1. ﾪ
TIFFQuickTime and a decompressor
are (Uncompressed)
needed to see this picture.
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
TIFF ﾪ Uncompressed)
QuickTime and a
are (
needed to see t
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
are needed to see this picture.
ﾪ
TIFFQuickTime and athis pictu
are (Uncompressed) decompre
needed to see

2. Biography
Edward Said was born 1 November 1935 in
Jerusalem which was at the time of his birth
was the British mandate of Palestine.
His father was already an American Citizen
as he had lived and worked in the United
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
states before returning to Jerusalem.
Edward Said was born into a wealthy
background “privileged yet marginal, wealthy
yet powerless.”
As a boy Said’s home was split between
Jerusalem and Cairo.
In 1947 Said reports attending St Georges academy, though this has
been debated by his critics who claim that there is no record of
him studying there and that he fabricated this story to make his
beliefs more credible.
A year later in 1948 however Edwards family were forced to move to
Egypt as refugees when the west of Jerusalem including their home
in Talbiya was taken by Israel.
Said was then educated in British public schools populated mostly
by wealthy Arabs many of whom went on to become powerful leaders

3. … continued
Said was then educated in British public schools
populated mostly by wealthy Arabs many of whom went
on to become powerful leaders and businessmen.
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
At 15 Said was sent to Mount Herman school in
Massachusetts for a year where he reports in his
publishing Between Worlds feeling “out of place.”
The next phase in his education saw him gain a BA at Princeton
university in 1957 and a MA and PhD from Harvard University where
he studied from 1960-1964.
Said spent most of his working life working at Columbia University
as Professor of English and Comparative Literature he reached the
rank of University Professor in 1992.
Edward said also taught at Harvard, Yale and John Hopkins.
Said devoted the first thirty years of his life in education, and
it wasn’t until 1967 when the Arabs were defeated that he took
interest in the politics of his homeland.
Said has written around twenty books, these writings have been
translated into 26 different languages.
Edward Said’s first book was Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of
Autobiography which was published in 1966.

4. … continued
His most influential book the Orientalism was
published in 1978 and looks at the western ideals of
the east.
QuickTimeﾪ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
His also wrote many article for The Nation, The
Guardian, the London Review of Books, Le Monde
Diplomatique, Counterpunch, and Al Ahram.
Edward Said has since wrote many published works a list of which can
be viewed at http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~scctr/Wellek/said/index.html.
In 1970 Edward Said married Mariam Cortas who later gave him both a
son and a daughter.
In 1977 Edward Said joined the Palestinian National Council (PNC),
but quit in 1991 when the PNC signed the Oslo Accords.
Edward Said other great passion was for music especially the piano
which he played to a professional standard, this lead him to co-
found the West-East Divan Orchestra in 1999.
Edward Said could speak English, French and Arabic fluently and in
1999 served as president of the Modern Language Association.
In 1999 Edward Said won the New Yorker Prize for non fiction for his
book Out of Place.

5. … continued
In 2000 Said caused controversy when he was
photographed throwing a stone across the Lebanon
Israeli border which may have been aimed at Israeli
QuickTimeﾪ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
soldiers.
Edward Said died at the age of 67 on the 25 of
September 2003 after suffering with leukaemia for a
decade.
In an Obituary written by Malise Ruthven for The Guardian, Said was
described as “An intellectual superstar in America, he distinguished
himself as an opera critic, pianist, television celebrity,
politician, media expert, popular essayist and public lecturer.”
His love of music was recognised after his death when in 2004 in the
renaming of Birzeit University music school to the Edward Said
National Conservatory of Music.
Unsurprisingly Said’s loudly outspoken views earned him many enemies
sending him death threats, and who once burned down his office.

