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Home , Edward Said, Hisham Sharabi, Islam and the West, Orientalism, Orientalism (book), Oriental studies

STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND : TAKING STOCK OF By Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak,* translated from Hebrew by Keren Ribo

Since the publication of Orientalism in 1978, Edward Said's has become the hegemonic of in the academy. While Middle Eastern studies can improve, and some part of Said's criticism is valid, it is apparent that the Orientalism critique has done more harm than good. Although Said accuses the West and Western researchers of "essentializing" Islam, he himself commits a similar sin when he writes that Western researchers and the West are monolithic and unchanging. Such a view delegitimizes any search for --the very foundation of the academy. One of Said 's greatest Arab critics, Syrian philosopher Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, attacked Said for the anti-intellectualism of this view. Since German and Hungarian researchers are not connected to , Said conveniently leaves them out of his critique. Said also ignores the positive contribution that researchers associated with power made to the understanding of the . Said makes an egregious error by negating any Islamic influence on the history of the region. His discursive blinders-- for he has created his own discourse--led him before September 11, 2001 to denigrate the idea that Islamist terrorists could blow up buildings and sabotage airplanes. Finally, Said's influence has been destructive: it has contributed greatly to the excessively politicized atmosphere in Middle Eastern studies that rejects a critical self-examination of the field, as well as of Middle Eastern society and politics.

The study of the Middle East, or learning that was not integrated in the wider "," as this discipline was discipline of history. referred to in the past, has faced Leading the charge of critics ha ve been increasing criticism since the 1960s by Edward Said's writings, and above all scholars both in the region and from the Orientalism (1978).2 Indeed, academic West. Indeed, in any comparison of the scholarship on the Middle East has been accomplishments of Middle Eastern studies profoundly altered by this . Its success with developments in the writing of was a combination of several processes, European and American history, the former including a great enthusiasm for the Third is found wanting, particularly in the area of World in the American academy, increased methodology and in the subjects studied.1 criticism of America's policies following There are several reasons for Middle the Vietnam War, 3 and generational as well Eastern studies' relative stagnation; some as ethnic changes in the have to do with the nature of historical community--expressed mostly by the sources in the Middle East, and others have entrance of many new researchers of to do with the development of the Middle Eastern origin to Western and discipline, which had its beginnings in the especially U.S. institutions. Edward Said philological tradition as a branch of expressed the bitterness of academics

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 23 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak toward previous research approaches and . "5 "Orientalism" --once a school the itself. of art but since turned Said's neologism for According to , the this unique combination of knowledge and Orientalism critique gave these researchers power--is simultaneously the source of an apparent advantage over their Western perception and its product, since it is colleagues, since they were, presumably, strongly related to European identity as free from the limited Western ethnocentric superior to all non-European peoples and perspective and could interpret and examine cultures, and to the oppression of the it in a more reliable way. This orientation Middle East by the Europeans. was reinforced by the collapse of the Said defines Orientalism in several modernization theory, which was perceived ways: First, "Orientalism is a style of rightly as a reflection of an empirically thought based upon an ontological and flawed Western ethnocentric perception, epistemological distinction made between and the rise of theories in the field of the '' and (most of the time) the social sciences, such as the dependency 'Occident.'" This distinction, which Said theory, which blamed most Third World argues can be traced from the days of problems on Western imperialism. Homer and in ancient Moreover, the development of historical and up to the present, emphasizes the and res earch proved that the supremacy of the West versus the traditional, philological method had been inferiority of the East. Second, it is a field found wanting, and, at times, even of academic research that includes everyone misleading.4 who writes and teaches about the Orient. The purpose of this article is to analyze Third, Orientalism is a "corporate and put in perspective some of the institution for dealing with the Or ient " debates which resulted from Said's book beginning in the eighteenth century. In and its hegemony in the American short, Orientalism is seen "as a Western academy, as well as to point out some of style for dominating, restructuring, and the negative results which arose from this having authority over the Orient. "6 criticism. According to this perception, the Middle Said 's starting point is that the existence East is static, unchangeable, and cannot and development of every culture compels define itself. The West, therefore, through the existence of a different and necessarily Orientalism, took it up on itself to represent competitive "other" or "alter ego." the Orient and by that means to open it to Therefore, as part of a process of exploitation. The very essence of constructing its self-image, created Orientalism is to take control of the Orient the Middle East (the "Orient") as the and take away from it any ability to speak ultimate "other," as a counter-image in all for it self. European science first started to possible aspects. The Middle East (the "represent " when it began to "classify, to "Orient ") and the West (the "Occident") type the world and its inhabitants into the "correspond to no stable reality that exists stronger and the weaker, backward and as a natural fact," but are merely products advanced, superior and inferior types. " Said of construction. Still, "[t]he relationship maintains, therefore, that it is the idées between Occident and Orient is a reçues and prejudices that determine the relationship of power, of domination, of representation. Hence the knowledge

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism created by the representation is "never raw, principle of control and the production of unmediated, or simply objective. "7 discourse. It establishes the limits of Said describes Orientalism as a discourse by the play of an identity which discourse, a definition he takes from the takes the form of a permanent French philosopher-historian Michel reactualization of rules."11 Said argue s that Foucault. According to Foucault's without "examining Orientalism as a definition, discourse is a system of thought discourse, one cannot possibly understand that governs the knowledge one may obtain. the enormously systematic discipline by This knowledge, which is inspired and which European culture was able to oriented by the discourse, is a paraphrase of manage--and even produce--the Orient, ideas and preconceived notions.8 A politically, sociologically, militarily, discourse is the result of interaction ideologically, scientifically and between knowledge and power, which are imaginatively during the post- connected to each other in a never-ending Enlightenment period." He continues: circle. Foucault thinks that knowledge is "Moreover, so authoritative a position did power and that it is the way of gaining Orientalism have that…no one writing, power: thinking, or acting on the Orient could do so without taking account of the limitations No body of knowledge can be on thought and action imposed by formed without a system of Orientalism."12 communications, record, Said, like Foucault, denies the concept accumulation and displacement, of knowledge and scholarship for its own which it itself is a form of power sake; according to his method, knowledge and which is linked, in its existence is always connected to political, and functioning, to the other forms sociological, economic and other power of power. Conversely, no power can systems. It is formed by interactions with be exercised without the extraction, political power (such as colonial or imperial appropriatio n, distribution or institutions), power (such the retention of knowledge. On this dominant sciences, and among them level, there is not knowledge on one comparative ), and with cultural side and society on the other, or power.13 science and the state, but only the With these ideas as the foundation of his fundamental forms of thought, knowledge ("Orientalism") and knowledge/power.9 power (imperialism) are presented as two central themes in all of Said 's and Scholarly exercises in analysis and articles on the Middle East and on Middle research, purported to be objective, are Eastern studies. The first is the European "founded in and aid in the maintenance of a interest in Islam, which result ed not from certain system of dominative social curiosity but rather from the fear of a relations and political practices."10 In the powerful monotheistic competitor in the words of Foucault, "one is only in the truth cultural and military field. This by obeying the rules of a 'discursive police' combination of fear and animosity lasts that must be reactivated in each one of until today: Said argues that he had "not these . The discipline is a been able to discover any period in

