In 1978, Edward Said published Orientalism, where he examined cultural representations of the East—which included parts of Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East—in literature and showed how Western scholarship constructed knowledge about these regions, which he called “Orientalism.” Said argued that this knowledge was used to support an imperialist agenda, pointing to the ways in which foreign policy was influenced by Western scholarship that produced an understanding of the Middle East as savage, untamed, and uncivilized.

DEFINE: Clarifies Said's concept of Orientalism as a knowledge system that shapes power relations.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 15