In it the late Edward Said speaks about his book Orientalism and its profound influence on a diverse range of disciplines: anthropology, political science, critical studies, sociology, etc. He describes the context in which this and other books were conceived, their main themes, and how their theses relate to our contemporary understanding of the Orient.
Said also delves into the finer points of his philosophy, describing Orientalism as a culturally constructed lens through which the West sees, understands, explains, and interprets the "Other". It's why the media and popular culture often depict people from the Middle East as threatening, different, fanatical, extreme, and--at times--sensual. Oreintalism's distanciating gaze, Said explains, supplants individual humanity with blanket stereotypes.
Said also traces Orientalism's origins back to Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and resulting influx of scholars and scientists. These intellectual legions did to the Egyptians what they couldn't do to themselves (or to the French): create a Western-sanctified body of knowledge/stereotypes about Egypt and the Orient as a whole.
So check this documentary out. It's short 40 minutes do much to reveal Orientalism's colonial bred, and still thriving, epistemology.
Reviewed by John Valier
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