Orientalism and the Human

“Beyond Philology: The Extension of Words into Action, A Discussion of Orientalism and

Habitus” (2012)

Abstract: Edward Said’s Orientalism has perhaps been the most influential postcolonial text in 

expanding our understandings of colonialism and imperialism. Orientalism examines the way in 

which knowledge about the “other” (termed the “Orient” in his work) is constructed. The book 

outlines how the West formed a relationship to the “Orient,” and how this relationship became 

an instrument of power for the creation of ideas and representations and for their discussion and 

interpretation in Western discourse. This power instrument additionally turned the Orientalist 

ideas of the West into political solutions, which were embodied in colonial soldiers, diplomats, 

entrepreneurs and officials. Said argues that social analysis of these “Oriental” societies has been 

devalued in favor of analysis of Western-created representations of Orientals. However I argue 

that in contemporary times, it is nearly impossible to perform true social analysis of these 

“Oriental” societies, as the Western Orientalist ideas were quickly imbedded into the local 

populations’ consciousness, and have been unconsciously self-perpetuated over time. While 

Orientalism has received considerable attention in the three-plus decades since its publication, 

scholarly debate has remained focused on representations of the Orient in Occidental art and 

literature. The focus has been much less on how Orientalism has been perpetuated in identity 

formation over time in indigenous, previously-colonized inhabitants, post-colonies. In order to 

remain relevant in the previous debates, this work does revolve around the colonial Oriental/

Occidental binary; however, it is my intention to understand how indigenous populations 

internalized the imposed Orientalist notions upon themselves, resulting in a long-standing system 

of postcolonial self-Orientalism, symptomatic of previously colonized populations. This is useful 

because I believe it is impossible to understand people and culture without understanding from 

where they have come, hence, the goal of this research is ostensibly to look forward by means of 

looking backward. To understand this phenomenon, I believe it will be useful to consider French 

sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and to examine its interaction with Orientalism. 

Most simply, according to Bourdieu, habitus can be defined as a system of dispositions, or as our 

lasting, acquired schemes of perception, thought, and action that permits man to act and think in

and around the social world. The interplay between Orientalism and habitus is crucial to

understanding the contemporary continuation of self-imposed, postcolonial Orientalist

ideologies, habits, and representations within indigenous, previously colonized populations, 

which originally were created and disseminated by the colonizer. In order to achieve my 

intended research goal of linking Orientalism and habitus to explain the perpetuation of selfOrientalism is previously colonized, indigenous populations, I will first briefly explain the 

highlights of Edward Said’s book Orientalism. I will follow the explanation of Said with a more 

complete explanation of Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus. Lastly, I will further draw out the 

comparative and informative nature between the two theories, supporting my initial thesis that 

colonial Orientalism is due extensive credit for causing (what I term) “Reverse Latent 

Orientalism”, which in turn impacts identity formations of colonized populations in the 

postcolonial era, as it became deep-rooted in the population and subsequently continued though 

following generations.