Review Essay: Edward Said's Orientalism and Western Perceptions

This essay offers a comprehensive review of Edward Said's seminal work, *Orientalism*, which critiques Western representations and perceptions of the Middle East. The essay begins by introducing Said's background and the significance of his book in postcolonial studies. It then delves into Said'...Read More

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Review Essay about Edward Said’s Book Orientalism
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Introduction
Until the time he passed away, Edward Said was the professor in the department of
literature at Columbia University. He was also the Middle East activist, scholar, as well as the
eminent individual in postcolonial studies. He gained a reputation as the intellectual. As a fellow
at Stanford University, he was able to publish his most acclaimed piece of writing, Orientalism,
the book that has provided fodder for discussion in several disciplines. Therefore, this essay
reviews Edward Said’s book Orientalism.
Reviews of Edward Said’s Book Orientalism
According to Edward Said, Orientalism refers to the collection of dogmas and
suppositions describing Western perception along with attitudes towards the Middle East. The
West is recorded in the book to have been consistent in its prejudice against the Islamic
individuals (Yang, 2019). Orientalism is presented to be the groundbreaking ideas that shook the
fields of studies in the Middle East, Post colonialism, and survey amid the West alongside East
after its publication in 1978. In Orientalism, Edward Said claims that scholars from the West
have depicted the East inaccurately because they lack the true understanding of the culture.
Edward Said is of the view that Western scholars that examine Asian affairs have formed the
body of intelligence that is concentrated on generalization rather than targeted facts (Kujath,
2019). The West, therefore, is considered in Edward Said’s book Orientalism defines itself in its
description of the East.
The notion of “us” together with “them” is entrenched, and the two terms are viewed as
being antithetical. In the contemporary globe, the West sees the East concerning Islam and oil.
The later is, in other times, equated to terrorism (Yang, 2019). The book further gives more

REVIEW ESSAY ABOUT EDWARD SAID’S BOOK ORIENTALISM 3
illustration of how the East is defined as the coinage of the globe Mohammedanism, obviously
borrowed from its Christian equivalent, which is Christianity.
Chapter one of Edward Said’s book Orientalism traces the development of Orientalism as
dating back to the early communication between the East and West. The Orientals (western
scholar) was quick to form the impression that the Arabs were uncivilized. Besides, chapter two
of the book concentrates on the over-romanticized literature on the East written by scholars from
the West. The writing was recorded for European readers (Silalahi, 2018). Orientalist writers,
together with poets, presented the Middle East that was naively serene and hence conducive for
relation. The book by Edward Said delves into the Orientalist of the twentieth century within the
third chapter. With the conclusion of colonialism, the U.S. was now the new frontier in
Orientalis. Besides, modern scholars from the West are performing surveys on languages of the
East with the motive to assist their government in creating better policies to rule the East
(Gonnalves, 2015). Said Edward recommends that any research on the Middle East needs to
encompass the perspectives of the natives in the Middle East and not just generalization.
Conclusion
Edward Said’s book Orientalism is in the ideology that describes the individuals of the
Middle East in terms of highly subjective and generalized suppositions. Orientalists are scholars
that research the culture of the Middle East n other aspects. The culture and individuals of the
Middle East have been victims of West prejudice, together with bias.

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References
Gonnalves, A. (2015). Orientalism: Edward Said's Vision of the Clash of Cultures. SSRN
Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2693931
Kujath, J. (2019). Nationalism and the Postcolonial: from Edward Said’s Orientalism to Graham
Huggan’s Postcolonial Exotic. European Journal Of Interdisciplinary Studies, 5(2), 92.
https://doi.org/10.26417/ejis.v5i2.p92-94
Silalahi, R. (2018). Western Capitalism and Eastern Exoticism: Orientalism in Edward Said's
Perspectives. Journal Of English Language And Culture, 7(2).
https://doi.org/10.30813/jelc.v7i2.1028
Yang, J. (2019). Edward W. Said’s Analysis of Orientalism and Representation. The Historical
Journal, 69, 327-355. https://doi.org/10.20457/sha.69.11