Relationship Between Knowledge, Power and Modes of Representation - Research Paper Example

Relationship between Knowledge, Power and Modes of Representation In Relation To the Contemporary Politics Introduction Edward Said (1935-2003) was an American writer, intellectual and academic who has been considered one of the influential writers and thinkers of twentieth century. He was a Christian Arab born in Jerusalem. His most famous book Orientalism was published in 1978. His few other famous books are Out of Place-A Memoir, A Critical Reader, Culture and Imperialism and Covering Islam (Notablebiographies.com). His book Orientalism is a masterpiece in which he wrote about the Euro-Centric prejudice of the West against Islamic-Arab East. His work revolves around the abuse of culture and life, in Asia and Middle East by colonial and post colonial powers and mindset. He thinks that self created and unfounded biases have been used as justification by Western powers to maintain control in Middle East and Asia on one pretext or the other. Modernization theory was deliberated in detail in 1960s to analyze why some countries achieved economic development where others could not. This theory predicts that countries must change their traditional values, infrastructure, industry and institutions. These values are present in developed countries, nations remain underdeveloped because they discourage individual talent and promote favoritism (Anderson and Taylor, 2005, P252). According to Harrison modernization was used as a political instrument by USA to stop flirting of poor nations with USSR during the cold war. In 1949 US President Truman announced the Point Four Program to aid efforts of economically under developed areas to develop resources and improve living conditions. (Harrison, 1988, P8). Modernization theory was developed by USA for two fold objectives during Cold War; the doctrine of containment provided the “moral core” and aid competition with USSR necessitated a hidden pursuit of self interest, thus notion of “free world” was promoted (Preston, 1982, P157). Edward Said has deliberated that Modernization Theory has derived out of Orientalism because developed nations use modernization and development as a political tool to keep influence over the Orientals or the past colonies. Western powers have physically left the colonies but maintain control over under developed world through modernization efforts and Aid. According to the work of Said in the book Orientalism, cultural challenges and frictions between East and West have been elaborated in greater detail. According to McLeod, Said’s Orientalism is a study of how the western Colonial powers of Britain and France represented and conducted North Africa and Middle East in the late nineteenth century. (McLeod, 2000, P39) When Europeans occupied Eastern lands specially Arabian Peninsula they found local cultures extremely strange and started building concept of Orientals or people from older civilization. On this basis the world was divided into civilized (occident) and uncivilized (orient).The colonial masters defined themselves a superior race and better than Orientals in all respects. This divide was unjust, artificial and un called for according to any definition of humanity. This prejudicial divide is present till this day according to which Islam is labeled uncivilized and its followers especially Arabs are labeled, backward and terrorists. According to an article published in Free Arab Voice, Said gave a statement in Al Hayat on 9th June 1998 regarding his vision about resolution of Palestine issue. According to Said Palestinians can never regain their rights without the active participation of Israelis in their struggle. (FAV, 1998). In an interview Edward Said expressed that as a systematic discourse Orientalism is written knowledge, but more than knowledge it is power because as far as oriental is concerned he was delivered textually to the West, milked by the West for his resources, humanly quashed by the west (Said, 2005, P26) Said considered modernism as shallow concept since it ultimately resulted into domination of the technologically advanced societies over the backward ones. Modernization means that if few nations have to maintain industry, few nations must provide the raw material and manpower to run that industry. It also means that if all societies become advanced and modern there would be no one left to rule upon, therefore in order to maintain balance in the world, division of population into rich and poor is a must. Said always opposed the terms “we” and “ours” and criticized division between “ours” and “theirs”. The advantage of watching the power, politics, society and knowledge through the “lens” of Edward said is that justice and injustice can be differentiated. His thinking is widely accepted based on authenticity with respect to problems of Palestinian nation and the Arabs of Middle East. Through his work one can feel the pain of a person living in exile for whole of his life. The philosophy and concepts about human equality irrespective of color of skin are clearly visible in his articles and books. His works inspires the reader to challenge authority if it is wrong, irrespective of the consequence. A great difference between Said and