Image:Edward_Said.jpg '''Edward Wadie Said''' (November_1, 1935 – September_24, 2003; {{lang-ar|إدوارد سعيد}}) was a well-known Palestinian-born American literary theorist, critic and outspoken Palestinian Activist. According to ''Columbia News'' (Columbia_University), he was "one of the most influential scholars in the world." ==Life== Said was born in Jerusalem (then in the British_Mandate_of_Palestine) to a Christian Arab family and raised in both Jerusalem and Cairo, Egypt. Until age 12, he lived between Cairo and West Jerusalem where he attended the Anglican St. Georges Academy in 1947. His family became refugees in 1948 just prior to the capture of West Jerusalem by Zionist militias. At age 14, Said entered Victoria_College in Cairo, and then Mount_Hermon_School in the United States. He received his B.A. from Princeton_University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard_University. He joined the faculty of Columbia_University in 1963 and served as Professor of English and Comparative Literature for several decades. Said also taught at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Yale universities. He spoke English and French fluently, excellent colloquial and very good standard Arabic, and was literate in Spanish, German, Italian and Latin. Said was bestowed numerous honorary doctorates from universities around the world and twice received Columbia's Trilling_Award and the Wellek_Prize_of_the_American_Comparative_Literature_Association. Edward Said died at the age of 67 in New_York after a long battle with Chronic_myelogenous_leukemia. ==Orientalism== Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism," which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In ''Orientalism'' (1978), Said decried the "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture"{{ref|newcriterion}}. He argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle_East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe and America's colonial and imperial ambitions. Just as fiercely, he denounced the practice of Arab elites who internalized the American and British orientalists' ideas of Arabic culture. The British historian Bernard_Lewis was among the scholars whose work Said questioned in ''Orientalism'' and subsequent works. The two authors came to frequently exchange polemic, starting in the pages of the New_York_Review_of_Books following the publication of ''Orientalism''. Lewis's article "The question of orientalism" was followed in the next issue by "Orientalism: an exchange." == Activism == Image:SaidSis.jpg As a Palestinian activist, Said promoted the cause of Palestinians in Israel, the West_Bank and the Gaza_Strip. Writing in 1980, Said anticipated an eventual policy of military aggression by the United States toward the Middle East, a prediction some observers find evident in the actions of the United_States after the September_11,_2001_terrorist_attacks. :"So far as the United States seems to be concerned, it is only a slight overstatement to say that Moslems and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists. Very little of the detail, the human density, the passion of Arab-Moslem life has entered the awareness of even those people whose profession it is to report the Arab world. What we have instead is a series of crude, essentialized caricatures of the Islamic world presented in such a way as to make that world vulnerable to military aggression"{{ref|thenation}} From 1977 until 1991, Said was an independent member of the Palestinian_National_Council who tended to stay out of factional struggles. He supported the Two-state_solution and voted for it in Algiers in 1988. He quit the PNC over the decision by Yasser_Arafat and the PLO to support Saddam_Hussein in the Gulf_War, a decision he considered disastrous to the interests of Palestinian refugees living in Arab_League member states who supported the American-led coalition. Thereafter, Said became critical of the role of Arafat in the process leading up to the signing of the Oslo_Accords in 1993, feeling that the Oslo terms were unacceptable and had been rejected by the Madrid round negotiators. He felt that Oslo would not lead to a truly independent state and was inferior to a plan Arafat had rejected when Said himself presented it to Arafat on behalf of the US government in the late 70's. In particular, he wrote that Arafat had sold short the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in pre-1967 Israel and ignored the growing presence of Israeli_settlements. He came to prefer and support the Binational_solution - the creation of one state in the entirety of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and pre-1967 Israel, in which Arabs and Jews would have equal rights over a two state solution with a Palestinian state on the West_Bank, Gaza and East_Jerusalem. :"I have spent a great deal of my life during the past 35 years advocating the rights of the Palestinian people to national self-determination, but I have always tried to do that with full attention paid to the reality of the Jewish people and what they suffered by way of persecution and genocide. The paramount thing is that the struggle for equality in Palestine/Israel