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 25 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak

European or American history sin ce the commonly known as Oriental studies) and Middle Ages in which Islam was generally depicting the Middle East (which he terms discussed or thought about outside a the Orient) in popular or in art. On framework created by passion, prejudice the contrary, Said gives academic research and political interests. "14 a crucial role in distributing the Orientalist The second theme is the relationship and claims that Orientalist between the "Orientalists" and the systems research gave validity and inspiration to the of power and control. According to Said, popular cultural Orientalism of poets, the self- image of the Orientalists as authors, travelers, and painters.16 researchers seeking scientific truth was a Following the concept of the tight subterfuge, obscuring a seedy story of connection between Orientalism and collusion with power and accepting the idea imperialism, Said focuses on Britain, of Western supremacy. By "representing" France, and the United States, as "Britain the Orient as static and degenerate -- and France dominated the Eastern according to Said, Orientalists never Mediterranean from the end of the analyze, describe or depict, they only seventeenth century, " and the United States "represent "--Orientalism presents the inherited the role of the imperial hegemon justification for Western imperialism to since World War Two. He explains that he dominate the Orient. Moreover, Orientalism will not refer to "the important produces and carries out services for contributions of Germany, , Russia, imperialism in various ways such as Spain and Portugal," because they were scientific discovery, philological influenced mostly by what was happening restoration, psychological analysis, in Britain and France.17 While doing so, landscape description, and sociological Said accuses the practitioners of traditional description. None of the Orientalists, even Middle Eastern studies, and even the most the most skillful ones, can escape the outstanding among them, of basic hostility corruptive effect of power on knowle dge. toward Islam. Never, he determines, has For instance in the United States, "political any Orientalist identified with the imperialism governs an entire field of culturally or politically . Having placed study, imagination and scholarly Orientalism's power as an essential part of institutions." He adds further that "[m]uch , Said sweep ingly of the information and knowledge about determines that "every European, in what Islam…that was used by the colonial he could say about the Orient, was…a powers…derived from Orientalist racist, an imperialist, and almost totally scholarship, " and that "many Islamic ethnocentric. "18 specialists were and still are routinely consulted by, and actively work for, THE DEBATE OVER ORIENTALISM governments whose designs in the Islamic During the 1980s, Said 's Orientalism world are economic exploitation, critique became a nearly sacred doctrine in domination, or outright aggression…."15 the American academy. Even so, the book Loyal to t he concept of discourse, Said does engendered not a few criticisms which not distinguish between the study of the focused on three main issues: the validity of Middle East as a research discipline (what the main arguments raised by Said, he terms "Orientalism, " or what was once primarily those related to the nature of

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism

Middle East studies as a research field; study of Islam--since his persona methodological problems; and the negative contradicts Said's claims. Said chose to consequences of his arguments. It should be attack Goldziher's criticism of mentioned that among the critics were not anthropomorphism in the Koran as only those his book attacked but also supposed proof of his negative attitude scholars praised by him, such as Maxime toward Islam, while Goldziher himself felt Rodinson and , or great respect for Islam and had even researchers who presented different attacked for his racist political opinions, among them even Arab conceptions.21 Malcolm Kerr, for example, . This makes it harder to claim criticized Said's ignorance of the role and that the motive for criticism was merely of importance of Arab-American Middle East a personal or national sort. researchers, who played an important role The critics did not deny that Western in the field and could not easily be labeled culture and scholarship in the past has anti-Arab or anti-Islamic. Reina Lewis and included ethnocentric, racist, or anti-Islamic Joan Miller argued that Said ignored components, but argued that these had been women's voices which, they maintained, greatly exaggerated, to the point of being contradicted the monolithically masculine made universal. Out of more than 60,000 representation which Said wished to works on the Middle East published in present. 22 Said's selectivity enabled him to Europe and the United States, he chose only paint scholarship of the Middle East as an those needed in order to prove his case that essentialist, racist, and unchangeable there was a discourse which he termed phenomenon, whereas the evidence he Orientalism. In order to arrive at this ignored would have proven that the conclusion he ignored much evidence Western understanding and representation critical to the historical documentation of of the Middle East--especially of the Arabs research and literature, material which and Islam--had become quite rich and would have supported the opposite multi- faceted over the years. position.19 His choices, as Kramer writes, Many scholars and literary figures were rejected "all discrimination between genres actually enamored with the residents of the and disregarded all extant hierarchies of Middle East, and the "Orientalist discourse " knowledge." This was particularly true was not nearly as dominant as Said would regarding Said's deliberate conflation of have his readers believe, as few examples Middle Eastern studies as a research among many would show. British literary discipline and the popular, artistic, or figures and activists, like Wilfred Scawen literary perspective of the Orient. It also Blunt, actively sought to improve the lot of disregarded the key question of which were the Arabs. Traveler and M.P. David the field 's main texts and which were those Urquhart promoted Ottoman Turkey as a purely on the margins. 20 partner for Christian Europe. Marmaduke This approach led Said to ignore several Pickthall, a famous convert to Islam and a leading researchers who had a decisive translator of the Koran, looked to Turkey influence on Middle Eastern studies. For for the formation of a modernist Islam. example, there is his almost complete Finally, Cambridge Persian scholar E.G. ignoring of Ignaz Gold ziher's work--which Browne wrote in favor of the Iranian made an undeniable contribution to the revolution of 1906-1911 and published

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 27 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak articles against Curzon. These examples aspects of the contemporary "Eastern demonstrate the existence of discourses on Question." For these Jewish scholars, Islam the Middle East other than that did not represent the same kind of religious characterized by Said.23 Moreover, a challenge to that it did to number of researchers have demonstrated Christianity, and therefore they were free of that though Islam was perceived as most of the prejudices that tripped up many Europe's enemy in the Middle Ages, even Christian scholars. On the contrary, many then it had already gained respect and Jewish researchers evolved an almost appreciation in the fields of science and romantic approach toward Islam. They , to the point of even idealizing emphasized its tolerant attitude toward the it as a philosopher's .24 , as opposed to Medieval Europe and A prominent example of the complexity the rising anti-Semitism of the nineteenth of the Western perspective on Islam is the century. Some of them tended to portray attitude of the Enlightenment movement in Jewish history in Muslim lands as a the eighteenth century, which Said continuous golden age.25 They stood perceives as the parent of modern somewhere between the two worlds, as Orientalism. True, some attacked Islam as a Jews with histories both Middle Eastern part of their rational, secular perception and European, contrary to Said's portrayal which criticized unenlightened religiosity-- of unflagging European ethnocentrism. It parallel arguments were simultaneously was thus convenient for Said to leave them made by them against Christianity and out of his one-dimensional portrayal of the Judaism. Moreover, at times it was clear Orientalist discourse. Middle Eastern Jews that their was actually a present a problem for the Saidian Orient- camouflaged criticism of Christianity. Yet, Occident dichotomy. He deals with this by other contemporary writers viewed Islam as pointedly connecting "Oriental Jews" with a rational religion closer to the ideas of the when writing of Israeli (i.e., Enlightenment than Christianity. They saw Western) discrimination. That the Jewish it as a religion balanced between a concept of peoplehood spans the West and commitment to morality and an the East is perhaps too threatening to the acknowledgement of the basic needs of dichotomy so central to his theory.26 man, as opposed to Christianity's distorted The argument that the Occident (or attitude toward sex. There were among actually Europe prior to the twentieth them, too, people who spoke admiringly of century) primarily defined itself in Islam and its tolerance of minorities, and opposition to the Orient may be questioned juxtaposed it with Christian fanaticism. as over-simplifying and essentialist. An important factor in shaping the According to Keith Windschuttle, complex perspective of Oriental studies in Europeans identify themselves as joint heirs the nineteenth century was the entry of of classical Greece and Christianity, each Jewish researchers into the field. They tempered by the fluxes of medieval brought a deep knowledge of Judaism to a scholasticism, the , the comparative study of Islam. Unlike some Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the Christian researchers of Islam, they had no Enlightenment, and . In other missionary approach or nostalgia for the words, Western identity is overwhelmingly or much interest in the political defined by historical references to its earlier