other writers is that he truly lived what he said. His concepts are practical in nature and not a mere philosophy. His works motivates the reader to practically see the philosophy, politics and relationship between societies in greater detail. Understanding his work gives an ability to reader to appreciate in true context the differences and commonalities between politics, history, power struggle and culture of different societies. This paper will elaborate the advantages and disadvantages of using Edward Saids understanding of the relationship between knowledge, power and modes of representation in relation to the contemporary politics from Modernization Theory perspective. In the course of discussion relationship between knowledge, power and politics as viewed by Edward Said will be explained. Study will revolve around events in Middle East with special reference to Palestine issue. Finally main points of the study will be concluded. From Modernization Theory perspective advantages and disadvantages of using Edward Saids understanding of the relationship between knowledge, power and modes of representation in relation to the contemporary politics Works of Edward Said have generated a great debate amongst the literary and political circles. His book Orientalism was published in 1978, however after passage of 33 years debate sill goes on regarding concepts given by Said and their implications. Said has been a victim of great criticism and critique as well; however every one agrees that Said has influenced the post colonial thinking to a great extent. Following are the advantages and disadvantages of using Edward Said’ understanding. 1. Advantages a. Edward Said was a Palestinian living in the West, he was born in Jerusalem, brought up in Middle East and later studied and settled in America. His observations are that of a first hand knowledge. Personal touch is felt throughout his works. He presents himself as witness to how manipulation in knowledge and power affect politics in a given region. This is one of the reasons why his works became so popular and generated so much debate and criticism. b. Through his works a reader comes to know that there is a difference between US and European perception about Middle East. European powers had colonies in Middle East therefore had direct contact and first hand information about these countries. In contrast USA’s knowledge about Middle East is only related to crisis oriented matters in the past. In the perspective of Modernization theory interaction with Middle East and Islamic World is seen as “timeless child hood” before arrival of USA in these lands. A reader gets real insight into postcolonial theory and relationship between knowledge, power and politics.. Said is considered founder of this theory in which modernization and Orientalism has been very beautifully dovetailed and joined together. A reader comes to know that there ids no power and politics without culture. 2. Disadvantages. a. Influence of Edward Said on the study of modernization theory is limiting and not global in nature. He acknowledges that his focus has been Orientalism in Middle Eastern lands and not the Russian, German, Hungarian or British Orientalism in India. It is considered that Edward Said did political point scoring or fell in love with his own ideas about his homeland since he did not focus above mentioned imperialist powers. Edward said has bound Orientalism to Imperialism where as the concept was present much before for example in German history which has been neglected. b. Timeframe of observations focused by Said is after late Eighteenth century. He barely touches earlier history with a claim that West dominated East for over 2000 years which appears exaggerated. Edward Said has not differentiated between Orientalism - Modernization concepts present in Media (films, electronic media) and Culture (real world issues). Discussion on Advantages Using Said’s understanding an analyst is set free from divisions of a socialist, capitalist, liberal, Islamist, leftist or rightist. This is a great advantage of understanding relationship between knowledge, power and modes of representation in relation to the contemporary politics. He gave a concept, that no one can elaborate all the issues all the times; however one is duty bound to say whatever he can, about oppressions being committed in his own society. This duty takes immense value once a deliberate, well planned war is waged against helpless human beings for no crime committed by these subjects of war. Said has made Palestine issue the focus of his works in the book “Orientalism”. The Palestinian population is the widely accepted victim of prejudice and hatred against an Islamic, Arab and Eastern community. American Jews for Justice has quoted a statement of Said in “The Nation” published on 4th May 1998 according to which said asked a straight question about right of people of Palestine. He said that where else in the world citizens of a country need license to build home on their own land, however in Israel Jews can build but never the Palestinians ( Jews for Justice ) All the classic definitions and explanations of “Orientalism” fit into Palestinian issue therefore deserve deliberation. Previously the concept of Orientalism was only confined