Edward Wadie Said (Edwārd Wadīʿ Saʿīd), a Palestinian holding U.S. citizenship, was born in Jerusalem in November 1935 and died on September 25, 2003. Said was a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, and one of the founding figures of Post-Colonial Studies, as well as a defender of the Palestinian people’s rights.
Said, an American citizen through his father, World War I veteran Wadir Said, is best known for the book Orientalism (1978). The text offers an analysis of Orientalism, the highly stereotypical lens through which the West has portrayed and perceived the Eastern world. Said argued that this perspective is tied to imperialism, and as such acts to shape and make servile the political culture of its subject area.