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism selves rather than by geographical Islam exactly what he accused them of comparisons with others. To claim doing to the Middle East. 28 otherwise is to deny the central thrust of Said's disregard of the scope and Western education for the past one complexity of research on Islam and the thousand years.27 Middle East motivated Rodinson to Conversely, the argument that Islam was comment that Said was not familiar enough the ultimate "other" in Western culture, with the main body of scholarly research on may be challenged as well. Christian the Middle East.29 However, Said's theology and doctrine emerged to a large disregarding of this scholarship does not degree as an antithesis to Judaism. appear to result from a lack of familiarity, Likewise, in popular culture the image of but rather from a political agenda, and the the Jew was much more frightening than proof of this is that he continued to make that of the Muslim. It can be argued that the his arguments regarding the monolithic number of explicit anti-Jewish tracts-- character of Middle Eastern studies years theological or political--throughout western after publishing this criticism. history was probably higher than those In order to demonstrate the nature of devoted to Islam. The point here is not scholarship as an instrument of domination made to win the race of victimhood, but Said excoriates scholars of the Middle East rather to argue that the picture of defining for dividing into categories, classifying, the "self" and the "other" in European indexing, and documenting "everything in culture was much more complex than the sight (and out of sight)."30 Does this, asks one Said presented; the "Orient" was not the Syrian philosopher Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, necessarily the defining "other" of the imply something vicious or is it simply Occidental self. characteristic of all scientific academic In the final analysis, then, contrary to work, essential for a proper understanding what Said would have his readers believe, of human societies and cultures his idea of "Orientalism" is exaggerated and altogether? 31 Thus , Said's condemnation of fails to encompass the entirety of how the the generalizations made by Western West understood and conceived Islam; just scholars of the Middle East and his as it cannot be said that because of anti- insistence that they study the Arabs and Semitism, all of European thought was as individuals made some of his hostile toward Jews, is it not true that the Arab critics wonder if this meant that it was West viewed the Middle East in a closed impossible or unnecessary to study circle of interpretation disconnected from collective entities. If the inclusion of Marx other historical developments. New ideas in Orientalism comes from his lack of that surfaced in intercultural contact attention to individual cases, added James undermined a priori assumptions time after Clifford rhetorically, perhaps it is simply time. Prejudices and were impossible to form social or cultural theory, endemic but never shaped into an and perhaps there is no room for research unchangeable united discourse on the fields such as sociology?32 Middle East. In reality, academics who led Said's over-generalized and non-historic the discourse often took the lead in conception of "Orientalism" is at its most undermining prejudices. Said, concluded radical when he writes that "every Bayly Winder, did to Western scholars of European, in what he could say about the

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 29 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak

Orient, was a racist, and imperialist, and The obvious conclusion from this almost totally ethnocentric. "33 According to argument, as Winder and al-Azm show, is , who was praised by Said and that according to Said, "Orientalism" is who found positive points in his book, this inevitable since such distortions are argument generally encourages people to inevitable. If one accepts this argument, believe Westerners have no right to study however, as al-Azm suggests, this only the Middle East and insists that only means the West was merely doing what all Muslims and Arabs can investigate cultures must do: examine other cultures correctly Middle Eastern history. 34 through the concepts and frameworks it Even the doyen of Middle Eastern already holds.38 scholarship of the Middle East, Albert If this is true, Winder explains, that Hourani, a Christian Arab like Said, shared everyone who sees the "other" distorts it, the feeling that the book might lend support then the West is no different from other to a Muslim counter-attack based on the cultures, including , which idea that no one understands Islam better also has a distorted perspective of the than Muslims. 35 While Said denied that this "other." If indeed, Winder wonders, Said was his intention,36 the actual text of the demands that Westerners should be better, book and the conclusion of many readers does he not accept that they have a certain belie this assertion. Moreover, disqualifying supremacy, a certain mission that makes all researchers who come outside the them superior? Or should different criteria examined group --in every area of the apply to the West simply because it was world --would put an end to all serious more "successful" than other societies? academic research. It also neglects the fact Thus, Said himself is promoting a clearly that outside researchers may have certain "Orientalist" perspective, accepting and advantages, since as an outsider the scholar forgiving the "weakness" of Middle Eastern might be free from the myths or society. "Westerners," claims Winder, "are preconceptions which insiders share. not better, but Western science, including Said also raises a doubt as to whether 'Orientalism,' is self-bettering in that it is anyone can study (in his words, self-corrective."39 By determining that all "represent ") any subject in any manner "representations " of the other are by other than in an entirely subjective way, definition distortions, Said is saying that which is determined by the culture of the people can only study themselves, that only scholar-observer. He believes that the Muslims can properly "represent" Islam. unknown, the exotic, and the foreign have In our experience this has led to a always been perceived, assimilated, and crippling timidity amongst non-Muslim or represented in these terms. This leads him non-Arab students. While it is good to doubt that any scholarship can even scholarship to control for bias, Said's come close to the truth, or in his words, influence has made students chary of "whether indeed there can be a true writing about Islam and the Arabs from a representation of anything, or whether any point of view not necessarily shared by the or all representations, because they are objects of their research. They give more representations," are so intertwined with the weight to an Arab or Islamic viewpoint and institutions, language, and culture of the are fearful of developing an opinion of their representer to render the truth impossible. 37 own.

