Bernard Lewis, Edward Said, and why “Orientalism” is Bulls--t

Part 2: What is Orientalism?
By Michael Isenberg.

In Part 1 of this series I introduced Edward Said and his 1978 book Orientalism. I observed that they “have been significant forces in the field of Middle Eastern studies—not for the better” and that “the book was a precursor to today’s ugly politically correct attacks on ‘dead white men,’ and ‘cultural appropriation’—decades before those terms were in common use.”

I did not say much, however, about what Orientalism is, which I’ll address in this part, along with some of the things that Said got right.

Professor Said never explicitly defines Orientalism anywhere in his 300 page magnum opus. The closest he comes is in the Introduction:

Orientalism derives from a particular closeness experienced between Britain and France [and later America] and the Orient…Out of that closeness, whose dynamic is enormously productive even if it always demonstrates the comparatively greater strength of the Occident (British, French, or American), comes the large body of texts I call Orientalist.

Not a lot of help. Nevertheless, read the rest of the book and certain recurring themes emerge:

1. Orientalism is a discipline for studying the Middle East “systematically.”

2. Orientalism is a vocabulary, a body of work, and a set of structures.

3. Orientalism is about power. The relationship between Orient and Occident is one of weak to strong. “Orientalism is the ineradicable distinction between Western superiority and Oriental inferiority.”

4. Orientalism created the Orient. The distinction between Orient and Occident was made up by Western scholars. “For that is the main intellectual issue raised by Orientalism. Can one divide human reality, as indeed human reality seems to be genuinely divided, into clearly different cultures, histories, traditions, societies, even races, and survive the consequences?”

5. Orientalism is racist. In creating the Orient, Orientalism imposed negative stereotypes on the Middle East. The Orient of Orientalists is monolithic. “Its sensuality, its tendency to despotism, its aberrant mentality, its habits of inaccuracy, its backwardness” make it “static, frozen, fixed eternally.” The Oriental is passive (and therefore feminine), fatalistic, and sex-obsessed, possessed of “untiring sensuality, unlimited desire.” “Orientalists are neither interested in nor capable of discussing individuals.”

6. Orientalism is the self-serving handmaiden of Imperialism. The Orient of Orientalists is a constant menace and must be dominated by the West, whose colonial officials then need the services of Orientalists in order to govern their subject peoples. Orientalism creates Imperialism creates Orientalism.

7. More self-serving: The technical training required to master the field ensured that Orientalists owned Orientalism, and therefore the Orient. “From the beginning of Western speculation about the Orient, the one thing the Orient could not do was represent itself.”

8. Orientalism is theft of Eastern culture. Well before the term “cultural appropriation” was in common use, Professor Said refers to the Description de l'Égypte, the collected findings of the scholars who accompanied Napoleon on his 1798 Egyptian adventure, as “that great collective appropriation of one country by another.” But serious scholars weren't the only thieves. European novelists such as Flaubert and Disraeli appropriated exotic Eastern characters and mythology to titillate their readers.

9. The collected body of work of Orientalism is a representation or simulacrum of the Orient, not the Orient itself. “It needs to be made clear about cultural discourse and exchange within a culture that what is commonly circulated by it is not ‘truth’ but representations.” Note Said’s ironic quotation marks around the word truth.

10. Designating the Oriental as an object of study is dehumanizing.

11. Orientalism is based on the study of classical texts, rather than “modern Oriental realities.” Learning about the modern Middle East by studying the Quran is “anachronistic.”

There are some things that are fair in Professor’s Said’s criticisms.

Nineteenth century writing on the Middle East is chock full of racism. While I don't generally approve of "trigger warnings," I'm going to make an exception in this case and say that the examples in the next two paragraphs are pretty egregious. Read them at your own risk.

