L. Mao Hubbard
@jasaday.bsky.social
Not a bot. Most of my posts are from a book I am reading. This year it's Edward Said's 'Orientalism'.
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L. Mao Hubbard
@jasaday.bsky.social
· Dec 31
Hey everybody, I'll be filling this space every year with a non-fiction book that I'll be reading "out loud" because otherwise my lazy, undisciplined reading habits would let the book move back to the shelf unread.
For 2025, I choose 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 by Edward Said.
For 2025, I choose 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 by Edward Said.
Two broad currents can be distinguished: post-colonialism and post-modernism; their use of the prefix "post" suggests not so much the sense of going beyond but rather, 1/2
December 29, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Two broad currents can be distinguished: post-colonialism and post-modernism; their use of the prefix "post" suggests not so much the sense of going beyond but rather, 1/2
Yet I would not want to suggest that, current though such views as Lewis's may be, they are the only ones that have either emerged or been reinforced during the past decade and a half. Yes, it is true that ever since the demise of the Soviet Union there has been a rush 1/3
December 28, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Yet I would not want to suggest that, current though such views as Lewis's may be, they are the only ones that have either emerged or been reinforced during the past decade and a half. Yes, it is true that ever since the demise of the Soviet Union there has been a rush 1/3
In this kind of discourse, based mainly upon the assumption that Islam is monolithic and unchanging and therefore marketable by "experts" for powerful domestic political interests, 1/4
December 27, 2025 at 6:45 AM
In this kind of discourse, based mainly upon the assumption that Islam is monolithic and unchanging and therefore marketable by "experts" for powerful domestic political interests, 1/4
In his generally balanced 1979 review of 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, Hourani formulated one of his objections by suggesting that while I singled out the exaggerations, racism and hostility of much Orientalist writing, I neglected to mention its numerous scholarly and humanistic achievements. 1/4
December 26, 2025 at 1:03 AM
In his generally balanced 1979 review of 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, Hourani formulated one of his objections by suggesting that while I singled out the exaggerations, racism and hostility of much Orientalist writing, I neglected to mention its numerous scholarly and humanistic achievements. 1/4
I was either upbraided for not having paid closer attention to Marx (the passages in my own book that were most singled out by dogmatic critics in the Arab world and India, for in-stance, were those on Marx's own Orientalism), 1/3
December 25, 2025 at 4:17 AM
I was either upbraided for not having paid closer attention to Marx (the passages in my own book that were most singled out by dogmatic critics in the Arab world and India, for in-stance, were those on Marx's own Orientalism), 1/3
I must confess to a certain pleasure in listening in, uninvited, to their various pronouncements and inter-Orientalist discussions, and an equal pleasure in making known my findings to both Europeans and non-Europeans. I have no doubt that this was made possible 1/3
December 24, 2025 at 3:04 AM
I must confess to a certain pleasure in listening in, uninvited, to their various pronouncements and inter-Orientalist discussions, and an equal pleasure in making known my findings to both Europeans and non-Europeans. I have no doubt that this was made possible 1/3
But I never felt that I was perpetuating the hostility between two rival political and cultural monolithic blocks, whose construction I was describing and whose terrible effects I was trying to reduce. On the contrary, as I said earlier, 1/3
December 22, 2025 at 10:15 PM
But I never felt that I was perpetuating the hostility between two rival political and cultural monolithic blocks, whose construction I was describing and whose terrible effects I was trying to reduce. On the contrary, as I said earlier, 1/3
The studied solemnity and grandiose accents of Napoleon's 𝘋𝘦́𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦 𝘭'𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘦— its massive, serried volumes testifying to the sytematic labors of an entire corps of 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 backed by a modern army of colonial conquest— 1/4
December 21, 2025 at 10:45 PM
The studied solemnity and grandiose accents of Napoleon's 𝘋𝘦́𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦 𝘭'𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘦— its massive, serried volumes testifying to the sytematic labors of an entire corps of 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 backed by a modern army of colonial conquest— 1/4
In the first place, no one finds it easy to live uncomplainingly and fearlessly with the thesis that human reality is constantly being made and unmade, and that anything like a stable essence is constantly under threat. 1/2
December 21, 2025 at 3:44 AM
In the first place, no one finds it easy to live uncomplainingly and fearlessly with the thesis that human reality is constantly being made and unmade, and that anything like a stable essence is constantly under threat. 1/2
What makes all these fluid and extraordinarily rich actualities difficult to accept is that most people resist the underlying notion: that human identity is not only not natural and stable, but constructed, and occasionally even invented outright.
December 20, 2025 at 2:03 AM
What makes all these fluid and extraordinarily rich actualities difficult to accept is that most people resist the underlying notion: that human identity is not only not natural and stable, but constructed, and occasionally even invented outright.