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism

ORIENTAL STUDIES AND forgotten even by the local people? The IMPERIALISM importance of the German and Hungarian Said 's selectivity drove him to ignore the scholars was tremendous in terms of their important intellectual achievement of the contribution to Middle East scholarship, German and Hungarian scholars of the even though they were not residents of Middle East. According to his argument, countries with any imperialist interest in the "the major steps in Oriental scholarship region, and therefore the connection were first taken in either Britain and France between power and knowledge did not exist [sic], then elaborated upon by Germans."40 in this case, sums up Lewis. 41 Said also There is no historical basis for this ignored the fact that many scholars opposed argument. The main reason for his ignoring imperialism, and therefore the connection research in these countries is that an he creates between their academic works accurate assessment of it would have and imperialism is forced. undermined his central argument that Edmond Burke, like Said, criticizes Orientalism was integrally linked to Oriental studies scholars who at the start of imperialism as an expression of the nexus the twentieth century dealt with minor between knowledge and power, and issues: "studies on obscure manuscripts, therefore that Orientalists wished to gain folk traits, rural and popular knowledge of the Orient in order to control religion, " instead of dealing with topics he it. To support his claims, Said even back- considered to be more important, such as dated the development of British and study of the national movements that French imperialism in the Middle East to developed in the region.42 Yet again, if the seventeenth century, which is clearly a these scholars were so "impractical, " then historical error. Considering German obviously their studies had to do more with leadership in Oriental studies, it is unlikely a search for knowledge rather than an effort that they took much from British and to help imperialism. Ironically, if they had French scholars. been as Said and Burke would have them, No doubt, agrees , some they would have focused on precisely the of the scholars of the Middle East served issues Burke criticizes them for ignoring. It imperialism or gained from it. Yet as an appears then that many of Said's explanation of academic research of the "Orientalists" actually pursued knowledge Islamic world as a whole, this argument is for the sake of knowledge. Said cannot flawed. If the effort to gain power through have it both ways, complaining that knowledge is the main or only motive, why scholars of Islam and the Middle East dealt did the study of and with the trivial and at the same time begin hundred of years before Western asserting they were agents of imperialistic imperialism in the Middle East had domination. appeared even as an ambition? Why did In addition if there were any researchers these studies blossom in European countries who participated in an "academic effort to that didn't take part in the European embalm Islam, " to use Said 's words, these domination effort? Why did scholars invest were the Germans, but this was not because so much effort in trying to decipher or of imperialism. This was rather due to their study the monuments of the ancient East more comprehensive approach to the study which had no political value and were of cultures, which they applied to their own

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 31 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak society as well. It is very likely, writes according the Halliday, trying to subdue a Emmanuel Sivan, that if the Germans had land requires producing as accurate an been involved in the imperialist effort, they image as possible of it. For example, would have been more conscious of Islam French ethnographers serving French being a living and dynamic tradition. imperialism in did not Actually, the British and the French, who necessarily produce worthless research, as imitated the Germans, could not afford to Said would have his readers believe. On the be pure classicists because of their country's contrary, in order for the studies of those imperialist demands. They studied Islam as academic researchers to serve the French, a living . Sivan concludes that they had to be accurate. "To put it bluntly, " the reality of the situation was much more writes Halliday, "if you want to rob a bank, complicated and ironic than that presented you would be well advised to have a pretty by Said.43 While Said disregarded German accurate map if its layout….."46 Middle Eastern studies scholars because An ironic twist to the connection they were not connected to imperialism, if between political establishments and he had taken the time to examine their scholarship was visible after Martin work, he would have discove red that many Kramer's fierce attack against the American saw Islam and the Middle East in all its academy for identifying with Said's variety, without essentializing.44 Orientalism critique. Kramer argued that Al-Azm raises another issue, namely, Middle Eastern studies were so the problematic cause and effect connection compromised by Said 's world view that that Said makes between Orientalism as a they should no longer receive U.S. cultural-social phenomenon and government aid. Said's supporters, who in imperialism. It is impossible to avoid the the past had attacked the connection impression, al- Azm remarks, that for Said between academic research and the political the presence of observers, administrators, establishment, were quite alarmed at the and intruders in the Middle East--such as notion. In effect they were arguing that the , Cromer, and Balfour--had large amounts of monies their institutions become inevitable and actually was caused took from the government did not by literary and intellectual Orientalism. undermine their intellectual independence, Therefore, according to Said, we can even as ma ny of them characterized U.S. understand better the political inclinations policy as imperialistic. Clearly, they do not and the aspirations of European imperialists really believe that a connection with the if we turn to literary figures, among them political establishment, even an Barthélemy d'Herbelot and , "imperialistic " one, has any effect on their rather than if we actually explore strategic own research. Yet if that is so, then and economical interests.45 government funding doe s not necessarily Another difficulty in Said 's approach of influence academic discourse. If this is true connecting academic research to of today, it might well be true of the past as imperialism lays, according to Halliday, in well, despite Said's critique. the assumption that if ideas come to the world in circumstances of domination or even directly in the service of the dominator, they are not valid. Yet

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism

"REPRESENTATION" AND draws on post- modernist ideas. According HISTORICAL TRUTH to Said 's approach, says Lewis, every Said 's focus on Orientalism as a discourse is an expression of a motive to discourse of power, and apparently his rule, and all knowledge is distorted. background as a literary critic (and not as a Therefore, absolute truth does not exist or is historian), led him to argue that the "things not attainable. Thus, the truth is not to look at are style, figures of speech, important and even the facts are not setting, narrative devices, historical and important, nor is the evidence. Most social circumstances, not the correctness of important is the approach--the motives and the representation nor its fid elity to some intentions--of those who use knowledge. 49 great original." In other words: "The An example of this problematic aspect phenomenon of Orientalism as I study it of the Orientalist critique, which ascribes here deals principally, not with a far more importance to the researcher's correspondence between Orientalism and inclinations than to the empirical basis of the Orient, but with the internal consistency his findings, is to be found in the complaint of Orientalism and its ideas about the of Palestinian researcher Orient…despite or beyond any about Lewis himself. Sharabi attacks Lewis correspondence, or lack thereof, with a 'real' for saying that German had Orient. "47 This approach, which is largely affected the Arab political arena in the influenced by the post- modern discourse 1930s and 1940s more than patriotism in its popular in the field of -- British or French form. He then takes Lewis Said's primary expertise--leads him to to task for his claim regarding the influence ignore the possibility that representation of pro-Nazi and Fascist movements in the includes reliable and precise information as in the 1930s and 1940s. Sharabi well. He never analyzes profoundly or is angered because Lewis quotes the Syrian refutes the Middle Eastern studies politician Sami al-Jundi, who wrote in his literature, he merely argues over its style memoirs: "We were racists, we admired and motives. Nazism, read the books and the sources Halliday, as a positivist scholar who from which its ideas derived. " Nowhere believes that historical reality is the does Sharabi refute Lewis's arguments or important factor and not simply demonstrate that he distorts reality or representation, doubts whether the misquoted al-Jundi. He is angry because discourse criticism in literature can be used Lewis seemingly quotes this passage that for social sciences as well and questions presents the Arabs in an unfavorable light whether historical research can be treated "with satisfaction. "50 like literary analysis. Halliday even argues that Said's basic approach is similar to those THE ESSENTIALIST DICHOTOMY whom Said accuses of "Orientalism, " since BETWEEN THE ORIENT AND THE both put a priority on what is termed (in OCCIDENT different theoretical frameworks) ideology, There is a contradiction between two discourse, or political culture. 48 central arguments in Said's approach. On Lewis is most severe in his criticism of the one hand , he writes that Orientalism Said's epistemological conception, which is created the Orient and that it is merely a influenced by and which "construction" of the Orientalists which

