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September 28, 2003
For Edward Said
In memoriam:
Edward Sa'id. The Edward Said Archive
His work was more complex that his enemies make out. They see the pariah. Bargarz has some good links that are worth exploring.
The history wars that are currently raging in Australia do not locate themselves within Sai'ds reinterpretation and re-presentation of histories of formerly colonized peoples of the world; his critical exploration of European-primarily French and British-representations of "the Orient"; or his argument that "Western" "knowledge" of the Orient was less an accurate description of the peoples and culture of that place, and more a preface to, and later reinforcement of, Western imperial rule over the Orient.
Somehow, those involved in the current history wars in Australia do not connect this national debate to Said's work. He did extend his analysis of the "Orient" in his Culture and Imperialism to other formerly colonized peoples in India, the subcontinent generally, a lot of Africa, the Caribbean and Australia.
To his credit Windshuttle does make the link. An evaluation of Windschuttle on Said can be found at philosophy.com
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at September 28, 2003 04:50 PM
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