On Said's Orientalism

On Wednesday, November 8, 2000, Araceli Mark wrote:

"The concepts of 'self' and 'other' helped establish Orientalism. Europe (the dominator) created the Orient (the oppressed). Europe "constructed" the Orient. Discourse creates who has authority; he who creates it is the "knower." In every discourse someone is created who will have authority. Europeans kept up the myth of the Orient (the other) for the purpose of domination. The people in the Orient start to internalize hegemony (a way of getting people to submit to your will--mentally); they start believing it themselves; they start believing the dominant group. In order for hegemony to work, the oppressed must believe the false discourse created by the dominant group.

I believe that without the 'other,' the 'self' would feel inferior. Ernest Gaines said, in "Three Men," out of the mouth of one of the black men who had been rescued in a sense, but whose identity was destroyed in the process: "Then I realized they kept getting me off because they need us. Because without us, they don't know what they is--they don't know what they is out there. With us around, they can see us and they know what they ain't" (Gaines: 139-140). People who are located at the top of the hierarchy talk disparagingly about those who are at the bottom, but if there were no people at the bottom, then would those on top feel superior? I don't think they would. People at the bottom give those at the top a feeling of superiority,an elevation of the ego.

"When I read the piece on Orientalism, I started thinking about conceptual linking. I took Theory last semester and we talked about Said. I was glad to see his name again, especially on the site. I also thought about Fellman and his theory on Adversarialism. Hegemony can be adversarial because it can subjugate people and keep them in a state of oppression. Take the Orient for example; they were subjugated by the Europeans by believing their false discourse."

On December 22, 2000, jeanne responded:

Nice comments, Araceli. Yes, I agree that it's satisfying and important when we encounter the names of some of these theorists over and over. We begin to feel that we're getting a grasp on the theory. I'm glad you had that experience.

I'd like to discuss the highlighted phrases particularly. "In every discourse someone is created who will have authority." I think I know what you're saying: that in the process of discourse there is usually one with authority, the one who speaks the dominant discourse. But I think that is precisely what Fellman is suggesting that we must form, that we must begint to foster a paradigm shift from adversarialism to mutuality. So I'd like to suggest that although it often is the case that one will have greater authority than the other, that need not be the case. Such disparity is precisely what Said identifies in his postcolonial criticism of the unstated assumptions of the dominant discourse. If we follow Said's lead to awareness, and Fellman's lead to a paradigm shift away from adversarialism, perhaps we will be able to transform the dominant discourse.

"People at the bottom give those at the top a feeling of superiority,an elevation of the ego." I think that's a good statement of Gaines' position. Robert K. Merton wrote of relative deprivation, the standard by which we compare our own success to that of others. If status characteristics (traits that are stereotypically assigned on the basis of some visible criterion, like race, or hemisphere of origin), then those who are assigned the "good" characteristics do tend to feel superior to those who are defined the "not so good" characteristics. Gaines carries the argument a little further, alluding to the destruction of identity by defining the identity simplistically, and then disparaging that simplistic identity. In the case of the "Three Men," the man who was rescued and then disparaged is reflecting that he was rescued not because of innate humanity or sensitivity to extenuating circumstances, but as a black man, of whom criminal behavior was "natural." The unstated assumption that blacks were inherently "criminal" did more harm to his identity than might have the time in jail, which would have been unfair and unjust, but less harmful to his humanity.

"Take the Orient for example; they were subjugated by the Europeans by believing their false discourse." Good point. Fanon insisted that rage was a commonly suppressed response to the colonization in which those of the Orient were seen as workers whose productivity was appropriately enjoyed by the West. The strength of this false argument lay in the unstated assumptions of empire on which they were based. (Said)

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