Said Orientalism Questions INTS 407
2. P. 3 bottom What does Said's book try to demonstrate?
"In brief, because of Orientalism, the Orient was not a free subject of thought or action." "European culture gained in strength and identity by setting itself off against the Orient as a sort of surrogate and even underground self." - Said recognizes that Orientalism does not on its own determine what can be said about the Orient - The East are the foil of the West.
7. P. 15 What kind of political questions are raised by Orientalism?
"What other sorts of intellectual, aesthetic, scholarly, and cultural energies went into the making of an imperialist tradition like the Orientalist one?" "How did various disciplines change Orientalists world view?" "What is the meaning of this context?" "How does Orientalism transmit or reproduce itself around the world?" Various aspects of humanism can help understand Orientalism.
What usually results when one uses categories such as Western and Oriental in analysis, research and public policy?
"to polarize the distinction between the East and the West. "us" versus "them". Orientalism becomes more Oriental and Westerner becomes more western. Polarizes two cultures to understand differences.
3. P. 4 Why are Britain and France (and eventually the US) the main countries responsible for the cultural enterprise called "Orientalism"?
- "Until after WWII, France and Britain were quantitatively and qualitatively more involved in the Orient." - "To Speak of Orientalism is to mainly speak about British and French cultural enterprises." - "Orientalism derives from a particular closeness experienced between Britain and France and the Orient, which until the early 19th century had really meant only India and Bible Lands"
13. P. 42 Why was Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 so important?
- "it was the scientific cultural appropriation of one culture by another" - relationship has influenced Egyptian and European ties in contemporary political and cultural perspectives. Description de I'Egypte provided a scene or setting for Orientalism. - Was to extract knowledge from the Orient and understand it through a Western perspective. Egypt was the Wests' laboratory, theater, and province. - knowledge in the West about the Orient was modernized. "Orientalism imposed limits about the Orient"
9. Pp 25-28 What is the personal dimension of the book?
- Aware of being an oriental in 2 British colonies - Attempt to inventory that traces upon him and the domination of the Europeans - Orientalism is an Islamic branch of anti-Semitism.
12. P. 41 What was the scope of European colonial dominion in 1914? What did France and Britain decide to do with respect to the Orient?
- From 1815 to 1914, European direct colonial dominion expanded from about 35% to 85% of the world's surface - France and Britain were 2 greatest empires - They shared orientalism as a library or archive of information commonly held. P. 41 Napoleon attacked Egypt to study Egypt. - Orientalism was productive because it produced information.
8. Pp 15-25 On these pages Said describes his methodological approach. P. 21 On what does his analysis place emphasis? What does this approach share with that of Hartog (or Greenblatt)?
- Said chose to concentrate on the British, French, and American experiences - Chose to limit that concentrations to the Anglo-French-American experience of the Arabs and Islam
11. Pp. 39- 40 What are the 2 elements in the relation between East and West? P. 40 How do these two features of the cultural relation come together in Orientalism?
1) Growing systematic knowledge about the Orient from the Europe 2) Europe was always in a position of strength, not total domination. Relationship between a strong and weak partner on the basis of social, political, and cultural, and religious grounds. EX. The European is "normal" and "rational". The Oriental is "irrational" "childlike", and "different" Europe manipulated the Orient's identity. 3) Oriental lived in a world with its own principles of coherence which the Westerner had learned, through study, to interpret - Orientals can't explain their own culture and religion. Their world needs to be explained for them by the Westerner.
1. Pp 2-3 What are the three things the term "Orientalism" can mean?
1) Orientalism is a form of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrines, and even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles. Is an elaboration of basic geographical distinction as well as a series of interests which Orientalism creates and maintain 2) It is a Style of Thought. It is the West (The Occident) verses the East (The Orient).. Orientalism is an academic term. Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient is an *Orientalist*. What he or she does is *Orientalism* The *Orient* is the geographical location. The term Orientalism is less preferred by specialists today because it is too vague and general and because it connotes the attitudes of the 19th and 20th century European colonialism. Been replaced by Oriental studies or "Area studies" 3) Orientalism is a western style for dominating, restructuring, an having authority over the Orient. ex. Dealing with it, making statements, authorizing views, describing, teaching, settling, ruling, etc.
6. Pp 9-15 What does Said write here about the distinctions made between pure and political knowledge? What was Said's direction?
1) Takes direction of a humanist, which means he is hoping to be impartial and simply understand human behavior. He is taking his own political stance out of the equation. This is pure knowledge. - Knowledge of the Orient must be nonpolitical, impartial, and objective, not subjective - Ambition is legitimate, but impossible because knowledge is produced within a political context which creates what kind of knowledge one will know. Political society reaches through civil institutions and saturates those realms of civil society with direct concern of itself. (What kind of research gets funded by the NSF will be significant) - Political society doesn't produce orientalism.
4. P. 5 At the top Said writes that "such locales, regions, geographical sectors as "Orient" and "Occident" are man-made". P. 5-6 He then lists 3 qualifications to that statement. What are they?
1) There are cultures and nations located in the East. It is not merely just "there". There is geographical and cultural integrity of the Orient. 2) Ideas, cultures, and histories cannot be understood without its relationship with the West. The creation of the Orient is not purely an exercise of imagination; it is created out of relations of power, domination, and hegemony. 3) Orientalism is not a structure of lies and myths; it is not a mere European fantasy about the East, rather a created body of theory and practice with many investments
10. Pp 31-38 What does the discussion of Balfour and Cromer bring to light about the relationship between knowledge and Orientalism?
Knowledge is power, not military or economy. More power requires more knowledge which creates more control.
49 Henry Kissinger used binary opposition to make claims regarding the developed West and the developing world. What was his argument?
Two styles of foreign policy: 1) Prophetic 2) Political - two types of techniques, two periods. The West is deeply committed to a humanistic approach in analyzing the Orient and other parts of the world that isn't European.
5. P. 7 What is hegemony ? What made European culture hegemonic?
predomination of specific cultural forms and the influence of specific ideas. "Certain cultural forms predominate over others, just as certain ideas are more influential than others" It's almost like cultural leadership. According to Antonio Gramsci society is divided into 1) Civil society (family, school, unions) 2) Political society (government, courts, etc.) - *Culture* operates in *civil society* where ideas, institutions, and people influence through consent. - Cultural hegemony works to givens strength and durability to Orientalist Constructions or Ideas about the Orient - European culture become hegemonic in and outside of Europe because of a persistent idea of European identity as superior in comparison with all non-Europeans. "us against all "those" non-Europeans" (7).