6. Orientalism
Terms used in orientalism:
The orient:
This does not always just refer to ‘the orient’ as a place but also
represents a number of political influences on western
consciousness, its learning and its empire. The term orient was
created by the west to create an inferior mirror image of itself.
Orientalism:
is a collection of biases created by the west and its scholars.
The oriental:
a vague generalisation or
stereotype of the east which
is used in many countries and
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
areas around the world.
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Latent Orientalism:
This is the certainity within
peoples minds as to what the
orient is, that it is
Image depicting French orientalism
separate from ‘us’ different
by the Painter and artist Alexandre
and inferior.
Cabanel. Entitled Cleopatre testant
ses poisons sur des condemnes

7. … continued
Said’s definition of Orientalism is the western
view of the eastern world, created by western
(mainly British, North American and French) ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
scholars and academics as a fictional and
direct opposite to west.
My whole point about this system is not that it is a
misrepresentation of some Oriental essence - in which I do not
for a moment believe - but that it operates as representations
usually do, for a purpose, according to a tendency, in a
specific historical, intellectual, and even economic setting Figure 1. Painting by Jean-
(p. 273) Leon Gerome
Entitled Grand White Eunuch
Figure 1 is a painting by Gerome, this represents what Said means by
orientalism, this is not a true depiction of the Orient but instead
an imagined image, although it has been taken as fact by many
academics world wide.
Said argues in his book Orientalism that the divides between
the east and the west are not as clear as they are thought, but
however these divides have been heightened for the benefits of
western politics allowing the west to colonise in the east mainly in
Countries such as India, Algeria and Egypt
He believes that this has occurred because the east is fundamentally
different to the West this was seen as a weakness and was what
allowed the west to colonise.

8. … continued Said critises the works of authors such as
Edward William Lane, who only spent a couple
An image used on
of years in Egypt but returned with a book was
the cover of a
is know widely regarded across Europe as ‘the
publication of
truth about Egypt’
said Orientalism.
This again shows
In this book Said describes a romanticized and
an untrue
misunderstood far and middle east.
romanticized
representation of
He goes as fair in this book as to state that
the orient and
both the middle and far east a viewed with
Asia.
prejudice and racism because the occident
(countries of the west, as distinct from the
orient)do not understand their own history and
culture.
Said Argues that the orient, as well as being
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Europe’s closest neighbour, is where the west
gained its greatest, richest and oldest
colonies. From these colonies they achieved
civilization and languages.
‘The Orient has helped to define Europe (or
the west) as its contrasting image, idea,
personality and experience.’

9. … continued
Early orientalism began in 19th
Century. When western Scholars began
to translate texts from oriental
ﾪ
languages as a result of this they QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
felt that they understood ‘it’ and
therefore owned it as they were a
more efficient and effective
Community.
The ‘west’ represented Europe,
There is a whole artistic
(primarily Britain and France) as
Movement now known as the
well as America. The ‘orient’ is the
Orientalism movement. The
Whole of the rest of the world, the
Artists within this movement
‘other.’ this is a huge area
Created striking images of
encompassing, the middle east, Asia
Egypt and Arabia, Artists in
and China. Said could not understand
This movement include,
how one generalisation could be used
Tadema, Gerome, Haag and
to refer to more than half of the
Bridgman
globe.
During this time the orient was often see as the weak, the feminine
and the defenseless. A place was needing protection and control
from a more intelligent more powerful western world.
The most important point that said raises in this book is that the
orient does not exist in the way it is perceived by the west.

