, philosopher, and public intellectual. His nationality is often described as Palestinian-American or Arab-American.
#### Early Life and Background
Edward Said's early life was marked by the tumultuous events of the Middle East during World War II. Born in Jerusalem to Christian parents, he spent his childhood moving between Palestine and Egypt due to the war. In 1947, his family relocated to Cairo, where he developed a deep interest in literature, particularly Shakespearean plays. After completing high school, Said attended Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts before enrolling at Princeton University.
#### Major Accomplishments
Edward Said's academic career was marked by significant accomplishments:
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1957.
Said went on to earn his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Harvard University, both in English Literature.
In 1963, he joined the faculty at Columbia University as an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature.
#### Notable Works or Actions
Some notable works by Edward Said include:
Orientalism (1978), a critical analysis of Western literature's portrayal of the East, which argued that these portrayals were often inaccurate and perpetuated colonialist attitudes.
Culture and Imperialism (1993), an exploration of how cultural narratives intersect with imperial powers, influencing global relationships.
#### Impact and Legacy
Edward Said's work had a profound impact on various fields:
His critiques of Orientalism challenged the dominant Western perspectives on non-Western cultures, paving the way for more nuanced understandings.
He was also a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights and an outspoken critic of Zionism, using his academic platform to address issues of colonialism and imperialism.
#### Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Edward Said is widely quoted and remembered for his:
Intellectual courage: He fearlessly spoke out against oppressive systems, often at great personal cost.
Influence on critical theory: His works continue to shape discussions around cultural studies, postcolonialism, and literary criticism.
Pioneering work in interdisciplinary scholarship: Said's exploration of the intersections between literature, history, politics, and culture has inspired generations of scholars.
Quotes by Edward Said
It will not take a modern Victorian specialist long to admit that liberal cultural heroes like John Stuart Mill, Arnold, Carlyle, Newman, Macaulay, Ruskin, George Eliot, and even Dickens had definite views on race and imperialism, which are quite easily to be found at work in their writing.
The sense of Islam as a threatening Other - with Muslims depicted as fanatical, violent, lustful, irrational - develops during the colonial period in what I called Orientalism. The study of the Other has a lot to do with the control and dominance of Europe and the West generally in the Islamic world. And it has persisted because it's based very, very deeply in religious roots, where Islam is seen as a kind of competitor of Christianity.
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.
What we must eliminate are systems of representation that carry with them the authority which has become repressive because it doesn't permit or make room for interventions on the part of those represented.
The Orient that appears in Orientalism, then, is a system of representations framed by a whole set of forces that brought the Orient into Western learning, Western consciousness, and later, Western empire.... The Orient is the stage on which the whole East is confined. On this stage will appear the figures whose role it is to represent the larger whole from which they emenate. The Orient then seems to be, not an unlimited extension beyond the familiar European world, but rather a closed field, a theatrical stage affixed to Europe.
I take criticism so seriously as to believe that, even in the midst of a battle in which one is unmistakably on one side against another, there should be criticism, because there must be critical consciousness if there are to be issues, problems, values, even lives to be fought for... Criticism must think of itself as life-enhancing and constitutively opposed to every form of tyranny, domination, and abuse; its social goals are noncoercive knowledge produced in the interests of human freedom.
Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient—dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.