Edward Said Orientalism can be summed up in three following points: first he talks of the distinction between pure and political knowledge, shows the power relation of any text to political, cultural, intellectual and moral domain; secondly he shows how the methodology used by the West to define and interpreting the Orient is just a part of the process that Orientalises the Orient and how his methodology of "historical generalization" is different from all these previous methodologies; and thirdly he clarifies his position by explaining his ethnic background, scholarly interests, and social circumstances he has experienced as an oriental.
Following Derrida it can be assumed the concept of "Orientalism" or "orient' a part of a binary oppositions pair, where the occidental forms the other side of this binary oppositional coin. Levis Strauss' Methodology, if applied to this binary opposition, we reach at the same conclusion as Edward Said, that these two (i.e. the concepts of Orient and Occident; or East and West) are the two 'entities' that 'support and to an extent reflect each other'(p.5). To make it more clear, 'Orient' has come to be a part of our consciousness due to the process of categorization by the 'West' – i.e. Westerners' view or presupposition about their identity, made the idea of 'Orient' possible. As in a binary pair, one's presence is defined in terms of the absence of 'the other' (i.e. the opposition to it).In case of the Orientalism, (i.e. the discipline that came to front after the completion of this process or the 'event', the sense in which Derrida had used the term in his essay Structure, Sign and play in the Discourse of Human sciences) the 'East' is defined in terms of the qualifications of the 'West'. In Said's words:"European culture gained in strength and identity by setting itself off against the Orient as a sort of surrogate and even under grounded self".
And this process of establishing the identity of 'the other' by creating the identity of the self, is part of the process which said terms in this particular case as being "Orientalized" which means the moment one tries to understand which means the moment one tries to understand culture, history and ideas, one from that moment comes under their direct force. That means when one expresses his interpretation, (which is essentially a work of art) can no longer be external as croce has remarked: 'A work of art is always internal; and what is called external is no longer a work of art' (quoted in Rene Wellek's essay The Fall of Literary history).
That's why Said has avoided presenting any notion or definition of his subject in his book (i.e. Orientalism) rather he chooses a the path of indirectness, by placing in to the pages the various ideas related to the Orientalism that exist 'spatially and complexly interlinked' in his mind and are a part of his consciousness which ultimately he refers to as his subject i.e. the "Orientalism" – the "transdental signified". He is aware that this "transcendental signified" has been a part of the "collective unconscious' of the west and has been growing since the very time the west is conscious about the 'other sidedness' of his existence, on various levels – physical, as well as psychological. This has been since that time of its evolution, has been expressed in various manners making reference to different geographical cultural and ideological difference that exist between the west and the east. To avoid complexity of our interpretation we can simply put this as the fact that due to the ethno-centric attitude of the west there came the relative measurement of various dimensions in the different cultural values, belief systems and this ultimately formed the concept of the "Orient".
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