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 33 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak does not exist in reality. On the other hand, By attempting to impute such rigid throughout his book, he repeats the premise roles and natures to the West and the of an unchanging relationship between a East, Said not only underestimates the West that was hostile as far back as ancient contributions of Islamic societies, but Greece, and a victimized Orient, as if these also commits the sin of "" two entities were indeed historical realities. which he so reviles. Joel Kraemer noted The result is that Said himself establishes a that it is impossible to attribute ancient false dichotomy between East and West. He Greek philosophy and science to an depicts the West and the East in the same essential West and remove it from the essentialist and ahistorical manner which is Middle East. The works of , unchanging across time and against which , Ptolemy and Galen spoke to he rails. the hearts of the three main While critical of the Western media 's of the Middle Ages--Arab-Muslim, treatment of Islamic countries and its Byzantine, and --each in its own ignoring of the role of the imperialist special way. The Arab role in absorbing powers in forming the painful history of the and assimilating the scientific and region, at the same time, Janet Afary sees philosophical Greek classics and then Said's criticism as a "mirror image of the transferring them to Europe is known to colonialist discourse which he dissects." all. Yet this historical phenomenon does According to her, Said 's weltanschauung is not interest Said at all, for it contradicts "Manichaean…in which the West his fixation on the dichotomous contrast represents the dominant male and the East-- between cultures. Islamic civilization the subservient female locations." In so grew and blossomed in a direct and doing, he ignores such matters as "[e]thnic intimate link to the other civilizations in complexities, class, and gender the Mediterranean basin. Many scholars divisions…" and "the problematic role of of Islam therefore deliberated the religion and its unhappy coexistence with question whether to see it as a part of the democracy."51 In his description of the European cultural sphere or that of the Orient as helpless under the Orientalists, or Middle East. Most of them believed that in his own words, "it is perhaps true that it stood alongside European culture, Islam has produced no very powerful visual sharing one degree of closeness or aesthetic tradition,"52 Said himself another; not in opposition, but as a surrenders to the very Orientalist discourse neighbor.54 which he excoriates for presenting Islam as inferior. If he had an awareness of such THE CENTRALITY OF ISLAM architectural marvels as the Dome of the No doubt, one of the main failures of Rock, the mosque of Ibn Tulun, or the truly classical Oriental studies was the spectacular Islamic metal, ceramic, and perception of Islam--defined by its glassware on exhibit around the world, he tradition and classic texts--as an might not have made such an assertion. He independent variable in history and as the also states that there is a lack of good dominant explanation--and sometimes libraries in the Middle East, which is surely the only one--of historical phenomena in not the case. 53 the Middle East. This attitude resulted from the perception of as

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism based on civilizations defined by culture arguing from a position of scorn or and religion, and from the idea that the condescension toward the people they right way to learn religion was through were studying, but rather accepting ideas religious texts and languages.55 Said is that originated with the members of the absolutely right when saying that the studied culture. emphasis on the classical texts resulted in For his part, however, working from an essentialist perception of Islam as within his Orientalist critique, Said reaches static, unchangeable , and backward a radically different conclusion, which compared to Europe, and in an over- entirely removes Islam from having any estimation of Islam as the only source of role whatsoever in the shaping of the each and every phenomenon in the region's history. In his review of Middle East. Said goes even further and Orientalism, Kerr agrees that not claims that the essentialist perception everything can be explained through Islam, brought Oriental studies scholars to use but wonders whether Said takes into texts, such as the Koran, in order to account that Islamic doctrine both claims explain different aspects of contemporary and aspires to deal with all aspects of life, Arab society. 56 while stressing that man's spiritual purpose But an important explanation for this is not separate from his temporal one. How mistaken perception of a frozen Islam does Said view phenomena such as eludes Said, even though he correctly Ayatollah Khomeini or the Muslim pointed out the phenomenon. The idea of Brothers, he asks. 58 a frozen Islam, argues , Said's tendency to underestimate the often resulted from the scholars' importance--if not to erase the influence--of overestimation of their sources. Yet here, religion and history on the modern Middle even if they were wrong, their problem Eastern prompted a number of Arab came from paying respectful attention to of his work. These writers, mostly Muslim perceptions and not ignoring leftists who had fought to bring social them. For instance, many European changes in their countries, failed in their philologists accepted without objection struggle against various beliefs and the arguments of the Arab grammarians concepts, such as discrimination against themselves that the Arab language was women, precisely because their fellow an unchanging one. A similar approach citizens believed that such ideas were can be seen in Lewis's article on Ottoman Islamic. The paradox, as Sivan showed, is observers, which accepts their that Arab leftist scholars, who carried out observations on the decline of their field studies in the Middle East, reached empire as an undisputed historical fact conclusions that were not far from those of rather than as a product of a then-current the Middle Eastern studies scholars pessimistic weltanschauung, or of the identified by Said with and bitterness of those who had identified imperialism.59 their loss in political and social struggles By ignoring the importance of religion as the alleged decline of the empire as a in the region, Said and others critical of whole.57 In these cases and others, even "Orientalism" fall into an internal when the classical Oriental studies contradiction. They attack "Orientalism" as scholars were wrong, they were not a discourse which formulates consciousness

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 35 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak and leads to action, while simultaneously himself wholeheartedly with the Arabs."61 ignoring the Islamic discourse and its Apart from the fact that this is empirically influence on the development of wrong, it is against the most basic perceptions which can lead to actual deeds. principles of scholarship. As Winder says, One of the outcomes of this contradiction is "identifying with" is not an acceptable the common claim by the critics of criteria for research and scholarship. 62 It is "Orientalism" that there is no connection worth asking if Said himself would demand between violence and religion. Without that scholars of , which he opposed disregarding the importance of the deep with all his might, adopt the same stand that social, economic, and political roots of he demands of scholars of the Middle East. terrorism, it is clear to anyone who lives in is one of the few the Middle East that the religious discourse scholars who merits Said 's praises. He and weltanschauung has a profound impact emphasizes Massignon's deep empathy for on the politics and society of the region. Islamic , his nuanced description, Ignoring the religion of Islam, claims and broad scope. Yet while Said thinks it is Kramer, caused Said and his supporters to sufficient to note Massignon's style and profoundly misunderstand the rise of sympathy, argues al-Azm, he fits into Said's as a significant political power in Orientalist . Precisely because he the Middle East since the 1980s. A perfect stressed there being a timeless "spiritual example of this ignorance is Said 's dimension" of Eastern culture, Massignon dismissing in the period before the argued that the East and the West were September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks distinguished by the between "speculations about the latest conspiracy to tradition and modernity. If so, what makes blow up buildings, sabotage commercial Massignon so unique? It seems that the airliners and poison water supplies" as reason is not his methodology, but his "highly exaggerated stereotyping."60 persona as a "tireless fighter on behalf of Muslim civilization, " his support of the EMPATHY AND SYMPATHY , and his "defense of As an alternative to Orientalism, Said Arab Muslim and Christian rights in correctly maintains that researchers should ," according to Said. 63 While Said feel empathy toward those they are attacks scholars who are connected to studying. Indeed, empathy is truly a useful power centers in the West, he does not heuristic device. Yet he goes far beyond reject the involvement of academics in this by demanding that scholars political struggles. On the contrary, for Said demonstrate actual sympathy and political it is a virtue, as long as they are on right support for the objects of their study: "I side, with views that match his own. 64 doubt that there can be any substitute for a genuinely engaged and sympathetic--as IMPLICATIONS FOR MID DLE opposed to a narrowly political or hostile -- EASTERN STUDIES attitude to the Islamic world," he wrote, and Said's Orientalism did ha ve a salubrious complained elsewhere that "no person effect to the extent that it brought into academically involved with the -- greater relief the influence of discourse on no Orientalist that is--has ever in the United academic writing, particularly with respect States culturally and politically identified to the analysis of the "other. " Many 36 Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006)

Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism scholars did need to be reminded of the provided major assistance to intellectual humanity of their subjects, and their trends of apologetics in the Arab world empathy needed to be strengthened. which blamed all its problems on Moreover, there is no doubt that much of outsiders.68 This factor made it harder to Middle Eastern studies was outdated and in improve politics and life in the Arab world need of serious revision, particularly in and thus damaged the interests of the Arabs view of new developments in historical themselves. Said attacked Fouad Ajami and research as well as in such social science as writers who do not fields as sociology and anthropology. sympathize with the Arabs. He described That said, overall Said 's book had a Makiya--who exposed the oppression of negative impact. It was gladly accepted by Arabs and Muslims by Saddam Hussein's Islamist circles in the Middle East which regime in Iraq--with contempt as a "native saw it as a pro-Islamic, anti-Western informant" who serves the interests of document. The book provided a American policymakers.69 For Said, Fouad confirmation from the "inside " of their Ajami is "a second -rate scholar who has long- held suspicions toward Western written one collection of essays...and a very researchers for being, so to speak, agents of bad history of Musa Sadr."70 their countries, as well as the view that There is a paradox in the fact that a large Western rese arch is part of a scheme to ruin part of Said's supporters joined with the Islam's reputation. Later, Said claimed that Islamists or with supporters of the status this factor was the aspect of the book's quo by rejecting any criticism of the Arab reception that he most regretted. He added world as "Orientalism. " It is equally ironic that Orientalism could be understood as a that it is Arab leftists who often criticize defense of Islam only if half his argument their society and raise arguments similar to were igno red. The answer to this self- those of Elie Kedourie, who is denigrated justification is that if so many people as an "Orientalist" by Said and his "misinterpret" a certain essay, the supporters. This kind of agreement, of a misinterpretation is probably embedded in conservative intellectual like Kedourie and the contents and arguments made by it. radical Arab critics attacked by Said raise Kramer argues that it was possible to ignore the question of who is helping the Arabs in half of the argument since the book's tone the long run--those willing to sincerely carried the message that the Islamists engage with crises plaguing Arab society, understood. 65 or those who whitewash them by saying Another problem, noticed mostly by that criticism represents a distorted Western Said's Arab critics, is that his arguments approach?71 also served as ammunition for Islamists and Said's criticism contributed to the further Arab nationalists to counter any criticism of politicization of Middle Eastern studies, the status quo in the Arab world as Arab which was already quite politicized by the Orientalism. Kanan Makiya 66 wrote that the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nikki Keddie noted book "unwittingly deflected from the real that in the field the word "Orientalist " is problems of the Middle East at the same thrown around in a general derogatory time as it contributed more bitterness to the sense, directed against those who adopt "the armory" of young Arabs.67 Whether or not wrong" approach on the conflict or who are Said so intended, according to Sivan, he perceived as too conservative. She stated

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 37 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak that for many people the word substitutes difficulties finding a publisher, even though for thought and enables people to dismiss several leading scholars saw him as a certain scholars and their works. "I think trailblazer. The reason, explains the that is too bad, " she said. "It may not have newspaper, is not just the fear that radical been what Edward Said meant at all, but the Islamist circles see him as a second Salman term has become kind of a slogan."72 Rushdie, but fear of the Western academy. No less severe is the contribution of The Times quoted a scholar at an American Orientalism to creating an almost university: "Between fear and political McCarthyist atmosphere in the American correctness, it's not possible to say anything academy, one that chokes debates and other than sugary nonsense about Islam. " arguments. Haideh Moghissi, an Iranian Like the author of the new book on the scholar, feminist and activist, complained Koran, he asked that his name be withheld, that "fear of Orientalism is haunting studies and referred to possible violence, within the of the Middle East, and particularly the context of the reluctance on U.S. campuses study of women's experience in various to criticize other cultures.75 The fact that Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. It is scholars fear presenting the fruits of their used to discourage critical thinking and research lest they be accused of self-criticism…."73 "Orientalism" demonstrates clearly that Henry Munson criticized the fact that there is a crisis in Middle Eastern studies. many American researchers are so determined to refute any negative CONCLUSION stereotypes of Islam that they tend to Despite the positive contribution of idealize everything that is Muslim, Orientalism in increasing the awareness of including radical Islamist movements. scholars to cultural biases and the According to him, many tend to ignore key importance of discourse in shaping features of radical Islamism, ranging from research, the harm the book wrought was anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to the no less great. Apart from unfounded threat of those movements to . historical generalizations on the Munson added that those who think Kramer development of Middle Eastern studies in exaggerated in estimating Said's influence the West, on "representing" Islam in the on Middle Eastern research in the United West, and on Middle Eastern society itself, States need to acknowledge the fact that a even to the point of adopting essentialist scholar who dares discuss discrimination approaches which he himself attacked, against the Baha'is in , slavery in there are several methodological failures in Sudan, or the Islamist persecution of the book which cast a shadow over Said's intellectuals in stands in danger of writing. Amongst these one can point to the being called an Orientalist, a Zionist, or an unspoken demand that the scholar identify agent of America n imperialism. 74 with the object of his research as a An expression of this phenomenon can precondition for research aptitude; giving be seen in an article in the New York Times preference to matters of presentation (or, in about a book suggesting a new reading of Saidian terms, "representation") over the Koran based on Syro- sources. aiming at empirical and historical truth; and What is disturbing is that the author felt he ignoring Islam as a significant cultural had to write under a pseudonym and had discourse, a key factor in the formation of

