"HOW ABOUT RECONSTRUCTING ORIENTALISM?": A SUMMARY AND OVERVIEW OF EDWARD SAID'S SATURATED CRITICISM

Abstract

Edward Said is viewed as the creator of the academic development of post-colonialism, largely with his transmission of the concept "Orientalism." Orientalism is considered his magnum opus. He is a forerunner in the deconstruction of the so-called 'Western' forms of hegemony that not only subverts the traditional understandings of 'Occident' and 'Orient', but also the "East-West," as being simplistic, binary oppositional platforms, divorced from the necessary divergent ontological framework for understanding the reality of the current-day. Yet, these false and simplified platforms are continuing in the common worldviews, at the expense of losing a clearer understanding of our conditions.