to paintings and artworks. Through his works reader can come to know that either deliberately or by mistake scholars of the west have collaborated with western governments in taking side of Israel and America against the oppressed Palestinians. It is astonishing how so many of so called scholars, journalists and media personnel ignored the truth of Palestine cause. It is here one finds that power has taken over knowledge and wisdom. Said has termed this manipulation of knowledge as Scholarly Orientalism. According to an interview of Edward Said (Said, 2000, p302) he said that when Jews were in trouble they did not wait for the world to understand them, rather they acted to save themselves. The same Jewish model is true for Palestinians if they want to survive. This theory invites Palestinians to act in their favor and be proactive. Zolo has deliberated in his article on the book of Edward said “The Palestinian Question” that Said has elaborated the Palestine issue according to Palestinian stand point. It is a fact that after five decades of military occupation endless massacre of innocent Jews and Palestinian continues.( Zolo, 2008). Using Edward Said model of study an analyst sets course on the journey of exploration well guided and time tested. Although there is a lot of criticism about Said’s way of analyzing contemporary politics especially in post colonial world, yet his works have influenced a large population of intellectuals. According to his model most of western study regarding Islamic civilization should be rejected since the basis of this study is not objective rather prejudiced. The western theorist projects the West as masculine and the Orientals as feminine and weak. Racism and colonial pride is evident in western studies which negate the very purpose of this study. Said’s model of study invites the literary theorist to be open minded, free from prejudice and pre-conceived ideas. He suspected most of the western studies about Orientals and stressed need for change of mindset before embarking the path of historical writing and analysis. According to him even the most knowledgeable, well versed, open minded and liberal western writers were wrong in their assessment about the East. His views are confirmed once concepts about Orientals are seen in literature, theatre, novels, films, books and statements of Western world leaders. According to Steinmetz Edward Said has termed empirical relationship between “Europe and its Other” theoretical by calling it ontologically and epistemologically charged way of thinking with respect to area studies. (Steinmetz, 2005, p 97) Edwards Said’s concept of modernization theory evolves from his theory of Orientalism according to which societies develop themselves at fast pace in the backdrop of industrial and technological developments. In general terms modernization theory explain that in the underdeveloped world internal weaknesses like lack of unity, political differences, traditionally old infrastructure, negative attitude of population, low labor wages and benefits, absence of industry and infrastructure and militancy etc are the major reasons for under development. The difference in heritage, genetic behavior and ways of living are not the prime reasons for under development. Therefore the reasons identified for underdevelopment must be removed to make a society developed and modernized. According to these theories industrialized countries should be taken as a model for society and economic development. In order to reach developed status, backward societies should increase per capita income, develop industrial base, gain knowledge, stabilize political system and improve relations with outside world. Development is weighed primarily in terms of accumulation wealth and power. According to Kramer, khalidi has referred a concept about thinking freedom of Eastern scholars .The concept says “scholars from the non-Western world have certain advantages with these new approaches and new fields which Western scholars do not have.” They were “freer of some of the heavy intellectual and institutional baggage of rigid disciplines, inflexibly defined areas, and conservative departments.” Edward Said is considered one of these free non Western Scholar. (Kramer 125) When USA attacked Iraq in 1991 Edward Said furiously opposed that attack saying that Arab nationalism has been attacked by western imperialism. According to his statement in New York Times, (NY Times, 1991) he said that a new World Order should be based on authentically accepted general principles and not on the selective might of one country. Said always supported Arab nationalism which is humane and progressive, his concept was different from the traditional violent and militant way of promoting Arab nationalism. In the gulf war the allies suffered 350 casualties, whereas Iraqi nation suffered more than 150,000. Whatever the reason, loss to human life was colossal and un forgivable. According to Coury (Coury,1996) modernization theory is characterized by few assumption which are: the societies are organized systems which are coherent in nature; essentially there are two social systems the modern or good system and traditional or bad social system; modernization concept is essentially western in nature which includes