Lecture Notes on Orientalism and Western Canon

Introduction

• The lecture is broken into concise parts with clips for commentary.
• Emphasis on the persistent issue of voices within the Western canon.

Key Arguments

• Western Canon: Dilemma of claims being legible or non-legible to Western audiences.
• Devaluation: Unintentional highlighting of European philosophy devalues non-Western ideas.
• Epistemic Racism: Racism as a classification system that imposes validity on scientific ideas.

Edward Said and Orientalism

• Orientalism (1978): A critique of Western stereotypes about the Orient and the non-West.
• Mutual Constitution: The West's identity is shaped by its distinction from the non-West.
• Middle Eastern Stereotypes: Islamophobia and other stereotypes perpetuated by Western self-identity.

Clash of Civilizations

• Huntington's Theory: Criticized as popular orientalist thinking influencing foreign policy.
• Western Liberalism: Lack of endogenous theory of violence; externalizes violence as non-Western.

Democratic Peace Theory

• Claims that democracies do not go to war with each other are factually untrue.
• Violence Attribution: Democracies often blame non-democracies for violence.

Saeed's Main Arguments

• Colonialism as a system that promoted Western superiority over the East.
• Scholarly Debates: Challenged Western assumptions about Near Eastern cultures.
• Academic and Political Power: Demonstrated the collaboration between academia and colonialism.

Post-Colonial Critique

• Non-Western Chapter: Examines Western power in deciding which ideas are legitimate.
• Exploitation: European colonialism's exploitation of labor and resources under the guise of modernizing the East.
• Continued influence of colonialist thinking in modern global power dynamics.

Importance of Orientalism

• A revolutionary text in post-colonial studies with a wide influence.
• Highlights the connection between academic writing and colonial politics.
• Said's Controversial Ideas: Encouraged recognition of academic support for racist, colonialist ideologies.

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Next Steps

• Future discussions will include clips of Said speaking directly on these topics for deeper insight.