10. Culture and
imperialism
Chapter 1
In the first chapter of Said’s book he speaks of people from the
Western part of the world, (ie Britain, France, etc) how they claim
land and property from the Eastern part (ie Australia, India, Africa,
etc) He then moves on to speak of how Britain and France claimed
immense amount of territory all over the world, and then how they, 1
by 1, became independent once again.
He speaks of how all countries are linked and help one another
through trade, travel, electronic communicators, etc. According to
said “This set of patterns was first established and made possible by
the modern empires”.
He moves on to speak of population- in America how it will expand in
population and in territory, and increase in strength and power.
To quote Edward Said, “As I shall be using the term, ‘imperialism’
means the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating
metropolitan centre ruling a distant territory; ‘colonialism’, which
is almost always a consequence of imperialism, is the implanting of
settlements on distant territory.” (Culture and imperialism, page 8)

11. … Continued
Chapter 2
In this chapter, he refers to the story ‘Mansfield Park’, by Jane
Austin. Written in 1814, the story refers to the slave trade and
Colonial’s. He describes the book in great detail and how it
relates to his theory giving a full explanation about her novel.
By page 115 he speaks of the audience’s reactions to the book and
gives his thoughts on the novel, how she
can se how the slave trade is wrong and
cruel, but it is the way of life so there
is nothing that can be done to change
that, according to Said.
QuickTimeﾪ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

12. Covering Islam ﾪ
Said Feels that the western world and especially QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
America views Islam and its world as
Antipathetically troubled and problematic.
Islamic flag
The term Islam is used too loosely, a simplified
Ideological label and its usage does not reflect the varied life
that goes on in the world of Islam.
The media makes the world of Islam ‘known’ by characterizing and
analyzing it. It therefore takes some ownership of it, much as how
the occident takes ownership of the orient in Said principle of
orientalism.
‘there is an unquestioned assumption that islam can be charaterised
limitlessly by a means of a handful of recklessly general and
repeatedly deployed chliche’s. And always it is supposed that the
”islam” being talked about is some real and stabel object out there
where “our” oil supplies happen to be found.’
Said states that Islam has always represented a peculiar menace to
the west
He feels that the Orientalists cliches have been exposed through
the turbulence in the Muslim world.

13. … continued
Said feels that to criticise western abuse of Islam is not to deny
or condone this abuses.
A Muslim doctrine has been used on many occations as a
justification by the west to repress societies and remove people
liberties.
Various groups in western society have an interest in Islam. The
most notable of these is the USA who have a union of power bearing
upon Islam. This power allows control over their governments, media
and corporations, to name but a few. If the
Islam world conflicts with these powers
manipulative aims can be realised for
example mobilisation can begin for a
possible invasion.
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Said asks the question ‘can there
really be such a thing as Islamic
behaviour?’He does not believe in the
notion of Islam as firmly as other
This is the flag of the
experts and policy makers.
Islamic courts union.
Although a completely The goal of the book is to critically
innocent symbol the ‘disentangle sense from nonsense’
west would judge this as
something unknown thus
potentially dangerous.

14. Islam in the news
Islam in the west
A Com Ed commercial to encourage a
move towards alternative energy
sources showed images of Arabic
figures linked to the oil industry
with the slogan ‘these men control America’s oil’. As if
they are villians in the grip of sadism. The advert was
designed to buy into attitudes of fear and anger towards such
figures who represent ‘Islam’.
Islam represents a formidable competitor and a latecoming challenge
to Christianity
In 1978 America felt particularly threatened by Iran because it had a
lot of power, however this was not the main reason for the states to
fear Iron there was a dramatic rise in prices of oil and Iran
suddenly occupied centre stage in all political discussion etc.
Muslims are often characterised by the media as incorrect
generalisations and stereotypes such as oil suppliers, terrorists and
the blood thirsty mob.
‘inconography of Islam was uniformally ubiquitous, and drew its
material from the same time honoured view of Islam.