Said cites the work of Ernest Renan (1823-1892) as among the worst. Despite considerable contributions to the field of philology, Renan held cringe-worthy opinions of Arabs and Jews: “The Semitic race appears to us to be an incomplete race…like those individuals who possess so little fecundity that, after a gracious childhood, they attain only the most mediocre virility, the Semitic nations experienced their fullest flowering in their first age and have never been able to achieve true maturity.”

Frankly, Said’s examples are mild compared to some of the racism I found in my own research. Alfred von Kremer (1828-1889), for example, laces his The Orient under the Caliphs with loathsome stereotypes about Arabs and money. In discussing the tribesmen who served the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750), he writes, “The Arab passion for gold had no limits,” and “The genuine Semitic character of these people shows itself clearly in money matters; love of gold is one of the most marked features of their national character. It is accordingly undoubted that the troops would scarcely allow any opportunity to escape for the enhancement of their pay. Matters soon went so far that in disputes about succession it was the golden purse that decided.” It was only by diluting the Arab blood in the ranks, Kremer tells us, with soldiers drawn from the conquered peoples, that later rulers were able to afford their militaries.

Said is also correct that Orientalism and Imperialism went hand-in-hand. Napoleon brought along a host of scholars to advise him in his occupation of Egypt. The party included one polymath who is near and dear to the hearts of those of us who have backgrounds in math and science, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier. A century and change later, on the eve of World War I, Imperialist icons like Lord Balfour and the Earl of Cromer were still extending their patronage to Orientalist scholars, writing learned essays and making speeches in Parliament on the necessity of cultivating Orientalism in order to lubricate the machinery of Empire.

Sadly, what Said got right pales in comparison to what he got wrong and it will take the next two installments in this series, "Polluters of the Brain" and "Damned if you do, damned if you don’t," for me to cover it all.

Michael Isenberg drinks bourbon and writes novels. His latest book, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092, and tells the story of the conflict between science and shari’ah in medieval Islam. It is available on Amazon.com Photo Credit(s): Amazon.com

Mideast Week in Review

by Michael Isenberg.

Baghdadi alive?

Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly vote for secession.

Saudi women to be permitted to drive.

Palestinian gunman murders three.

Egypt arrests seven for displaying rainbow flag.

All kneel before Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia, and his little friend Yoda.

Baghdadi alive? The loathsome ISIS cult may be nearly dead, at least in its present form as a territorial state. However its so-called "caliph," Abu Bakr Baghdadi may still be alive. New audio of a man who sounds like Baghdadi has been posted to an ISIS-affiliated website. In it, the speaker mentions recent events such as North Korean saber-rattling and the Battle for Mosul. Although the US Department of Defense is still analyzing the recording for authenticity, it appears that Russian claims of having killed Baghdadi in a May airstrike are greatly exaggerated.

Read more—

'New Baghdadi tape' posted by Islamic State group (BBC)

 

Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly vote for secession: The Kurdish Autonomous Region held a referendum on Monday on seceding from Iraq and establishing an independent nation. 3.3 million people—73% of the electorate—turned out at the polls. The referendum passed by a whopping 92% of the vote.

The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East (after Arabs, Persians, and Turks) and the only one out of the four without a state of their own.

The referendum is non-binding and will not lead immediately to independence, but it should give the Kurds considerable leverage to negotiate with Baghdad for their departure.

The bid for Kurdish independence has almost no support among the governments of the world, especially Turkey and Iran, who worry that their own Kurdish populations will get ideas. Other nations, including the United States, oppose Kurdish independence on the grounds that it will be destabilizing. One of the few supporters is Israel, which sees in the Kurdish quest for a homeland a reflection of its own cause.

In a related story, the Turkish and Iraqi armies have begun joint exercises near the Kurdish border.

Read more—

Iraqi Kurds decisively back independence in referendum (BBC)

Kexit? Iraqi Kurdistan referendum explained (BBC)

Now trending: Kurdistan (Michael Isenberg)

 

Saudi women to be permitted to drive: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—notorious for its restrictions on the freedom of women—announced a historic reversal of policy on Tuesday: starting next June, the gentle sex will be allowed to drive.