The construction of identity — for identity, whether of Orient or Occident, France or Britain, while obviously a repository of distinct collective experiences, is finally a construction — involves establishing opposites and "others" whose actuality 1/6
December 19, 2025 at 2:20 AM
The construction of identity — for identity, whether of Orient or Occident, France or Britain, while obviously a repository of distinct collective experiences, is finally a construction — involves establishing opposites and "others" whose actuality 1/6
The second part of the argument ascribed to me is no less far reaching. It is that a predatory West and Orientalism have violated Islam and the Arabs. (Note that the terms "Orientalism" and "West" have been collapsed into each other.) Since that is so, the very existence of Orientalism 1/2
December 18, 2025 at 1:45 AM
The second part of the argument ascribed to me is no less far reaching. It is that a predatory West and Orientalism have violated Islam and the Arabs. (Note that the terms "Orientalism" and "West" have been collapsed into each other.) Since that is so, the very existence of Orientalism 1/2
The first is the claim imputed to me that the phenomenon of Orientalism is a synecdoche, or miniature symbol, of the entire West, and indeed ought to be taken to represent the West as a whole. 1/2
December 16, 2025 at 1:14 AM
The first is the claim imputed to me that the phenomenon of Orientalism is a synecdoche, or miniature symbol, of the entire West, and indeed ought to be taken to represent the West as a whole. 1/2
Let me begin with the one aspect of the book's reception that I most regret and find myself trying hardest now (in 1994) to overcome. 1/2
December 15, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Let me begin with the one aspect of the book's reception that I most regret and find myself trying hardest now (in 1994) to overcome. 1/2
If the knowledge of Orientalism has any meaning, it is in being a reminder of the seductive degradation of knowledge, of any knowledge, anywhere, at any time. Now perhaps more than before.
December 14, 2025 at 4:04 AM
If the knowledge of Orientalism has any meaning, it is in being a reminder of the seductive degradation of knowledge, of any knowledge, anywhere, at any time. Now perhaps more than before.
The worldwide hegemony of Orientalism and all it stands for can now be challenged, if we can benefit properly from the general twentieth-century rise to political and historical awareness of so many of the earth's peoples.
December 13, 2025 at 3:52 AM
The worldwide hegemony of Orientalism and all it stands for can now be challenged, if we can benefit properly from the general twentieth-century rise to political and historical awareness of so many of the earth's peoples.
I consider Orientalism's failure to have been a human as much as an intellectual one; 1/2
December 12, 2025 at 5:19 AM
I consider Orientalism's failure to have been a human as much as an intellectual one; 1/2
Modern thought and experience have taught us to be sensitive to what is involved in representation, in studying the Other, in racial thinking, in unthinking and uncritical acceptance of authority and authoritative ideas, 1/3
December 11, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Modern thought and experience have taught us to be sensitive to what is involved in representation, in studying the Other, in racial thinking, in unthinking and uncritical acceptance of authority and authoritative ideas, 1/3
But there is no avoiding the fact that even if we disregard the Orientalist distinctions between "them" and "us," a powerful series of political and ultimately ideological realities inform scholarship today. 1/4
December 10, 2025 at 3:00 AM
But there is no avoiding the fact that even if we disregard the Orientalist distinctions between "them" and "us," a powerful series of political and ultimately ideological realities inform scholarship today. 1/4
Today there are many individual scholars working in such fields as Islamic history, religion, civilization, sociology, and anthropology whose production is deeply valuable as scholarship. 1/3
December 9, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Today there are many individual scholars working in such fields as Islamic history, religion, civilization, sociology, and anthropology whose production is deeply valuable as scholarship. 1/3
As I have characterized it in this study, Orientalism calls in question not only the possibility of nonpolitical scholarship but also the advisability of too close a relationship between the scholar and the state.
December 8, 2025 at 3:01 AM
As I have characterized it in this study, Orientalism calls in question not only the possibility of nonpolitical scholarship but also the advisability of too close a relationship between the scholar and the state.
In addition, I have attempted to raise a whole set of questions that are relevant in discussing the problems of human experience: How does one 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 other cultures? What is 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 culture? Is the notion of a distinct culture (or race, or religion, or civilization) a useful one, 1/4
December 7, 2025 at 12:43 AM
In addition, I have attempted to raise a whole set of questions that are relevant in discussing the problems of human experience: How does one 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 other cultures? What is 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 culture? Is the notion of a distinct culture (or race, or religion, or civilization) a useful one, 1/4
But in conclusion, what of some alternative to Orientalism? Is this book an argument only 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 something, and not 𝘧𝘰𝘳 something positive? Here and there in the course of this book I have spoken about "decolonializing" new departures in the so-called area studies— 1/3
December 6, 2025 at 1:11 AM
But in conclusion, what of some alternative to Orientalism? Is this book an argument only 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 something, and not 𝘧𝘰𝘳 something positive? Here and there in the course of this book I have spoken about "decolonializing" new departures in the so-called area studies— 1/3
Another result is that the Western market economy and its consumer orientation have produced (and are producing at an accelerating rate) a class of educated people whose intellectual formation is directed to satisfying market needs. 1/5
December 5, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Another result is that the Western market economy and its consumer orientation have produced (and are producing at an accelerating rate) a class of educated people whose intellectual formation is directed to satisfying market needs. 1/5
Such a system of reproduction makes it inevitable that the Oriental scholar will use his American training to feel superior to his own people because he is able to "manage" the Orientalist system; 1/4
December 4, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Such a system of reproduction makes it inevitable that the Oriental scholar will use his American training to feel superior to his own people because he is able to "manage" the Orientalist system; 1/4