15. … continued
In an interview for Newsweek on August 18th 1980 , V.S. Naipul, said
‘ Muslim fundamentaism has no substance to it, therefore it must
collapse.’ It would appear that Islam is used to cover everything
and anything that the western world does not approve of.
This so called ‘stronger, more efficient and developed world’ does
not associate hum motivations in relation to Islam, nor does it
consider human weakness, political competition or history.
The Muslim world is wide and very diverse and yet it is still
reduced to the word ‘Islam’ this word through media representation
has only negative meaning to people of the western world, it emplies
terrorism, oppreshion and dictatorship.
Why is it that the west has found it so easy to make the Muslim
world so appear in a way that is not so true of the soviet union for
example?
Islam is an imprecise and ideologically loaded
Label. However so is christianity or the west.
Muslims speak of Islam. Christians speak of
Christianity. Labels are ingrained and not
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
rejected by the people they describe. TIFF (Uncompressed) decompr
are needed to see this pic
These labels are an integral part of cultural
history and cannot be ignored or deleted.
However we shouldn’t always consider them to be
objective classifications. They are
interpretations and we should keep this in mind.

16. Palestine
Said as a political figure.
Said is a famous spokesperson for the Palestinian cause.
He spent most of his life in the U.S. and only the first few years
in Palestine he however still feels very connected to it. In
interviews and articles referring to cause of Palestinians he uses
the term “we” showing that he identifies himself as a member of
these people.
He was forced out of Palestine as a refugee but still feels a
connection with it despite having a limited experience, and being
brought up in a westernised way.
For many years he buried his head in the sand over issues concerning
Palestine, concentrating on his work as a lecturer in western
literature. However he became more interested during the Vietnam
war. He Tried no numerous occasions to bring up the issue of the
middle east but it was an incontinent subject. The ongoing
injustices inflicted on the Palestinians inspired him to speak up
about the issue. He has campaigned in an academic way writing books
and articles which brought attention to the issue.
Said believes that refugees are a core issue and that the “Zionist
movement has done everything in its power to ensure that the
majority of the Palestinians remain outside their native land” he
also believes that it is important to reduce the political

17. … Continued
existence of those who have remained to a bare minimum.
He thinks that Palestinians aren’t standing up for themselves, and
holding onto their history. “our collective memory seems to be
blank, as if the past never happened and will never return” Dismayed
by Palestinian defeatism, he wants more Palestinian academics to
express the complexity of the situation so it becomes less
controversial to question the Israeli occupation.
The Israeli occupation has caused an abuse of human rights. Every
Israel government since 1948 has allowed:
o Torture
o Missile Assaults against civilians
o Helicopters and Jet fighters
o Transportation of civilians for imprisonment
o Mass killing
o Denial aof unimpeded movement
o Humiliation
o Punishment of families
o Destruction of houses
o Illegal settlement
o Killing on U.N. personnel
The U.S. has supplied Israel with weapons, intelligence and massive
financial aid so is also culpable.

18. … Continued (the Oslo Agreement)
Said has written several articles criticising the Oslo agreement
which was signed by Yassah Arafat in 1996.
Agreement covered : sovereignty, land, resources, security and
Palestinian refugees.
Said believes that the Oslo agreement made things worse for the
Palestinians because it gave Israelis and supporters of Israel a
sense that the Palestinian problem had been completely solved. The
agreement also gave liberals a sense of achievement so that focus
would be diverted from the issue. This was in turn made even move
difficult for the Palestinians to accept “ anything except
appreciation for what had been done for them by Oslo, Clinton,
Rabin and the rest even though unemployment in Gaza had reason at
time to 60 per cent, and the closure of the West bank and Gaza had
demonstrated that Israeli occupation practises had remained
unchanged.”
Said is not against a peace process. He is against one which is
laden with inequality as to completely compromise the Palestinian
position and then put closure on it.
“I had no problem at all with the prospects of real peace and real
coexistence and had been speaking about those for twenty years;
what I, and most Palestinians opposed was a phony peace and our
continued inequality in regard to the Israelis, who are allowed
sovereignty, territorial integrity, and self-determination, whereas
we are not.”