Around the kingdom, and around the world, women took to social media to celebrate. Many activists tempered their jubilation with caution: women still have a long way to go in the kingdom. In particular, the “guardianship” system still persists. Under this system, women need permission from their male custodians to travel, marry, start businesses, and many other common activities.

Read more—

Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive (NYT)

Women to drive in Saudi Arabia: Twitter goes bonkers (Michael Isenberg)

 

Palestinian gunmen murders three: On a sadder note, a Palestinian man, identified as 37-year-old Nimer Jamal, shot and killed two Israeli security guards and a border policeman at the gate of the Har Adar Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The Information Office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah Party blamed Israel.

Read more—

Palestinian gunman kills three Israelis in West Bank (BBC)

 

Egypt arrests seven for displaying rainbow flag: The government of President Abdel Fattah this week continued to pile up its abysmal human rights record. In the latest incident, seven individuals were arrested for “promoting sexual deviancy” after raising the LGBT rainbow flag at a Cairo concert.

Read more—

Seven arrested in Egypt after raising rainbow flag at concert (BBC)

 

All kneel before Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia, and his little friend Yoda: In an embarrassment to the Ministry of Education, the Saudi government released a textbook that included a photo of King Faisal signing the UN charter in 1945, while seated next to Jedi Master Yoda, of Star Wars fame. Analysts believe the picture has been photoshopped. The BBC reported that education minister Ahmad al-Isa called it an “unintended mistake.” No word yet on how it happened.

Read more—

Saudi textbook features image of Yoda with King Faisal (BBC)

Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092. It depicts the war for the Muslim soul between those who seek to enforce shari’a strictly, persecute Jews and Christians, and stamp out "un-Islamic" science, and those who wink at a few sins, tolerate their non-Muslim neighbors, and write books about science instead of burning them.

Photo credit: BBC/Shaweesh/Gharem Studio

The UN General Assembly: Hypocrites on Parade

We all saw highlights of President Trump’s speech. But what did other world leaders have to say?

Sure, Donald Trump got all the publicity. That’s par for the course when you threaten to “totally destroy North Korea.”

But this is a blog about Islam, so rather than North Korea, the focus here is the Muslim world. What did the various world leaders have to say about that?

I'll start with President Trump: he called out the “vile and sinister ideology” of “radical Islamic terrorism.” In particular, he singled out Iran’s “corrupt dictatorship” and “murderous regime.” Good stuff, noticeably absent from his 9/11 and Afghanistan speeches. Still, it's mostly a rehash of his May 21 address in Riyadh, which I covered previously.

Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel shared President Trump’s concern about Iran: “From the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean,” he said, “from Tehran to Tartus, an Iranian curtain is descending across the Middle East.” (If you don’t follow the reference, look it up. “Iron Curtain speech.” Get it? Iron Curtain/Iranian Curtain).

Hassan Rouhani of Iran came back swinging. He called the accusations against his country “ignorant, absurd, and hateful rhetoric” from a “rogue newcomer.”

Overall, President Rouhani wins the award for smarminess. “Our ambassadors are our poets, our mystics, and our philosophers,” he intoned piously. But my favorite part was, “The path of moderation nurtures beauty. Deadly-weapons exports are not beautiful; rather peace is.” He should know; his country is exporting weapons all over the Middle East to fight its proxy wars, including the humanitarian catastrophes in Yemen and Syria.

Rouhani concluded with a sales pitch for investment in the Iranian economy. He invited “all those who seek peace, security, and progress through partnership and cooperation among nations to visit Iran.” I’d actually like to take him up on that. I discovered in the course of research for my book The Thread of Reason that Iran is a country of spectacular and diverse natural beauty which, to its credit, takes great pride in its wealth of historical monuments, even pre-Islamic ones. Those who seek to destroy the monuments of the Confederate States of America could take a lesson from the Iranians. Still I think I’ll postpone my visit until I can travel in Iran without fear of being arrested and tried behind closed doors on dubious charges of espionage, as has been the fate of other Americans in that country.

