Edward Said - a legacy to reckon with

by Ahmad Y. Majdoubeh

Last week, I had the honour to take part in a ceremony dedicated to the recognition of Edward Said's achievements and legacy, a year after his demise. Said means a lot of things to a lot of people. There are those who agree with him and those who do not, those who love him and those who fear (and even hate) him, but all agree that he was a remarkable person, university professor, scholar, writer, intellectual and thinker.

To Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, this Palestinian Christian who became a secular Arab American is a champion of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rights. He was the first to introduce, explain and argue to Western and global audiences - and effectively so - the Palestinian cause and the right of Palestinians to self-determination, statehood and decent life. Through his meticulous, highly intelligent and deep analysis of Western Orientalist discourse, he was the first to make a compelling case against the deliberate and ignorant distortion of the image and culture of Arabs and Muslims in the West. In addition, and through his penetrating critique of colonisation, hegemony and imperialism, he became known throughout the globe as a defender of human rights, independence and justice.

In the West itself, even though he was viewed early on as a controversial figure at best, he became, by the time he died, an icon and a milestone in the fight against stereotyping, distortion and injustice. "The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism", an authoritative 2,600-page collection of selections from works of the most important intellectuals and thinkers in the history of the Western civilisation from Plato to the present, published in 2001, presents Said on equal footing with Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Plotinus, Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Sidney, Dryden, Addison, Pope, Johnson, Hume, Kant, Burke, Schiller, Hegel, Shelley, Emerson, Poe, Nietzsche, Freud, Eliot and many others. And this is no small matter, coming from one of the most prestigious publishing houses in the West.

Said was not only a prolific writer, but one who wrote definitive studies and books on a number of key matters of special relevance and significance in the second half of the 20th century: the Palestine question, the relationship between the Occident and the Orient, Islam, culture, imperialism, etc. Second, he was a complex, deep author who wrote challenging texts and argued against the grain, in elegant English. Third, his education in the heart of the American academy (Princeton and Harvard) and the prestigious position he occupied at Columbia enabled him to be seen, heard and read by and to influence many high-calibre American and international students, scholars and readers.

The most significant reason, in my opinion, stems from the fact that he was a pioneer and a pillar of post-structuralist, post-modernist thought.

What is post-structuralism, what is post-modernism and why are they so important? Briefly, post-structuralism can be looked at as a trend, a political movement or school of thought that falls under the umbrella of post-modernism which itself is a modern ("most" modern, some would argue) school of thought that, in some of its aspects, rebelled against, rejected and replaced traditional modes of perception, thought, representation and expression. This movement cuts across many disciplines or fields, from architecture to literature, music, sociology, anthropology, history, the media, science, religion, etc.

One of the best ways of seeing post-structuralism and post-modernism at work is to look at the two socio-political movements of African Americanism and feminism. These two movements flourished and became most effective at the start of the second half of the 20th century. They came about to fight, deconstruct, dismantle and dispel prevalent misconceptions, stereotyping and injustices against black people and women.

With respect to African Americanism, the white American society was seen as racist, repressive, old-fashioned, abusive and negating the civil rights of African Americans through stereotyping, prejudice, repression and denial of existence. The white society and the white supremacists in it were seen as "colonisers" and the black people were seen as the "colonised". Such an unhealthy, unfair and inhuman situation (which is a result of corrupt power, unfair economics, greed and cruelty) ought to be restructured (and now it has been to a great extent) so as to allow a more just, healthier relationship between African Americans and white Americans. The result (far from complete yet) was a total restructuring of race and ethnic relations in America.

Feminism proceeded along exactly the same lines. Men have dominated, repressed, abused, silenced, negated and therefore "colonised" women for a long time, and it was time that such unhealthy power relationship be restructured in a way to allow women to exercise their basic rights, freedom, autonomy and fair treatment. As a result of feminism (whose ultimate outcome is also far from complete), gender relations have been totally restructured and women have gained significant progress, even breakthroughs.

Said - in his writings about the Palestine question, Arabs, Islam, Iraq, the Third World situation, etc. - proceeded along the same lines. The West (exactly as in the case of white supremacists and male chauvinists/sexist husbands) controlled, dominated, repressed, abused, denied and negated the Orient. His writings compellingly reveal that the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the recent American invasion of Iraq, Western perception of Islam and - more generally - the relationship between the West as a colonial and post-colonial power and the East and the Third World as a "colonised" part of the world have proceeded along similar lines, acts, perceptions and strategies of abuse, oppression and denial as in the case of white supremacists dealing with people of colour in the US or abusive men dealing with women.

What gave Said's thought and writings more power and popularity are two things: a) the strong affinities with the African American and the feminist cause and b) the fact that he is seen as opening up new ways of tackling and discussing matters, linguistically and philosophically. This latter dimension is crucial and this is why Said is placed in the same category as Plato, Aristotle, Freud and others. In other words, he not only introduced perceptive and deep ideas about important subjects but he also - more importantly - introduced ways (new ways) of addressing issues.

Said will go down in history not only as changing the ways the West has viewed the East for a long tome, but as changing the ways the West has viewed itself. The post-Said West and East will never be the same because of his ideas. He was a truly remarkable thinker.

This article was published in the Friday-Saturday, October 1-2, 2004 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.