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism

Middle Eastern politics and society. The reflect on the influence of Said's principle problem in Said's criticism is its Orientalism throughout their years of contribution to the exaggerated studying and teaching about Islam and the politicization of Middle Eastern studies and Middle East. They hope it will be useful to transforming it into a hegemonic discourse students and teachers alike. This is a which silences all self- criticism, for self- revised and expanded version of an article criticism is the essence of all academic which appeared in Hamizrah Hehadash, research. Vol. 45 (2005). As we reflect back on more than a quarter century since the publication of Orientalism, it seems that Arab intellectuals NOTES in the Middle East are more self-critical than ever before. The Internet, an opening 1 For example, a look at the thousands of up of the press, and satellite television have books and articles covering all aspects of increased the amount of public space for the French Revolution, from gender airing opinion. Self-criticism in the Middle relations to politics of memory, could only East is flourishing.76 For many years, make Middle Eastern studies scholars Middle Eastern studies in the West has envious of their fellow academics. suffered from a kind of self-censorship that 2 Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: threatened to destroy "the free spirit of Vintage Books, 1978). inquiry, discovery, and expression which 3An example of the influence of this has inspired and guided the whole modern process in a research field close to that of movement of scholarship and science."77 It the Middle East is the rise of the is our hope that the opening up of debate in Revisionist trend in studies, the Middle East--be it with respect to which mostly blamed the conflict on the women's issues, Islam, democracy, or peace United States. with --will serve as an example, 4 Martin Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand: loosening up the stifling effect that Said had The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in on Middle Eastern studies scholarship in America, (Washington, D.C.: Vintage the Western academy. Books, 2000), pp. 32-33. 5 Edward W. Said, "East Isn't East: The * Joshua Teitelbaum is Senior Fellow, Impending End of the Age of Orientalism," Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East and Times Literary Supplement, February 3, , Tel Aviv University, and 1995, p. 3; Said, Orientalism, p. 5. Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department 6 Said, Orientalism, pp. 2-3, 12, 41-42, 70, of Middle Eastern History, Bar Ilan 202-03; Fred Halliday, "Orientalism and its University. Meir Litvak is Senior Fellow at Critics," British Journal of Middle Eastern the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2 (1993), pp. 148-49. and African Studies, and Senior Lecturer in 7Edward W. Said, "The Intellectual Origins the Department of Middle Eastern and of Imperialism and Zionism," Gazelle African History, Tel Aviv University. Dr. Review of Literature on the Middle East, Teitelbaum began his studies at UCLA in No. 2 (1977), p. 48; Edward W. Said, 1976; Dr. Litvak began his at Tel Aviv Covering Islam: How the Media and the University in 1980. In this article, they Experts Determine How We See the Rest of

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 2006) 39 Joshua Teitelbaum and Meir Litvak

the World (New York:Random House, Islam," Martin Kramer (ed.), The Jew ish 1981), p. 41; Said, Orientalism , p. 273. Discovery of Islam, (Tel Aviv: The Moshe 8 Michel Foucault, L'ordre du discourse Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and (: Flammarion, 1971), pp. 27-28, African Studies, 1999), pp. 137-80. quoted in Alan Sheridan, Michel Foucault: 22 Malcolm H. Kerr, "Review of The Will to Truth (New York: Routledge, 'Orientalism'," International Journal of 1980), p. 125. Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4 9 Michel Foucault, "Théories et institutions (1980), pp. 544-47; Jane Miller, pénales," Annuaire du College de France, Seductions: Studies in Reading and 1971-1972, p. 283, cited in Sheridan, Culture, (London: Virago,1990); and Reina Michel Foucault, p. 125. Lewis, Gendering Orientalism: Race, 10 Michael Sprinker, "The Use and Abuse Femininity and Representation, (New York: of Foucault," Humanities in Society Vol. 3, Routledge, 1995), cited in Bill Ashcroft and No. 1 (1980), p. 2. Pal Ahluwaila, Edward Said: The Paradox 11 Quoted in Sprinker, "The Use and Abuse of Identity, (London: Routledge, 1999), p. of Foucault, " p. 8. 83. 12 Said, Orientalism, p. 3. 23 Geoffrey Nash, "Revisiting Pro-Muslim 13 Ibid, p. 12; Said, Covering Islam, p. 17. British Orientalists," ISIM Review, Vol. 16 14 Said, "East isn't East"; Said, Orientalism, (Autumn 2006), p. 47. pp. 59-60; Edward W. Said, "Islam through 24 Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand, p. 29; Western Eyes," The Nation, March 26, , Europe and the 1980, original emphasis. Mystique of Islam, (Seattle: Washington 15 Said, Orientalism, p. 14; Said, "East Isn't University Press, 1987), pp. 45 ff. East." 25 Albert Hourani, Islam in European 16 Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand, p. 29. Thought, (Cambridge: Cambridge 17Said, Orientalism, p. 17. University Press, 1991), pp. 13 ff; Alastair 18 Said, "Islam through Western Eyes"; Hamilton, "Western Attitudes to Islam in Said, Orientalism, p. 204. the Enlightenment," Middle Eastern 19Clifford Geertz, "Conjuring with Islam," Lectures, Vol. 3 (1999), pp. 69-87; Robert New York Review of Books, May 27, 1982, Irwin, "Oriental Discourses in Orientalism," p. 28; Emmanuel Sivan, "Edward Said and Middle Eastern Lectures, Vol. 3 (1999), pp. His Arab Reviewers," in Emmanuel Sivan 87-110. (ed.), Interpretations of Islam: Past and 26 Edward W. Said, The Question of Present, (Princeton: Darwin Press, 1985), Palestine, (New York: Vintage Books, pp. 134-35, 137. 1980), p. 29. 20 Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand, p. 29. 27 Keith Windschuttle, "Edward Said's 21Said, Orientalism, p. 209; Joel Kraemer, 'Orientalism' Revisited," at "Three Saidian Fallacies," paper presented www.newcriterion.com/archive/17/jan99/sa at the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and id.htm. African Studies Conference, "Knowledge, 28 Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand, p. 29; Power and Society," January 1994; L. I. R.Bayly Winder, "Orientalism: Review Conrad, "Ignaz Goldziher on Ernest Renan: Article," Middle East Journal, Vol. 35, No. From Orientalist Philology to the Study of 4 (1981), pp. 615-19.

