Orientalism

I finished this book on our way to visit colleges with my son Alex.  For anyone interested in a Eurocentric view of the world that attempts to change that view, read Orientalism by Edward Said.  With all of the work we are doing at NYU Abu Dhabi and my piqued interest in the Middle East, Said provides a thoughtful, albeit in some ways a dated view (how much changes in 30 years!) on the current issues related to the Middle East and the West (which he is referring to all of Asia and the Middle East).  Said breaks the book into three parts, The Scope of Orientalism, Orientalist Structures and Restructures, and Orientalism Now (which ends in 1978).  The book helps the reader understand the beginnings of the prejudice towards much of the Middle East, specifically the Arab world.  We learn of how the East (Britain and France) ruled much of the territory and how their influence played a role in how the West views the “Big Bad” East.  In the first part of the book different leadership of the West places a poor portrayal on the people, the customs, and the political directions of the countries and refers to them as inferior.  The second portion, my least favorite, focuses on the academics and scholars who ventured to the area and reflected on their experiences of the land. The last section gives us a more recent view on the East with the changing landscape as oil plays a pivotal rule in what we (the West) need from our “new friends” of the East.  How the US becomes a power and has been linked in assisting the East as it is today.  From a social-scientist point of view, this is a terrific read to give a perspective on how the world has become smaller and reliant on a territory of the world that was for many centuries ruled by the West.    Said’s work is seen on the whole as an important study that bridges the past with today and why the East is the way it is with the West.  Very academic book, so if you are looking to be entertained, skip this one.  If you want to learn a bit, this one is pretty good!