Edward Said (1935-2003) was a Palestinian-American scholar, literary theorist, and public intellectual. Born in Mandatory Palestine and serving as Professor of Literature at Columbia University (New York), Said is often considered a founder of postcolonial studies.

His best known work is Orientalism (1978). This is considered a classic, foundational text in explaining how Western ideology, scholarship, and public knowledge are produced, advancing a projected and false vision of "otherness" of the Middle East, Arabs and Islam — collectively conceived of as the "Orient" — which is simultaneously demonized and exoticized. This, Said maintains, is a pivotal element of colonialism and affects the interdisciplinary studies of politics, power, ideas, culture, and praxis.

Said's other key texts are consistent with this approach and include, for example: The Question of Palestine (1979); Covering Islam: How the Media and Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981); Culture and Imperialism (1993); Representations of the Intellectual (1994); Out of Place: A Memoir (1999); and Humanism and Democratic Criticism (2006). Said's interdisciplinary work is strikingly relevant for the study of politics, power, and social justice education in the current period.

This course will consider some of Said's key texts, while also placing his work in conversation with, and in relation to, social and political theorists such as: Antonio Gramsci; Hannah Arendt; Michel Foucault; and/or Judith Butler.