Entry on Edward Said

Chad Samlalsingh

Social Theory

Journal Entry

4/12/12

The primary focus of this journal centers on the theorist Edward Said and his contributions to the academic community. In his work there is a juxtaposition of the West and the East, i.e. an observation of the colonizers and their influence on the colonized. This gives rise to the theoretical frameworks that follow the postcolonial studies, where the subjective dimensions of the Western expansion into non Western societies can be examined, for it is here that language plays such a big role in subjugating the colonized. In a sense it is through language where suppression of the colonized people can become evident with a removal of their past cultural identity and a means of placing their subordination. The Western world had an idea that anyone not their own was to be considered as an ‘other,’ this ‘other’ was seen as immoral, savage, weak, thus allowing the west to justify its role on them. This was an example of the white man’s burden, where they used this as an excuse to justify their simplification of rich cultures and enact brutal tactics in an effort to pacify, dominate and civilize that they considered to be savage. This misconception of the east or rather regions of the Orient by the west were conceptualized by Said in the term Orientalism where by the west sought to create its superiority on the mystical, hedonistic and weak inferiors of the oriental people. Being that said was from the east and came to the western world we can see evidence of how this affected his work and helped to conceptualize his theories in the academic world. Seeing as the west has orientalism I wonder what the east theorized in return?