Thursday, May 08, 2008

A Good Old-Fashioned Take Down

If you want to read a blistering take on Edward Said's concept of Orientalism (and you know you do) I would highly recommend this Robert Irwin essay from the latest Times Literary Supplement. While presenting an effective review of two books (themselves damning) on Said and Orientalism, Irwin uses his material as a justification to let loose. here is the first paragraph:
So many academics want the arguments presented in Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) to be true. It encourages the reading of novels at an oblique angle in order to discover hidden colonialist subtexts. It promotes a hypercritical version of British and, more generally, of Western achievements. It discourages any kind of critical approach to Islam in Middle Eastern studies. Above all, Orientalism licenses those academics who are so minded to think of their research and teaching as political activities. The drudgery of teaching is thus transformed into something much more exciting, namely “speaking truth to power”.

Irwin doesn't pull punches as the essay progresses. Between his observations and the apparently critiques of Said from the books in question Said's vision of Orientalism emerges battered beyond redemption.

5 comments:

Thunderstick said...

When I saw the title "A Good Old-Fashioned Take Down" I thought this post was going to be about the C's laying the wood to Lebron!!

dcat said...

Got to like what we are seeing. That was, for all intents and purposes, a 30-point win. Now we need to show we can win on the road. Go C's!

dcat

Anonymous said...

LBJ to Celtics nation: the only wood in this series are two of the three stiffs who are supposed to comprise Boston's Big Three.

-Donnie Baseball

dcat said...

It's now best two of three with two of those games in Boston. Cleveland fans have a lot of reasons to feel good, but I would not get smug quite yet.

dcat

Anonymous said...

Not smug...just needed to stand up for my boys!

-Donnie Baseball