Edward Said in his book “Orientalism” explains how the Western (Europe and United States)

domination and control of the East created distorted image of the Middle East - Europe and

America (the West) distinguished itself “by setting itself against the Orient” 1
- the East. Said,

provides several definitions of the Orientalism, and he defines Orientalism as: academic

designation of those who teach, write about or research the Orient; and as a “style of thought, based

on ontological and epistemological distinction made between “the Orient” and (most of the time)

“the Occident”.2 Mainly however, he defines Orientalism as the “corporate institution for dealing

with the Orient – dealing with it by making statements about it, settling it, ruling over it” 3. Those

indispensable definitions together describe and try to explain what Orientalism is.

Said points out British and French domination of the Orient and Orientalism, along with later

American presence in the East, which happened after the World War II, where American

involvement in the Orient and Orientalism became dominant one. Colonialism allowed the West

to create and change the East in a way to make the West superior to East. “European culture gained

in strength, by setting itself off against the Orient” (pg3), according to Said, and labeling East as

ignorant, West was able identify itself as “us” – as better ones, and East as “other” – undeveloped

ones. Creation of that distorted image of the East by the West contributed to misunderstanding and

misrepresentation of the Middle Eastern culture, behavior, and its people. Said however, is not

focused on correcting that perception, “Orientalism as I study here deals principally, not with a

correspondence between Orientalism and Orient, but with the internal consistency of Orientalism

and its ideas about the Orient” (pg.5). In this book, Said support his arguments by using Vico’s

1
Edward Said Orientalism, 1978
2
Edward Said Orientalism, 1978
3
Edward Said Orientalism, 1978
observation of the history being made by men itself, and he compares it with the “Orient” and

“Occident” as being “men-made” (pg.5), noticing mutual reflection of the East on West and vice

versa. He mentions in his book a configuration of power having a lot to do with creation of the

Orient, or the Orient being “Orientalized” and having a “material investment” (pg.6) in the Orient

– settling colonies in the East by the Europeans allowed them to be “submitted to being – made

Oreintal”.

According to Said,

“If we are to truly assist in achieving a resolution to the current crisis, we must examine not only

the "Orientals" but also ourselves”.