characteristics like democratic, capitalistic, secular, individualistic etc; progress in history is incremental in nature ; and the world revolves around concept of modernity. Coury has identified weaknesses in this theory as; no society can be termed as internally homogeneous; a traditional society may not be historical in nature; change could be abrupt in societies with bloody results rather than slow developmental process therefore there is no guarantee that modernization concept will succeed. In his book Political Ecology Paul Robbin has debated in support of Edward said that administrative model mostly followed by British, large scale modernization efforts like building large irrigation system, plantation, centralized irrigation and administrative authorities were all linked to theories of political domination. (Robbin, p63, 2004) Relationship between knowledge, power and modes of representation in relation to the contemporary politics is an issue whose balance has always tilted towards the West. There is a great inequality between political and military powers between west and east. Same is true regarding social, economic and trade inequalities. East produces raw materials whereas West produces finished goods. In case of outsourcing, manufacturing is done in countries having cheap labor however these goods cannot be sold in these countries. The headquarters of almost all multinational companies are located in Western countries despite the fact that these companies earn a large profit in the East. As far as dominance of knowledge is concerned all the major universities of the world are located in the West. A visible pattern of geography and legacy is visible in control of politics, power, knowledge, military might and flow of resources; all pointed towards the West. In poor nation millions die of starvation and minor diseases, these nations have life average of 40 years whereas in rich nations life average is more than 80 years and still increasing. Peter and Besle have argued that in postcolonial era works of Foucault and Edward Said have grouped truth with knowledge and power which enabled historians to analyze and criticize Eurocentric and logocentric ideas. (Peters and Besly, 2006, P20). In his book “Culture and Imperialism” Said has stated that for imperialist regimes culture is not seen as representation of tradition and art, rather culture is used as a means through which imperialist objectives are achieved. The cunning imperialists use culture as a tool to gain political dominance and control. Once Edward Said’s model is used to study culture in British colonies in the Middle East, it becomes obvious that famous writers like Conard, Jane Austen, Raymond Williams and writings like Jane Eyre, Vanity Fair, Great expectations and Culture and society follow a similar mindset of looking at the oriental and his culture (Mural). According to Edward Said model once Eurocentric powers gained power as a result of modernization, they needed raw material, oil and workforce .To gain this they attacked, captured and humiliated societies in Middle East and Africa. These areas included Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Algiers and Jordan etc. These areas were unable to defend themselves and became colonies. When one power got weak at world stage other powers attacked them and unfortunately these colonies became a battle ground for power struggle. For example most battles of the Second World War were fought in Africa, Egypt, and Middle East despite the fact that these areas were not in any way involved in the conflict. Thousands of soldiers were employed from the colonies to fight in the world wars, a great percentage of these soldiers never came back home. In his book Orientalism Said says that West looks at the Arab world and specially the Palestine from the relationship of domination and authority. Arabs are considered consistent in their sheepish behavior, docile living pattern, static mindset and greatly inferior to the western people. Majority of Western writers, scholars, travelers and politicians share and express the same feelings about Orientals. According to Said proving Arabs in Middle East and Africa as uncivilized and backward or “Orientals” was a deliberate intellectual exercise done at a strategic level .This exercise paved the way for implementation of colonialism. Orient was created in the best interests of political, religious and imperialist interests of foreign governments. Basing on Said’s work it is important to note that “orient” was not a classical image created in literature rather scholars and political leaders jointly carved the “orient” to subjugate population under colonial rule. In his work Said has only focused on writings of American, British and French scholars who deliberated on societies of Middle Eastern and African Arabs. Regarding double standards of scholars Said has mentioned in an interview that according to Israeli law, in West bank you cannot buy or read Plato’s Republic, Shakespeare’s Hamlet or take name of Palestine. For all these offences one can be put in Jail for six months but no scholar has ever objected to that which is a great hypocrisy. (Said, 2000, p390) Kramer supports the feelings of Edward said about wrong understanding of Middle Eastern