should be directed toward a humane goal, that is, co-existence, and not further suppression and denial" {{ref|counterpunch}}. His relationship with the Palestinian_Authority was so bad that PA leaders banned the sale of his books in August 1995, but improved when he hailed Arafat for rejecting Barak's offers at the Camp_David_2000_Summit. In June 2002, Said, along with Haidar Abdel-Shafi, Ibrahim Dakak, and Mustafa_Barghouti, helped establish the Palestinian_National_Initiative, or ''Al-Mubadara'', an attempt to build a third force in Palestinian politics, a democratic, reformist alternative to both the established Palestinian_Authority and to Islamist militant groups such as Hamas. Said's books on the issue of Israel and Palestine include ''The Question of Palestine'' (1979), ''The Politics of Dispossession'' (1994) and ''The End Of The Peace Process'' (2000). Said was also a prolific journalist and his writing regularly appeared in ''The_Nation'', ''The_Guardian'', the ''London_Review_of_Books'', ''Le_Monde_Diplomatique'', ''Counterpunch'', ''Al_Ahram,'' and the pan-Arab daily ''al-Hayat''. He gave interviews alongside good friend, fellow political activist, and colleague Noam_Chomsky regarding U.S. foreign policy for various independent radio programs. A skilled concert pianist, Said also contributed music criticism to ''The Nation'' for many years. In 1999, he jointly founded the West-East Divan Orchestra with the Argentine-Israeli conductor and close friend Daniel_Barenboim. ==Publications== * ''After the Last Sky'' (1986) * ''Beginnings'' (1975) * ''Blaming the Victims'' (1988) [contributor and co-editor with Christopher Hitchens] * ''CIA et Jihad, 1950-2001: Contre l'URSS, une désastreuse alliance'' (2002), with John_K._Cooley * ''Covering Islam'' (1981) * ''Criticism in Society'' * ''Culture and Imperialism'' (1993) * ''The End Of The Peace Process'' (2000) * ''Humanism and Democratic Criticism'' (2005) * ''Edward Said: A Critical Reader'' * ''Freud and the Non-European * ''From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map'' (Collection of Essays) (2003) * ''Jewish Religion, Jewish History'' (Introduction) * ''Joseph_Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography'' (1966) * ''Literature and Society'' (1980) * ''Musical Elaborations'' (1991) * ''Nationalism, Colonialism, and Literature'' * ''Orientalism'' (1978) * ''Orientalisme'' (1980) * ''Out of Place'' (1999) (a memoir) * ''Parallels and Paradoxes'' (with Daniel Barenboim) * ''The Pen and the Sword'' (1994) * ''The Politics of Dispossession'' (1994) * ''The Question of Palestine'' (1979) * ''Reflections on Exile'' (2000) * ''Representations of the Intellectual'' (1994) * ''The World, the Text and the Critic'' (1983) == References == * {{note|newcriterion}}{{web reference | author=Keith Windschuttle | publishyear=1999 | url=http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/17/jan99/said.htm | title=Edward Said's "Orientalism revisited" | format=HTTP | work= | publisher=The New Criterion | date=2005-12-05 | year= }} 17(5), Jan 1999. * {{note|thenation}} {{web reference | author=Edward W. Said | publishyear=1980 | url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/19800426/19800426said | title= Islam Through Western Eyes | format=HTTP | work= | publisher=The Nation | date=2005-12-05 | year= }} * {{note|counterpuch}} {{web reference | author=Edward Said | publishyear=2003 | url=http://www.counterpunch.org/said08052003.html | title=Worldly Humanism v. the Empire-builders | format=HTTP | work= | publisher=CounterPunch | date=2005-12-05 | year= }} == External links == {{wikiquote}} * ''A Devil Theory of Islam'' Edward Said's commentary on reporter Judith Miller's writings * ''Columbia News'' mourns passing of Edward Said * The Edward Said Archive, unofficial site * Edward Said index on The Electronic Intifada * Edward Said dossier (''Le Monde diplomatique'') * Bibliography or reviews * South End Press, Said's South End Press titles and a brief bio * ''Islam Through Western Eyes'', article by Said explaining the essential thesis of ''Orientalism'' * Remembering Edward Said, obituary * Zmag.org/Middle East Watch, several remembrances * ''A Mighty and Passionate Heart'', obituary by Alexander_Cockburn on ''Counterpunch'' * ''Edward'', a remembrance by Dr. Hanan Ashrawi * Al-Ahram, obituary and links to all of Said's columns in that newspaper * More Links by R. Lichtensteiger * Tribute and archive of ''Democracy Now!'' appearances * ''"Writing to the moment"'' Review of Said's work, at the occasion of the anniversary of his death (The_Guardian) * ''"Edward W. Said, 1935 - 2003"'' Remembrance of Said on 1st anniversary of his death at 3 Quarks Daily * Edward Said's Splash Said's impact on Middle Eastern studies, by Martin_Kramer. * CAMERA Edward Said's Documented Deceptions *Talk at Berkeley on Palestine and the universality of Human Rights Part 1, Part 2 from tucradio.org Said, Edward Said, Edward Said, Edward Category:Humanists Said, Edward Said, Edward Said, Edward Said, Edward Said, Edward Ar:إدوارد_سعيد Zh-min-nan:Edward_Said De:Edward_Said Es:Edward_Said Eo:Edward_SAID Fr:Edward_Saïd He:אדוארד_סעיד Ja:エドワード・サイード Sv:Edward_Said Zh:爱德华·萨义德