Significance of Edward Said's Orientalism for the Study of Development (Research Paper Sample)

Significance of Edward Said’s Orientalism for the Study of Development
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Significance of Edward Said’s Orientalism for the Study of Development
This work done by Edward Said is arguably one of the best pieces of literature that have ever been done on criticism and postcolonial studies. It contains various ideas that are important in the study of development and global politics. Some of the ideas that Edward puts across on development are presented in this report. Again, the contribution of the work to postcolonialism is highlighted.
Fundamental Bio
Edward Said served as the foremost spokesman for the Palestinian cause in America for many years, having been for in Jerusalem in 1935. He also wrote many books, some of which have been translated into 26 languages. His most famous work, thought to be the most influential, Orientalism (1978, gives an overview of how the Islamic world is viewed in the west. His works seem to have had more than just cultural and literary criticisms (Said, 2004 p. 869). That is because his works were motivated by the passion that he had for advocating the Palestinian cause. He went to school in New England, an undergraduate at Princeton, and graduate studies at Harvard.
Significance of Edward Said’s Orientalism for the Study of Development
There are several assumptions that the West makes about Orient as narrated by Said. He is a Palestinian, and as such, he is in a position to identify some assumptions about the Arabs that were made by the West. In this book, Said puts across the claims that the West believed that Arabs were dishonest, anti-Western, and menacing (Abu-Lughod et al. 2001, p. 101). He also shows that the Westerners had crafted these assumptions for selfish gains. Eventually, these assumptions turn out to be true, and they affect the relations that exist between different people, as well as the ideologies and beliefs that they hold about others.
Said suggests that there is a need to ensure that "the Orient" are treated fairly. One of the new ways of treating them that he suggests is allowing authors from the orient to have self-representation instead of relying on representation by other people. As such, in this case, Said fights for the equality of authors regardless of their ethnicity. He claims that most Westerners generalize the Arabs and thus treat all of them in a manner that is rather unfair.
Another critical significance of development that Said puts across is that he explores the processes that are involved in the construction of binary opposites, as well as the one individuals overcome the differences and succeed (Andreasson, 2005 p. 981). That is crucial because that is a way of calling for an erasure between the lines and boundaries that people construct and adopt another mode of thinking that is otherwise moderate. There are excellent examples of the binary opposites that Said explores and the manner in which they are applied. These differences that exist between the people from the West and the Orient have led to the emergence of different classes in the society. Some of such classes include civilized versus uncivilized, democracy versus despotism, developed versus undeveloped, liberated versus repressed, and the educated versus ignorant. It is critical to understand these classes when studying development because they enable one to understand some of the challenges that non-Americans face in their daily lives.
Edward Said also helps us in understanding the view that the West have on the Oriental and Oriental culture. He uses his piece of literature to show that the view is rather irrational and that the Oriental are misrepresented and depraved (Bishop, n.d.). He also claims that the opinion of the West on Oriental cultures is promoted in the Western institutions and that it is a way of degrading people who are non-Western in such institutions. He makes this insistence deliberately to show the hegemonic nature of the ideas of the Western people.
Orientalism
The most critical contribution that Edward Said makes this piece of work are the ideas that he expresses in his work dubbed Orientalism. Analysts and students find the piece of work to be useful in some subjects. It finds the widest application in established disciplines such as literary studies like comparative literature in English, sociology, history, are studies, anthropology, and comparative religion (Brown and Lockman 2005, p. 193). Despite the significant contribution that Orientalism made to the academic field and development, the thoughts the Said expressed in this piece of art have continued to evolve as time moves. Such ideas were recaptured in other literary works such as Culture and Imperialism (1993), seemingly produced and released 15 years after Said had already released Orientalism (1978). As such, there are several contributions that the book made that warranted its development.
The primary idea that makes his work resource is that the story develops with refusal and rejection during the early stages and ends up in an ambivalent acceptance. That was an excellent way that Edward uses to question the worrying trend of misrepresentation of the non-Western in the Western culture and society (Gran and Said 1980, p. 328). He also enables the reader to visualize the differences that exist in a community as a result of the difference of cultures and class of people. He also brings out the plight of the East versus the West, colonizer versus the colonized, Blacks and Whites, and the metropolitan versus colonial societies.
Said also challenges and criticizes the ideas that the Euro-American scholars had about ‘Orientalism.' He makes this challenge and criticism in a manner that is rather open and direct. Most of the scholars use Orientalism as a structure of thought that is otherwise entrenched. They also use it to form a pattern of particular generalizations about the East (Owen 2005, p. 492). In this case, he shows that the Euro-American scholars have misused orientalism to earn glory and make Western develop a feeling of superiority complex. That is one of the issues that Said aimed at addressing as he wrote the book. He had noticed that the growth and political development of non-Western were significantly hindered by the fact that they were looked down up by the Westerners.
However, it is worth noting that the term 'Orientalism’ was not invented by Said. It was a common term used by specialists in the Middle East. Such scholars included Arabs, as well as scholars in the Indian and East Asian continent. As such, it was associated with criticism and challenging of evils in the society (Owen 2005, p. 492). However, Said notes that the term was not applied appropriately in most cases as the scholars failed to address the issues that faced the less fortunate in the society. As such, he uses his book to condemn the neglect of academicians and the elite in the society. He implies that they should be in the forefront in the fight for equality in the society. They should also take the initiative of questioning social injustices in the society even before other people notice them.
Said also assigns pretty accurate stereotypes to oriental cultures as well as individuals considered oriental. He claims that they are clannish and despotic. Their despotic nature is manifested when they ascend to power. However, they seem obsequious and sly when they hold positions that are otherwise subservient (Owen 2005, p. 497). In this case, Said identifies the nature of stereotypes and orientals as individuals who are otherwise impossible to trust. He identifies them as individuals incapable of instigating change and development in the society. That is because they have abstractions that are sophisticated. However, they lack concrete and detail-oriented analysis of issues that matter to the development of the community. They are not organized and lack rigorous reasoning and decision-making capabilities.
Said identifies the existence of the orientalist mentality as one of the critical contributions of lack of development in the society. He also claims that they advocate division and injustice. He argues that the men are sexually incontinent, and the women follow them without reasoning. He sums up the description of an orientalist as an individual believes that the East and the West should never interact and cooperate on any matter. As such, Said brings out the idea that development is significantly hindered by leaders who have orientalist mentalities and ways of approaching issues.
In one of the section of his book, Said questions why Orientals who are mystical, sly, despotic, and devious do not exist. As such, he concludes that the idea of Orientalism could be some myth that was initiated by the Europeans during the 18th Century (Said, 2004 p. 870). As such, Said uses his book to identify it as a discourse and makes attempts to dismantle it. In this case, Said brings out the idea that Orientalism is one of the most common hurdles to the achievement of social integration and development. He proposes that it should be dismantled.
Political Dominance
One of the themes that Said develops in his book is political dominance. He argues that the Orientalism was promoted by the fact that the Europeans had political dominance in Asia and Middle East. It was because of such exposure that Said was capable of writing and publishing this book about it (Said, 2004 p. 870). He argues that political dominance is one of the tactics that super powers use to demean the efforts of development for the other countries. He also cites political dominance a...