Edward Said

Edward Said, an internationally renowned Columbia University professor, practically invented the field of post-colonial studies. His great works Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism have been translated into many languages and are widely used in colleges and universities. The New York Times called him, “one of the most influential literary and cultural critics in the world.” As one of the few advocates for Palestinian rights in the U.S., he was the target of vilification, death threats and vandalism. The Economist said he “repudiated terrorism in all its forms and was a passionate, eloquent and persistent advocate for justice for the dispossessed Palestinians.” He was a trenchant critic not just of Israeli policies, but also of Arafat, the corrupt coterie around him and the despotic Arab regimes. He wrote: “While I have always advocated resistance to Zionist occupation, I have never argued for anything but peaceful coexistence between us and the Jews of Israel once Israel’s military repression and dispossession of Palestinians has stopped.” Though invited, he refused to attend the September 1993 White House signing ceremony of the Oslo agreement. He denounced it saying “What Israel  has gotten is official Palestinian consent to continued occupation.” He felt strongly that intellectuals had a special responsibility to speak out against injustice, challenge power, confront hegemonic thinking, and provide alternatives. His friend Noam Chomsky said of him, “Said was one of the most remarkable and influential intellectuals of the last half-century. Much of his immense effort and talent was dedicated to overcoming the insularity, prejudice, self-righteousness, and apologetics that are among the pathologies of power and defending the rights of the victims.” His memoir Out of Place won the New Yorker Book of the Year Award. His two books of interviews with David Barsamian are The Pen & the Sword and Culture & ResistanceEdward Said died in New York in 2003.

Programs

Date Recorded Program Title Handle
2003: 02/20 Palestine: Memory, Inequality & Power SAIE036
2003: 05/08 U.S. Interventions in the Middle East SAIE035
1993: 02/10 Culture & Imperialism SAIE012
2000: 11/10 Subaltern Studies SUBS001
1997: 10/04 A Tribute to Eqbal Ahmad SAIE020
1987: 03/16 The Question of Palestine SAIE034
2003: 06/15 Rachel Corrie, Solidarity & Palestine SAIE033
2003: 05/08 U.S. War on Iraq SAIE032
2003: 02/19 Palestine & the Universality of Human Rights SAIE031
2002: 02/19 The Palestinian Narrative SAIE030
2003: 02/25 At the Rendezvous of Victory SAIE029
2002: 08/15 A Palestinian Perspective on the Conflict with Israel SAIE028
2001: 09/24 Origins of Terrorism SAIE027
2001: 05/02 What They Want Is My Silence SAIE026
2000: 11/09 Intifada 2000: The Palestinian Uprising SAIE025
2000: 04/18 Out of Place SAIE024
1999: 09/17 Unresolved Geographies, Embattled Landscapes SAIE023
1999: 02/08 A One State Solution SAIE022
1998: 03/26 The Palestinian Future SAIE021
1997: 11/02 Israel & Palestine: The Challenge Ahead SAIE019
1997: 10/03 Clash of Civilizations SAIE018
1995: 04/20 The Shrinking Horizon of Hope SAIE017
1994: 04/15 The Politics of Discord SAIE016
1994: 02/17 Palestine: Betrayal of History SAIE015
1993: 11/03 Historical Experiences with Multiculturalism SAIE014
1993: 09/27 The Israel/PLO Accord: A Critical Assessment SAIE013
1993: 01/18 The Pen & the Sword SAIE011
1992: 12/04 The Arabs and the West SAIE010
1992: 04/29 Nationalism, Human Rights and Interpretation SAIE009
1991: 10/08 Orientalism Revisited SAIE008
1991: 09/25 Peace in the Middle East SAIE007
1991: 05/04 Gulf War Aftermath: The Tasks Ahead SAIE006
1990: 09/27 Empire and Literature SAIE005
1990: 09/26 The Gulf Crisis, the Question of Palestine and U.S. Policy SAIE004
1989: 10/27 Western Power and the Literary Canon SAIE003
1989: 10/26 The Palestinian Perspective SAIE002
1987: 03/18 The Culture and Politics of Palestinian Exile SAIE001
1999: 09/18 Remembering Eqbal Ahmad SAIE-KUMR001
2001: 05/02 Reflections on Exile SAIE-HITC002
1988: 02/06 The Palestinians: Blaming the Victims SAIE-HITC001

Multipacks

Books