19. … Continued (the Oslo Agreement)
Said blames Yassah Arafat personally for signing the crippling Oslo
agreements. He believes that the leader could not have understood
for the document was long (400 pages) and complex. So that he would
have tied himself into things without realising. Said also believed
that “Yasah Arafat and this tight circle of politically appointed
loyalists are not capable of comprehending and dealing with the
immense complexities of the Palestinian situation.”
Palestinian negotiating style has been flawed partly because of it is
disorganised and they have a lack of detailed knowledge which gives
them less authority. They have inferior maps, statistics and experts
and a lack of up to the minute knowledge.
Said Believes that Arafat has acquired too much power for himself.
Thinks that Arafat has bought off and scared off opponents and that
those who appeared to stand independently of him now are great
supporters
He thinks that Palestinians should be more openly critical of their
leader and encourage more debate because “criticism heightens
awareness and recalls leaders to their constituency”. He goes as far
as to say that “Criticism of authority is a moral duty. Silence,
indifference or compliance in such a situation is immoral.” The
Palestinians should hold Arafat to account more when he makes such
big decisions.”

20. … Continued (the Oslo Agreement)
In fact when Arafat met Said1972 and was very impressed with him,
he proceeded to meet him on several occasions over 8 years but it
became clear that he typed Said as an American and couldn’t really
understand what he was trying to do. Said too became disenchanted
with him.
“There is a simple racist premise underpinning the “peace process”
and subsequent rhetorical ambushed set in its name that Palestinian
and Arab lives are not worth as much as Israeli Jewish lives”
He feels that signing a peace agreement on such terms was the worse
thing to do because the conditions are so unfair that it can never
guarantee peace but by signing it could allow the issue to be swept
under the carpet. Israel cannot pretend to claim peace unless a
high profile politician like Arafat signs a document saying as
much. So if peace is not the reality such a document should not be
signed.
Tasks to do to in Palestine to further the cause of the
Palestinians:
-Ascertain an accurate figure of how many Palestinians live outside
Palestine and have lost property to Israel.
-Create a think tank for the purposes of devising strategies
surrounding land and geography, water, property, economically - --
Articulate a set of nonnegotiable principles assuring the rights of
the Palestinians

21. Books and articles by
Said
Books
- Beyond the storm: a gulf crisis reader (voices and visions - new
thinking for the new century series (Edward Said, Phyllis Bennis,
and Michael Moushabeck)
-Blaming the victims: spurious scholarship and the Palestinian
question (Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens)
-Conversations with Edward said (Edward Said and Tariq Ali)
- Covering Islam: how the media and the experts determine how we
see the rest of the world
- Culture and imperialism
- Cultures and resistance: conversations with Edward Said
(David Barsamian and Edward Said)
- Freud: and the non-european
- Humanism and democratic criticism
- Nationalism colonialism and literature (Terry eagleton,
Fredric Jameson, Edward Said and Seamus Deane)
- On late style: music and literature against the Grain
- Orientalism

22. … Continued
- Orientalism: western conceptions of the orient (Penguin-
modern classics)
- Out of place: a memoir
- Palestine (Joe Sacco and Edward Said)
- Parallels and paradoxes : explorations in music and society
(Edward Said and
Daniel Barendoim
- Power, politics and culture: interviews with Edward Said
- Reflections on exile: and other literary
cultural essays
- Representations of the intellectuals (the
Reith lectures, 1993)
- Said: The world the text and critic
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
- The end of the peace process:
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture. Oslo and after (vintage)
- The question of Palestine

23. Books and articles
about Said
Articles
-New left review :- displaced persons
-Al Ahram :- Edward Said: A contrapuntal reading
-Daniel Barenboim.com :- The masestro
-The Guardian :- Edward Said: The last interview
-Al Ahram :- Living in Arabic
-The Irish Times (TESA):- Harmony across the great divide
-Palestine Chronicle :- the political legacy
-ISIM :- Edward Said and Islam
-ISIM :- Edward Said in the netherlands
-ISIM :- Edward Said and palestine
-ISIM :- Edward Said and Eqbal Ahmad
-Malaysia Kimi :- in defence Edward Said
-The Crimson :- Panel reflects on Said’s legacy, Orientalism
-Globalcomment.com :- Edward said, the emperor is dead
-The Daily times :- Demoralisation of intellectual life
-Counterpunt :- confronting the evangelical imperialists
-The nation :- a configuration
-Amin :- the piano man made it home, an ode to Edward Said
- Little India :- Voice of the voiceless
To read all these articles and more go to www.edwardsaid.org

