Latent and Manifest Orientalism as Seen by Edward Said and his Critics

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy Beyond Occidental Tradition, grade: 1.0, University of Vienna (Institut fr Philosophie), course: Seminar Texte zur postkolonialen Theorie, language: English, abstract: Edward Said (1935-2003) has been widely praised as a leading thinker of post-colonialism and even as one of its founding figures. Moreover, he "became one of the most widely known, and controversial, intellectuals in the world during his lifetime" (Ashcroft 2009, 1). His best known book, Orientalism (1978), is a milestone in post-colonial theory and was one of the first examples for combining French critical theory with Anglophone cultural and textual tradition (cf. Castro Varela 2005, 31). It actually paved the way for differentiating critical Postcolonial Studies from the earlier Commonwealth Literary Studies with their uncritical continuation of colonial prejudices (cf. ibid, 23). Even Daniel Varisco (2007), who argues for a rather critical view of Said's work, concedes that "Said's book stimulated a necessary and valuable debate among scholars who study the Middle East, Islam, and colonial history." (Varisco 2007, XII). Since a 10-page term paper could never do justice to a literary and scientific masterpiece like Orientalism, this paper picks out just a small detail of its rich content: In the third and last chapter of Orientalism, Said introduces a distinction between two forms of Orientalism, latent and manifest. The meaning of this dichotomy does not reveal its full significance at first reading. What exactly did Said have in mind by using this terminology - perhaps unconsciously in addition to what he writes about it on some 20 pages of his book? Several scholars have commented on this distinction and its significance for Said's work. This paper will build on that material and attempt to analyze and summarize what can be found out about the dichotomy. Particular interest will be devoted to the philosophical roots Said wa