“I have retained this unsettled sense of many identities – mostly in conflict with each other – all my life, together with an acute memory of the despairing feeling that I wish we could have been all-Arab, or all-European and American, or all-Orthodox Christian, or all-Muslim, or all-Egyptian, and so on.” – Edward Said, Out of Place (5)
A writer, literary critic, cultural critic and musician, Edward Said who was most recognized for his book Orientalism, fought for open discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although a contentious topic, Edward Said’s perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a very unique one. Born and raised in the Middle East, but educated in an American private school and later at Princeton and Harvard, he was able to “see” the conflict from both perspectives. Yet what is most apparent in this lecture at the University of California at Berkeley, given eight months before his death, is his desire for honesty, transparency, and most importantly a degree of self-criticism and awareness not only on the part of government, but also on the part of individuals that comes from studying and experiencing other peoples, traditions, and ideas (Akeel Bilgrami).
“With so many dissonances in my life I have learned to actually prefer being not quite right and out of place.”
– Edward Said, Out of Place (295)
Recommended reading: Humanism and Democratic Criticism by Edward W. Said.
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