24. People influenced by
Said
Edward Said influenced a large number of people some of whom
include:
Hamid Damishi Robert Fisk
Homi K. Bhabha Mahmood Mamdani
John Esposito Joseph Massah
Gayatric Spivak Mustafa Barghouti
Hamid Damishi
Dabashi is an Iranian-American, a critic of
history, culture and literature. He has
made many contribution to Iran as well as
world cinema and shi’a Islam through
postcolonialism.
Dabashi was friend’s and colleagues with
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
Said. Said spoke of him as a perfect guide
are needed to see this picture.
to Islam and in particular Iran.
One of his most famous writings is a book
entitled the end of Islam Ideology this was
heavily praised by many encluding Said
himself.

25. … Continued
Homi K. Bhabha
Bhabha is a theorist in post-colonialism, and
Is currently lecturing at Harvard University.
He states that Edward Said is the single most
influential person in his work.
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
In his many works he argues that there is an TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
identity shared amongst ex-colonial states, and
the ‘senses of nationhood are narrativized’
In his book the location of culture, he attacks
the western production of binary oppositions
these include enlightened/ignorant and
Civilised/savage.
John Esposito
Is a professor of international affairs and
international studies.
Said is hugely influencial to Esposito and
it is often said that if it was not for
QuickTimeﾪ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor Said’s book orientalism the sympathetic
are needed to see this picture.
texts on islam would not be in such demand,
and we would remain uncontaminated by anti-
americanisms.

26. … Continued (Mustafa Barghouti)
Candidate for presidency of the
Palestinian National Authority
Born in Jerusalem and now lives in
Ramallah.
Founded “Union of Palestinian Medical
Relief Conference providing healthcare to
the Gaza strip.
Has criticised the Palestinian Authority
ﾪ
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
of corruption and terrorism.
Barghouti is the secretary of the society
Palestinian National Initiative
In 2005 was a candidate for presidency of
the Palestinian National Authority. Ran as
an independent candidate in the
presidential face to succed Yasah Afarat.
Did unpredictably well, coming second with
19.8% of the vote, ahead of Hamas. Very grass roots campaign:
relied heavily on volunteers and made controversial visits to
hospitals and refugee camps. Even got arrested and was abused when
detained for campaigning in certain areas.
Connection with Edward Said
Barghouthi felt a strong personal connection with Edward Said,
describing his “remarkable qualities as a friend” in a tribute
after he died.

27. … Continued (Mustafa Barghouti)
They co-founded the “Palestinian National Initiative (P.N.I)”
together in 2002. He comments that the loss of such a prominent
leader of such integrity was a great loss but the P.N.I. would be
determined to follow in his footsteps with a commitment to his
vision of a free Palestine. He describes Said as a “shining light in
a confused world”
Palestinian National Initiative
The initiative is in response to the popular demands of Palestinians
calling fro increased participation in building a nation. The
Initiative is an attempt to build “a reformist” Barghouti is the
secretary of the society.
Calls for:
The implementation of Palestinian national rights and the creation o
f a durable, just peace.
The establishment of a sovereign, independent, democratic
Palestinian state on the territories occupied since 1967. Only in
this way can peace be achieved.U.N. resolutions requiring the
withdrawal of the Israeli army from the West Bank and Gaza
Immediate Objectives of the Initiative:
Working for free democratic elections.
Restructuring government to guarantee transparancy, accountability
and lack of corruption.
Reform the court system.
Serve the needs of the poor by developing employment and social
welfare initiatives,