About
Edward Said, born in West Jerusalem in 1935, grew up between Cairo and Jerusalem before pursuing higher education in the United States. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard, he taught at Columbia University from 1963 until his death in 2003. His major work, Orientalism (1978), founded postcolonial studies by analyzing Western representations of the Orient. He also wrote on the Palestinian question, culture and imperialism, and published a memoir. Politically engaged, he served on the Palestinian National Council and co-founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim.
* 1935-11-01 — † 2003-09-25
Major works
- Orientalism (1978)non-fiction
- The Question of Palestine (1979)non-fiction
- Covering Islam (1981)non-fiction
- Culture and Imperialism (1993)non-fiction
- Out of Place: A Memoir (1999)memoir
Key milestones
- 1963Joined the faculty of Columbia University, where he taught for 40 years.
- 1978Publication of Orientalism, a founding text of postcolonial studies.
- 1999Co-founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim.
Themes
Orientalism and Western representatPostcolonialismCultural imperialismIdentity and exileLiterary criticism
Sources: college.columbia.edu · library.columbia.edu · directory.criticaltheoryconsortium.org