society in his book “Ivory Towers on Sand”. He says that time and again American understanding of real Middle East has been shocked by realities on ground. After 9/11 incident the media brought an enormous crowd of analysts before cameras and microphones to analyze the issue however majority of these people wrongly assessed the situation like ever before. Americans always wrongly thought that if modernization of Middle East is done on the lines of liberal democracy, free markets, mild nationalism and religious tolerance hearts and minds of Arab population can be won. (Kramer). Said argues that in this age the divide between rich and poor nations is increasing at a stunning speed. Within societies wealthy people are accumulating more wealth and poor people are getting poorer. It has been pointed out that due to Globalization millions of humans are passing through starvation and homelessness. The apparently helpful wealthy nations reach poor countries not to help but to gain control of natural resources like minerals, oil, gas and precious metal. In some regions global powers are interested to take control of water resources only. In the quest for modernization societies leave behind legacies of old culture, traditional agriculture, farming and direct relationship with nature. In transition to modernization societies of third world tend to depend upon industrialized sources to feed themselves, however at the time of natural disasters or global financial crisis the downslide is very fast and societies reach the stage of starvation, poverty and economic dependence. Edward said has emphasized that modernization has been carved out of Orientalism where old colonial powers have taken form of capitalism and keep many nations under control through economic dependence, propaganda through media and knowledge management. One of the advantages of studying Orientals through Edward Said is that one is able to find a wide canvas of anthropological, social, political and historical perspective of Arab society which is not available in works of other journalists, historians and writers. According to Said the attack of Napoleon on Egypt was the first manifestation of Oriental theory into reality in which a colonial power made use of potential of oriental. Writings of said reveal that Orientalism was shaped in literature and thinking first and then colonialism was used to implement this theory into practice. The beneficiaries in Arab world were Americans, French and the British empires. The scientific understanding and insight about society and living of Orient lead to complete over powering of Oriental. The knowledge did not remain in books and it was put to complete political use. The colonial powers knew the Orientals better than Orientals themselves therefore complete mastery of these powers became possible over Arab lands. Discussion on Disadvantages It is considered that Edward Said has prosecuted many scholars in his works specially “Orientalism” which is beyond justification. If Said did not agree with thinking of few scholars he should have simply stated that. He has greatly criticized nineteenth century travelers of being dumb and prejudiced .He prosecuted Sylvain Levi, Richard Burton, Massignon, Gibb, Bernard Lewis and Gustave in his book to a great extent. There is a chance that a reader gets biased against those criticized by Said. Edward said has not discussed literature in Indian, Russian, South Asian, Turkish, Israeli, Italian, Portuguese, German or Chinese about “Orientals”. His focus of timing has been from late Eighteenth century onwards despite the fact that he traces back the thinking of Orientalism to ancient Greeks. Said has limited his focus to a specific area of Middle East and Africa with specific relation to Arabs in the time frame after eighteenth century. His work on Orientalism appears incomplete as we spread it to situations in India, Russia, and Germany or for that matter any other areas of the world where humanity is being abused. It would have been better if Said could throw some light on universality of his ideas. The vision of reader therefore remains limited. Some critics have labeled Said as supporter of militancy who brought a political problem of Palestine into a level of personal abuse. As a disadvantage of using works of Said Hysseune has argued that the most relevant objection to Said’s approach is that it provides no alternative to the phenomenon it criticizes (Huysseune, 2006, p22) According to Kramer Said has praised British historian Hourani in his works however Hourani has termed the works of Said specially the book “Orientalism” as “extremism”. Hourani further says that Said has tied Orientalism to imperialists wrongly and forgotten German philosophy, tradition and history in which Orientalism was a central concept. (Kramer 41) The concepts of Said have been criticized to a greater degree in Europe however his books became bestseller in America and became part of curriculum at many universities. Conclusion. Modernization is associated with development of society through different stages in the backdrop of developments in technology industry and sciences. Edward Said has deliberated that Modernization Theory has derived out of Orientalism because developed nations use modernization