Abdu’l-Fattah as-Sisi of Egypt presides over one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. It’s a place where Giulio Regeni, a Cambridge University student who was researching trade unions in 2016 mysteriously disappeared. His corpse, showing signs of excruciating torture, turned up in a ditch along a highway nine days later. In another story, just this week, an Egyptian court sentenced some 500 people in a mass trial for their role in the 2013 anti-government demonstrations. Amnesty International reported that 330 of them had already been detained for four years or more, and among these, there was evidence against only two of them. So one can only marvel at the irony of President as-Sisi lecturing the world body on “upholding the notion of the modern nation-state, which is based on the principles of citizenship, equality, rule of law, and human rights.” In a less hypocritical vein, he continued that he intended to defeat “any attempts at retracting to doctrinal, sectarian, ethnic, or tribal loyalties.” You read that right. No loyalty to religion, culture, or ideas allowed. One must be loyal only to the State.

On the subject of terror, President as-Sisi said, “We in the Muslim world need to face our reality and work together to rectify misconstrued notions which have become an ideological pretext for terrorism and their destructive discourse. As you may recall, Egypt has launched an initiative to rectify religious discourse in order to revive the moderate and tolerant values of Islam.” This showed some insight in that the roots of terror are ideological, but as-Sisi is mistaken that Islam has been misconstrued. While the ideology of ISIS and al-Qaeda isn’t the only possible interpretation of Muslim scripture, it’s certainly an interpretation with deep roots in that scripture. As for the prospect of any government “rectifying” religious discourse, or any discourse—that is truly chilling.

President as-Sisi also called for “global order that can face challenges, such as climate change.”

Mahmud Abbas, leader of the Palestinians, called Israel a colonial, Apartheid, occupying power, but nevertheless he promised that “upon Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied in 1967, the Arab and Islamic States would recognize Israel and normalize relations with it.” One has to wonder about his sincerity, since he then went on to denounce the “historical injustice” of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the document which laid the foundation for Israel’s right to existence in the first place. In any case, we're unlikely ever to put Mr. Abbas's sincerity to the test. There's only a small chance he'll ever have to follow through on this promise. Territories "occupied" in 1967 include East Jerusalem, which Israel views as part of its eternal, undivided capital.

As for Abbas’s view of the roots of terror, he claimed that “draining the swamp of colonial occupation of our land and ending its unjust, oppressive, and illegal practices against our people would greatly affect the fight against terrorism, depriving terrorist groups of one of the key rallying cries they exploit to promote their repugnant ideas.” This is an argument that Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, recently called “pure, unadulterated insanity.”

Mr. Abbas also said, “We once again affirm our commitment to…the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.”

Aung San Suu Kyi, First State Counsellor of Myanmar, chose not to attend, due to the anti-Muslim violence engulfing Rakhine State in her country; I wrote about that earlier this week. Instead, Counsellor Suu Kyi sent Vice President U Henry Van Thio, who for the most part parroted the awful speech that the First Counsellor delivered on Tuesday. But not to worry. Despite the atrocities in Rakhine, Mr. Van Thio assured the world that, “Myanmar welcomes the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.”

Well, that gives you some flavor of the 72nd UN General Assembly. As I read through page after page of self-inflicted grievances and smug hypocrisy, not to mention the pathological obsession with climate change, there was one question that kept nagging at me:

Why is the United States part of this?

Michael Isenberg drinks bourbon and writes novels. His latest book, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092, and tells the story of the conflict between science and shari’ah in medieval Islam. It is available on Amazon.com Transcripts and video of the speeches from the 72nd UNGA may be found on the UN Website.

Mideast Week in Review

by Michael Isenberg.

Attack near Temple Mount.

Radiohead under fire over Israel gig.

“Green Burger” trending in Egypt.

