I first came across the term ‘Orientalism’ while reading about a controversial photograph that won an award by National Geographic in 2016. I learnt about rampant racism and stereotyping that has been taking place not just in photojournalism but in every quarter of media and culture. This led to me finding out about Edward Said and his work.

I initially approached the book hoping to read about the effects of post-colonialism on the Indian subcontinent but quickly found out that the text focuses more on the Middle East, and North Africa and occasionally mentions India. This realisation encouraged me to start researching Said and the book on the internet. The impact of his life and work was evident in the plethora of texts and video content I found about him. The videos I found were mainly interviews and discussions featuring Edward Said himself. These videos were mostly made between 1960 to 2003, up until he died. Ranging from interviews to classroom lectures to tribute pieces, I was able to access a broad sense of his work beyond Orientalism alone.

I created a narrative structure that begins with Said talking in detail about his childhood growing up in Jerusalem, Beirut and Cairo then eventually moving to the United States of America for higher studies.

Orientalism(not) feat. Edward Said, video
14:16

01/20

He talks about how his experiences of growing up in these widely different parts of the world - east and west - allowed him to start thinking about the differences but with the aim to understand and look for similarities. He began to notice the representation of the east in Western art and culture which lead him to start writing about it in a systematic way which formed the basis of Orientalism. It was in 1967 with the breaking out of one of the earliest Arab-Israeli wars, that he began to find his political standing while working at Columbia University.

Further in my video, I have included a section where he exclusively speaks about Orientalism once in an interview in 1998 and at in a concluding lecture on the subject at Columbia University in 2003. During both these videos, he also speaks about the current political and cultural scenario in the Middle East in relation to Western perspectives. His political views can easily be connected to his earlier writings in Orientalism on post-colonial culture and media. He was a staunch, outspoken public speaker representing the Palestinian struggle in the USA as well as abroad.

Both as a writer and an orator, he was able to communicate his deep-found passion to present an image of the East that would speak more to ground realities rather than the images formed by Western imperial and colonial minds. Said, in Orientalism, builds a rather convincing argument using Foucault’s ideas about the relationship between knowledge and power. He applies Foucault’s writings to the specifics of the Middle Eastern and North African regions implying that the writings produced during colonial and post-colonial times were heavily dictated by the imperial, Western rulers of these regions.

British and French colonialists produced several literary and cultural works that formed the basis of the study of the East. These writers seemed to refer to previous works of Orientalism more often than in fact studying the orient for themselves with any kind of first-hand experiences. This, in turn, created a cycle of literary works being produced based on the same inaccuracies and stereotypes Said accuses orientalists like Lord Cromer and Arthur James Balfour of harbouring.

Said’s Orientalism, as he mentions in his 2003 speech in my video, was his attempt at breaking this cycle and starting a new, truthful conversation about the East. Said goes on to comment on American orientalism post-World War 2, especially in contrast with British and French Orientalism. He talks about the way in which American orientalism is abstract and obscure in comparison by affecting internal politics and cultures of the East rather than explicitly “invading” a foreign nation. It has fueled stereotyping of the East along with Islamophobia in the West. He argues that the motivation to engage in highly inaccurate representations of the East during British and French colonialism in art and culture is being relived through American imperialism. It has also caused various wars in the Middle East especially the Arab-Israeli conflict.

To date, America does not recognise the Palestinian state and continues to provide monetary support to the Israeli government and army which is responsible for the ongoing occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people. Said throughout his career rose above the many criticisms as well as death threats he received from Zionists in the USA and spoke in constant favour of peace and cooperation in the Middle East. He believed in the one-state solution as long as Palestinian people were given their dues in terms of equal citizens and basic human rights.

My main takeaway from this assignment was finding out about the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra that Edward Said founded with Israeli conductor, Daniel Barenboim in 1999. Said aimed to spread a message of cooperation and understanding despite the differences in people's cultures and experiences. He believed this was possible through music, art, writing, etc. Along with Barenboim, he created this orchestra based in Seville, Spain, consisting of musicians from countries in the Middle East - of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Spanish backgrounds. It built a community of artists who were interested in understanding each other’s differences and finding common ground when they played music together. I have personally always found myself trying to understand people through the music they engage with the most, whether from their cultures or otherwise. Even if I do not understand the language, listening to music from places I have never been to and from people whose struggles I have no way of embodying, I feel like I am able to create a gateway, however small it may be, into a dialogue with them. I think it's this tendency of mine that drew me to the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Eventually, this video work is an attempt to recreate my experience of learning about Edward Said through people's documentation of him.

Video Sources:
Edward Said: Orientalism (April 16, 2003)
Edward Said On Orientalism (1998)
Global Empire – A Conversation With Edward Said (1994)
Orientalism (documentary, 1986)
Interview with Michaël Zeeman (2000)
Conversation between Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim (1999)
Edward Said on Out of Place: A Memoir – Early Years in Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt (1999)
Daniel Barenboim - The Ramallah Concert (2005)
Edward Said interviewed by Salman Rushdie (1986)