Orientalism: a Brief Definition

Edward Said
[From Orientalism, New York: Vintage, 1979!
"nlike t#e $meri%ans, t#e Fren%# and Britis#&&less so t#e 'ermans, ()ssians, S*anis#,
+ort)gese, ,talians, and Swiss&&#a-e #ad a long tradition of w#at , s#all .e %alling Orientalism, a
wa/ of %oming to terms wit# t#e Orient t#at is .ased on t#e Orient0s s*e%ial *la%e in E)ro*ean
1estern E2*erien%e 3#e Orient is not onl/ ad4a%ent to E)ro*e5 it is also t#e *la%e of E)ro*e0s
greatest and ri%#est and oldest %olonies, t#e so)r%e of its %i-ili6ations and lang)ages, its %)lt)ral
%ontestant, and one of its dee*est and most re%)rring images of t#e Ot#er ,n addition, t#e Orient
#as #el*ed to define E)ro*e 7or t#e 1est8 as its %ontrasting image, idea, *ersonalit/, e2*erien%e
Yet none of t#is Orient is merel/ imaginati-e 3#e Orient is an integral *art of E)ro*ean material
%i-ili6ation and %)lt)re Orientalism e2*resses and re*resents t#at *art %)lt)rall/ and e-en
ideologi%all/ as a a mode of dis%o)rse wit# s)**orting instit)tions, -o%a.)lar/, s%#olars#i*,
imager/, do%trines, e-en %olonial .)rea)%ra%ies and %olonial st/les
,t will .e %lear to t#e readert#at ./ Orientalism , mean se-eral t#ings, all of t#em, in m/ o*inion,
interde*endent 3#e most readil/ a%%e*ted designation for Orientalism is an a%ademi% one, and
indeed t#e la.el still ser-es in a n)m.er of a%ademi% instit)tions $n/one w#o tea%#es, writes
a.o)t, or resear%#es t#e Orient&&and t#is a**lies w#et#er t#e *ersion is an ant#ro*ologist,
so%iologist, #istorian, or *#ilologist&&eit#er in its s*e%ifi% or its general as*e%ts, is an Orientalist,
and w#at #e or s#e sa/s or does is Orientalism
(elated to t#is a%ademi% tradition, w#ose fort)nes, transmigrations, s*e%iali6ations, and
transmissions are in *art t#e s).4e%t of t#is st)d/, is a more general meaning for Orientalism
Orientalism is a st/le of t#o)g#t .ased )*on ontologi%al and e*istemologi%al distin%tion made
.etween 9t#e Orient9 and 7most of t#e time8 9t#e O%%ident9 3#)s a -er/ large mass of writers,
among w#o are *oet, no-elists, *#iloso*#ers, *oliti%al t#eorists, e%onomists, and im*erial
administrators, #a-e a%%e*ted t#e .asi% distin%tion .etween East and 1est as t#e starting *oint
for ela.orate a%%o)nts %on%erning t#e Orient, its *eo*le, %)stoms, 9mind,9 destin/, and so on
t#e *#enomenon of Orientalism as , st)d/ it #ere deals *rin%i*all/, not wit# a %orres*onden%e
.etween Orientalism and Orient, .)t wit# t#e internal %onsisten%/ of Orientalism and its ideas
a.o)t t#e Orient des*ite or .e/ond an/ %orrses*onden%e, or la%k t#ereof, wit# a 9real9 Orient
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