Summary
Highlights
The video recaps the previous discussion where Said explains why German orientalists were not profoundly included in his work – their contributions were often derivative, relying on French and British sources rather than direct engagement with the Orient. The current section focuses on Said's methodology, specifically the concept of "authority" in orientalist discourse.
Said argues that authority is not mysterious or natural; it is formed, disseminated, and instrumental. He states that much of his study describes both the historical and personal authorities of orientalism. This means analyzing how orientalist discourse gains and transmits authority, recognizing that authority is not inherent but constructed by institutions and individual scholars.
The speaker connects Said's concept of authority to Foucault's idea of discourse. A discourse, like medicine, establishes authority through specialized knowledge, institutions, and specific terminologies. Similarly, orientalism functions as a discourse, granting authority to those who speak for the Orient, even if they have no direct experience.
Said introduces two methodological devices: "strategic location" and "strategic formation." Strategic location refers to the author's position in a text concerning the Oriental materials. Strategic formation analyzes the relationship between texts, how genres acquire power, and how they transmit perceptions. These strategies highlight the challenge orientalist writers face in representing the Orient to a Western audience.
Said emphasizes that orientalism is premised upon "exteriority." The orientalist scholar renders the Orient's mysteries for the West, always remaining outside of the Orient, both existentially and morally. The principal product of this exteriority is representation, which transforms the unfamiliar into familiar figures for the Western audience. Said's analysis focuses on these representations, not on their "correctness" or "fidelity to some great original," as the true Orient is deemed inaccessible.
A crucial point from Said, referencing Marx, is the idea that "if the Orient could represent itself, it would... Since it cannot, the representation does the job." This highlights the power dynamic where the West assumes the right to speak for the Orient. The speaker clarifies that Said focuses on what is external to the text – the surrounding knowledge, politics, and other texts that pre-determine how the Orient is represented.
The video concludes by reiterating that Said's methodology, at this stage, primarily questions the authority of orientalists to represent the Orient and how this authority is perpetuated through various means. Said's work is significant as one of the first major English-language books to extensively use Foucault's theory of discourse to analyze such a vast subject.