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29 Rodinson, Europe and the Mystique of p. 490. For a similar approach on the part of Islam , p. 131. Said's Arab critics, who are partners in his 30 Said, Orientalism, p. 86. protest against Western imperialism, but 31 Sadik Jalal al-Azm, "Orientalism and who distinguish between this and academic Orientalism in Reverse," Jon Rothschild research, see Sivan, "Edward Said and His (ed.), Forbidden Agendas: Intolerance and Arab Reviewers," p. 137. Defiance in the Middle East (London: Al 42 Burke, , p. 493. Saqi Books, 1984), p. 354. 43 Sivan, "Edward Said and His Arab 32 James Clifford, "Review of Orientalism," Reviewers," p. 141. History and Theory, Vol. 19, No. 2 (1980), 44 See Todd Kontje, German , p. 218. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 33 Said, Orientalism, p. 204. 2004), pp. 147-48. See also Baber 34 Keddie, cited in Kramer, Ivory Towers on Johansen, "Politics, Paradigms and the Sand, p. 36. of Oriental Studies: The German 35 For interviews with Nikki Keddie and Oriental Society (Deutsche Albert Houra ni see Nancy Elizabeth Morgenländische Gesellschaft) 1845- Gallagher, Approaches to the History of the 1989," The Arab World in Scientific Middle East , (London: Ithaca Press, 1994), Research (MARS), (Winter 1994), pp. 79- pp. 41, 144-145. 94. 36 Said, "East Isn't East." 45 Al-Azm, "Orientalism and Orientalism in 37 Said, Orientalism , pp. 67, 272 (emphasis Reverse," p. 353. in original). It is curious, therefore, that 46 Halliday, "Orientalism and its Critics," p. Said claims a few sentences earlier (p. 272) 159-60; see similar arguments also in al- that "Islam has been fundamentally Azm, "Orientalism and Orientalism in misrepresented in the West," since once Reverse," pp. 355-56; Sivan, "Edward Said cannot misrepresent something that is, by and His Arab Reviewers," p. 140. Said's definition, incapable of being 47 Said, Orientalism, pp. 5, 21. Emphasis in properly described (or "represented"). original. Emphasis in original. 48 Halliday, "Orientalism and its Critics," 38 Al-Azm, "Orientalism and Orientalism in pp. 150,160. Reverse,"p. 355. 49 Lewis, "The Question of Orientalism," p. 39 Winder, "Orientalism," p. 618, quoting 115. Francis Peters; al-Azm, "Orientalism and 50 Hisham Sharabi, "The Scholarly Point of Orientalism in Reverse," p. 54. View: Politics, Perspectives, Paradigms," in 40 Said, Orientalism, pp. 17-18. Hisham Sharabi (ed.), Theory, Politics and 41 Bernard Lewis, "The Question of the Arab World, (New York: Routledge Orientalism," in Bernard Lewis, Islam and 1990), pp. 14-15. the West, (Oxford: , 51 Janet Afary, The Iranian Constitutional 1993), pp. 117-18; , III, Revolution, 1906-1911: Grassroots "Orientalism and World History: Democracy, Social Democracy, and the Representing Middle Eastern Nationalism Origins of Feminism, (New York: and Islamism in the Twentieth Century," Press, 1996), p. 11. Theory and Society Vol. 27, No. 4 (1998), 52 Said, Covering Islam, p. 61.

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53 Said, Covering Islam, p. 53; Said, backed Ayatollah Khomeini's death Orientalism, p. 323. sentence fatwa against Satantic Verses 54 Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand. author , quoted Said's 55 Bernard Lewis falls into this trap in his essays as proof for the arguments against otherwise excellent book, when he refers to Rushdie, even though Said himself came to the simultaneous invasion of , India, the author's defense. For Islamist criticisms Africa, and Europe by the armies of of Orientalists, see William Brinner, "An "Islam," as if they were some kind of anti-Orientalist Egyptian Author," in Hava unified body acting in concert (Bernard Lazarus-Yafeh (ed.), Muslim Authors on Lewis, What Went Wrong: Western Impact Jews and Judaism (: Shazar and Middle Eastern Response, (Oxford: Center, 1996), pp. 247-65. The article Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 6). makes note of attacks on Jewish scholars. 56 Said, Orientalism, p. 52; Edward W. 66 Kanan Makiya is the author (under the Said, "Arabs, Islam and the Dogma of the pseudonym Samir al-Khalil) of Republic of West," The New York Times Book Review, Fear: The Inside Story of Saddam's Iraq October 31, 1976, p. 4. (New York: , 1989), which 57 Robert Irwin, "Oriental Discourses in is a severe indictment of Saddam Hussein's Orientalism," pp. 98-99; Bernard Lewis, regime. "Ottoman Observers of Ottoman Decline," 67 Kanan Makiya, Cruelty and Silence: , Vol. 1 (1962), pp. 71-87. War, Tyranny and Uprising in the Arab 58 Kerr, "Review of 'Orientalism'," p. 545. World , (New York: WW Norton, 1994), p. 59 Sivan, "Edward Said and His Arab 318 Reviewers," pp. 148-51. 68 For a broader discussion on this issue see 60 Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand, pp. 44- Emmanuel Sivan, "The Controversy over 60; Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, (New Orientalism," Alpaim , Vol. 14 (1997), pp. York: Vintage Books, 1997), p. 11 (revised 45-48. edition). 69Said, MERIP interview. It is interesting 61 Said, Orientalism, p. 27; Said, "Islam that Said, who demands that scholars of the Through Western Eyes"; see also his Middle East be empathic and sympathetic, complaint that "so many researchers of takes an abusive language himself towards Islam, including Bernard Lewis, see his objects of research. For instance he themselves obliged to attack Arabs and describes P.J. Vatikiotis as an "utterly Muslims" (Said, "East Isn't East", p. 5). ninth-rate" scholar, a style which Rodinson Emphasis in original. described as "a bit Stalinistic"; Kramer, 62 Winder, "Orientalism," p. 618. Ivory Towers on Sand, p. 38. 63 For Said's words on Massignon see Said, 70 Edward Said, The Politics of Orientalism, pp. 268-70; al-Azm, Dispossession: The Struggle for Palestinian "Orientalism and Orientalism in Reverse," Self-Determination, 1969-1994, (New p. 359. York: Pantheon Books, 1995), p. 308. 64 Interview with Said, MERIP Report, No. 71 For example of Said's whitewash, see 171 (July-August 1991), pp. 16, 18. Danny Postel, "Islamic Studies Young 65 Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand, pp. 46- Turks: New Generation of Scholars 47. For instance, Islamist activists who Deplores Problems of and

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Students, Teachers, and Edward Said: Taking Stock of Orientalism

Seeks Internal Solutions," The Chronicle of 2002), "Christoph Luxenberg," has yet to Higher Education, Vol. 13 (September find a publisher in English. 2002), p. 14a. Postel shows how many 76 See Barry Rubin, The Long War for liberal Muslim thinkers raise questions Freedom: The Arab Struggle for regarding the crisis in Islam. The questions Democracy in the Middle East , (New York: are similar to those which were raised in Wiley Press, 2005). Lewis, What Went Wrong?. 77 Bernard Lewis, "The State of Middle 72 Keddie, quoted in Kramer, Ivory Towers Eastern Studies," American Scholar, Vol. on Sand, p. 37. Amy Singer, a graduate 48 (Summer 1979), p. 381. student in Middle Eastern history at Princeton in the early 1980s, remarked that debate about the book greatly polarized the students and faculty, an atmosphere that she considered to be intimidating, and at times silencing. See Amy Singer, "On Facing 'Orientalism' in Graduate School," paper delivered at a conference on "Knowledge, Power, and Society," Moshe Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University, January 17-19, 1994. Today, Singer believes that some positive things emerged from the entire "event," but that the balance sheet is rather mixed. Personal communication. 73 Haideh Moghissi, Populism and Feminism in Iran, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), p.8. 74Henry Munson, "Intolerable Tolerance: Western Academia and Islamic Fundamentalism," Connection, Vol. 5, No. 3 (1996), pp. 99-117; Henry Munson, "Between Pipes and Esposito," ISIM Newsletter, No. 10 (July 2002), p. 8. See a similar argument in Charles P. Freund, "2001 Nights: The End of Orientalist Critique," Reasononline, December 2000, http://www.reason.com/0112/cr.cf.2001.sht ml. 75 Alexander Stille, "Scholars Are Quietly Offering New Theories of the Koran," New York Times, March 2, 2002. As far as we can tell, the pseudonymous author of the book (originally published in German in

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