Edward Wadie Said was a Palestinian-American philosopher, academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of post-colonial studies. As a cultural critic, Said is best known for his book Orientalism (1978), a foundational text which critiques the cultural representations that are the bases of Orientalism—how the Western world perceives the Orient. His model of textual analysis transformed the academic discourse of researchers in literary theory, literary criticism, and Middle Eastern studies.
Said in Seville, Spain, 2002
Edward Said and his sister, Rosemarie Said dressed in traditional Arab clothing, 1940
The cover of the book Orientalism (1978) is a detail from the 19th-century Orientalist painting The Snake Charmer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904).
The idealized Oriental world of The Reception of the Ambassadors in Damascus (1511)
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. The field started to emerge in the 1960s, as scholars from previously colonized countries began publishing on the lingering effects of colonialism, developing a critical theory analysis of the history, culture, literature, and discourse of imperial power.
In La Réforme intellectuelle et morale (1871), the orientalist Ernest Renan, advocated imperial stewardship for civilizing the non–Western peoples of the world.
Spanish colonial architecture in Antigua Guatemala.
Campeche Cathedral, located in Campeche City, Mexico.
Engaging the voice of the Subaltern: the philosopher and theoretician Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, at Goldsmith College.