A review by mariebrunelm
Orientalism by Edward W. Said

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

The importance and scope of this essay cannot be overestimated.Edward W. Said, a Palestinian author, set out to describe, explain and discuss the huge concept that is Orientalism in a very nuanced and learned book that is very demanding but also very rewarding. Summarising those 400 pages would be ridiculous. Let me just say that this book, although it ends on a relatively optimistic note, opened my eyes to the historical and deep-rooted bias or filter with which colonising powers (England, France and the USA) consider what they refer to as “the East” without ever considering the myriad of cultures and societies this word encompasses. Orientalism was never really about knowing the civilisations it depicted, but rather about finding in them justifications or examples of the prejudices the Orientalists perpetuate.There are outrageous examples of blatant racism in both scholarly works and literature, which Said puts into context and discusses with a calm I certainly did not feel. I was a little frustrated that the author chose not to focus on art, but on the one hand the book would have been twice as big, and on the other hand, he gives many critical foundations on which to base future studies (either by him I believe, or certainly by other scholars).