 

Attack near Temple Mount: On Friday, Palestinian terrorists gunned down two Israeli policeman, Advanced Staff Sergeant Major Kamil Shanan and Advanced Staff Sergeant Major Hail Sattawi. The murders took place near the Gate of the Tribes, one of the entries to the Temple Mount, where the Jewish Temple stood in ancient times, and now home to al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. The perpetrators than fled into the holy site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, where they were killed by Israeli security forces.

The attack was unusual in that the victims weren’t Jews—they were Druze. Also unusual: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to condemn the attack.

In the wake of the tragedy, Israeli security forces closed the Temple Mount in order to search for weapons. This was the first time the al-Aqsa Mosque was closed for Friday prayers since 1969, when Denis Michael Rohan set fire to the pulpit. Mr. Rohan, who was an Australian Christian, believed that if he destroyed the mosque, it would enable the Jews to rebuild the Temple in its original location, which would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus. When tried, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

As I’ve discussed previously, the status of the Temple Mount is a flashpoint with Palestinians, who fear, somewhat irrationally, that the Israelis partially share Mr. Rohan's objectives, and plan to tear down al-Aqsa to rebuild the Temple. It was inevitable, therefore, that there would be repercussions over the killing of the terrorists on the site and the subsequent closure. Several hundred Jordanians demonstrated in Amman on Saturday to protest the closure.

This morning the Israeli government reopened the site, with new security measures in place, including metal detectors at the entrances. However, the controversy continues. News accounts differ but either the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, which oversees the Temple Mount, has advised Muslims not to enter the site, or it has closed the site altogether in protest of the new security measures. In any case, scores of Muslims conducted their prayers outside the gates, a row of vacant metal detectors in front of them. I'm sure we'll see more blowback in the coming days.

Read more—

Israeli police killed in attack near Jerusalem holy site (BBC)

Hundreds in Jordan protest Temple Mount closure (Times of Israel)

Muslim Authority protests Temple Mount security measures, blocks entrance (Jerualem Post)

Israel reopens Aqsa Mosque compound, Muslims refuse to enter in protest (PressTV)

Denis Michael Rohan (Wikipedia)

 

Radiohead under fire over Israel gig: Speaking of Israel, the band Radiohead has become the last target of the BDS movement (not to be confused with BDSM) over its plans to play a concert there next week. The most recent attack has come from filmmaker Ken Loach. “By playing in Israel,” he wrote in an open letter, “you’ll be playing in a state where, UN rapporteurs say, ‘a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people.’” (I never head of Mr. Loach, so I looked him up on IMDB. He has director credits for 51 films, but I never heard of any of them either.)

Radiohead front man Thom Yorke replied via tweet, “Playing a country isn't the same as endorsing its government.”

Mr. Yorke may be unwilling to endorse the Israeli government but I am. It has shown admirable restraint in the face of chronic terrorist attacks by Palestinians, and anti-Semitic libels, including that one about apartheid, from Palestinian sympathizers. Radiohead should be proud to play there. As for Mr. Loach, he should acquaint himself with that great saying from the music business, “A gig’s a gig.”

Read more—

An open letter to Radiohead (Artists for Palestine)

Radiohead on Israel gig: "Playing a country isn't the same as endorsing its government" (BBC)

 

“Green Burger” trending in Egypt: On the lighter side of the news, the hashtag “Green Burger” trended on Twitter this week, as many Egyptians took to using the term to refer to falafel. According to the BBC, others “pointed the finger [of ridicule] at ‘high class’ people, accusing them of inventing English terms for things so as to sound cool.”

Read more—

How Green Burger has provoked online reaction in Egypt (BBC)

Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092 and depicts the battle for the Muslim soul between those who embrace science and tolerance, and those who would throw in their lot with mysticism and persecution instead.

Photo credit: al-Jazeera, PressTV

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated incorrectly that the perpetrator of the 1969 arson at the al-Aqsa mosque was a "Jewish extremist." Serves me right for not fact-checking something I read on al-Jazeera, especially when it appears in the Arabic version of the article, and not the English one.