and development as a political tool to keep influence over the Orientals or the past colonies. Critics of Modernization theory point out that negative aspects of Globalization or Modernization are more pronounced than benefits. The critics argue that in this age the divide between rich and poor nations is increasing at a stunning speed. Using Edward Said model of study an analyst sets course on the journey of exploration well guided and time tested. Although there is a lot of criticism about Said’s way of analyzing contemporary politics especially in post colonial world, yet his works have influenced a large population of intellectuals. Relationship between knowledge, power and modes of representation in relation to the contemporary politics is an issue whose balance has always tilted towards the West. There is a great inequality between political and military powers between west and east. Same is true regarding social, economic and trade inequalities. In his book Orientalism Said says that West looks at the Arab world and specially the Palestine from the relationship of domination and authority. Arabs are considered consistent in their sheepish behavior, docile living pattern, static mindset and greatly inferior to the western people. Said has made Palestine issue the focus of his works in the book “Orientalism”. Three claims are prominent in the works of Said. First that Orientalism was an intelligent scholarly work which ultimately achieved political objectives for colonial powers. The creation of Israel on Arab lands by British Empire and American dominance in Middle East is the manifestation of this theory. Said call this a Zionist invasion on Arab lands. Second the concept of Orientals being inferior was a great source of defining own superior image of Europe. In order to prove itself superior a culture has to prove some other opposite culture as inferior. The concept led Europeans to believe that Islamic or Arab culture is static, stagnant, weak and unable to rule itself therefore the society needs external powers to rule them. Third the Arab and Islamic society was wrongly defined as backward, uncivilized, weak, isolated, unethical, non democratic, feminist and away from mainstream human interests of art, culture and sciences. Barbara has quoted theorist Charles R Beitz about how to determine global standard of living. According to this explanation we live in a world of mass inequalities, even within developed societies. Standards of living are measured in terms of average per capita purchasing power, life expectancy, and after birth child mutilation rates. Unfortunately these inequalities are far greater today than 50 or 100 years ago. Sadly enough there are solid evidences that this gap will continue to increase in future. (Weinstein, 2008). Modern societies have adopted a multicultural way of living where people from all races and communities can co-exist. Modern thinking in societies supports freedom of expression, free life style and greater liberty. These societies are mostly democratic in nature, tolerant, and favor open governance. According to Gilman (Gilman 2003, P263) Modernization theorists synthesized their ideas on Orientalism drawn from Edward Said. Reference List Barbara Weinstein, 2008, Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Developing Inequality, historians.org David Harrison, 1988, The Sociology of Modernization and Development, P8, Google Books. Danilo Zolo, 2008, The Palestinian question by Edward Said, juragentium.unifi.it. Edward W. Said, 2007, Encyclopedia of World Biography, notablebiographies.com Edward Said, 2005, Power, politics, and culture: interviews with Edward W. Said,P90, Google books. Edward W. Said ,2005, Power, politics, and culture: interviews with Edward W. Said,P26,google books. FAV,The FREE ARAB VOICE,1998, Edward Said Revisited, freearabvoice.org. George Steinmetz, 2005, The politics of method in the human sciences: positivism and its epistemological others P 97, google Books Jews for Justice in the Middle East, The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict, ifamericaknew.org John McLeod, 2000, Beginning postcolonialism, P39, Google books. Mural, Mural.uv.es Martin Kramer, 2001, Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America, published by Washington Institute of Near East policy, P10 , 41 .web. Martin Kramer, 2001, Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America, published by Washington Institute of Near East policy, P10 , 1254 .web. Michael A. Peters, Tina Besley, 2006, Building knowledge cultures: education and development in the age of knowledge capitalism, P20, Google books. Michel Huysseune, 2006, Modernity and secession: the social sciences and the political discourse of the Lega nord in Italy,P22,google books. Margaret L. Andersen, Howard Francis Taylor,2005, Sociology: understanding a diverse society,P252,Google books. Nils Gilman, 2003, Mandarins of the future: modernization theory in Cold War America, P263, Google books Paul Robbin, 2004, 2004, Political ecology: a critical introduction 63, Google Books. Peter Wallace Preston, 1982, Theories of development, P72, google books. Ralph M. Coury, 1996, Neo-Modernization Theory and Its Search for Enemies: The Role of the Arabs and Islam, leftcurv.org Read More