A Supplement To Understanding The Egyptian Phenomenon(Part Two)

This post is not to will people to understand the phenomenon in Egypt in a certain fashion. Rather it is to disclose a strategy to aid in the process of interpreting the time(history) that is unfolding before our very eyes. Once again, we address the texts of Edward Said, in the introduction to Orientalism Said gives a seemingly instructional description of the strategy that he employs to reveal the ways in which an individual positions himself towards the Orient during his investigation of Orient experience, reality, and an interrogation of dominant modes of thought towards the Orient. Said outlines two specific:

"principal methodological devices for studying authority here [they] are what can be called strategic location which is a way of describing the authors positions in a text with regard to the Oriental material he writes about, and strategic formation, which is a way of analyzing the relationship between texts and the way in which groups of texts, types of texts, even textual genres acquire mass, density, and referential power among themselves and here after in the culture at large"

Although Said is explaining how to use these methods to understand the authority of Orientalist texts, these principles offer an example of how to drown oneself, in a critical manner to analyze and interpret the ways in which understandings form and locate themselves into the general "culture at large". This reveals the opportunity to understand how events such as Egypt as well as the dominant(traditional) texts, and discourses that may distort such events "acquire mass and density". To begin, we can divulge further into these two ideas and how they are applicable to the movements taking place in the status quo. Strategic Location would advice us to examine the position from which the author produces his/her discourses, texts, and general ideas in relation to his/her subject. This has particular relevance to the Egypt situation. There has been an enormous media coverage that has produced, an almost infinite amount of articles, headlines, think tank reports, live video coverage, commentary, guest speakers, etcetera. All of these mediums of production have different authors, and motivations that manifest(or locate themselves) in the material they are producing. That means when being bombarded by different outlets of media one should try to keep in mind all of these different forces that constantly act on our attempts to process and make revelations out of the events that are happening in our time.

Strategic Formation is analyzing how these texts, and discourses gain power, and shape understanding about the subjects they address. Although Said is explaining this in the context of a genealogy it gives us insight (as mentioned above) to understand how the different texts about the situation in Egypt have attempted to exert their power in being able to produce knowledge about the situation in the form of reports, and solutions. This tradition of reifying knowledge production addressed in posts previous to this one show that this is not a new tactic but a tradition that has been constructed over time by a vast array of other texts, discourses, authors and so fourth. These authors formulate their texts by retrieving previous ways of producing knowledge about the Orient and applying and adapting it to a new situation to enforce this perpetual cycle of inheritance. So, along with being conscious of the authors positions towards the Orient when discussing it, we should also be aware of the power these texts have to formulate ideas about the Orient and why they are privileged with this ability. That is to say we should constantly analyze knowledge that is thrust upon(presupposed for) us and be attentive to the intricate relationships and implications it can have on a general understanding of the issue and to use these tactics to formulate ones own political will towards the position of the Orient.

In conclusion, we must analyze the protests that are taking place while we sleep in the comfort of our beds in the safe Western lands, that in a way can that can give adequate recognition of its" mass and density", that has created a fracture in dominant modes of thought, and of common ideas about the Orient. These methodologies hope to allow us to experience the true impact that these different movements have on the culture at large. We cannot allow this phenomenon to sink into the oblivion, slowly crippled by the numerous representations that seek to define, and essentially demolish the extraordinary spirit that lies inside the Egyptian population.

How the Revolts in the "East" are being Represented(Part One)

I begin with what seems to be cliche in academic post- colonialism. In 1978 Edward W. Said published his epochal work Orientalism. Said describes Orientalism as a "style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) The "Occident". He goes further to explain that Orientalism is the way in which the "Occident" interacts with the "Orient". This sounds very simple but these interactions come to form an expansive nexus of ideas, texts, discourses, policies, subjects, etcetera. It is all of these ways in which the Occident relates itself to the Orient and seeks to have the Orient for itself(and production).

After this brief introduction I want to pose the question this post attempts to shed light on. How are the recent revolutionary events of multiple "Oriental" nations such as Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, and even Albania being represented by modern Orientalism? To begin, if we accept that Orientalism is centralized on the notion of:

"feel[ing] oneself as a European in command, almost at will, of Oriental history, time, and geography"

who's objective, and obligations is:

"to institute new areas of specialization; to establish new disciplines; to divide, deploy, schematize, tabulate, index, and record everything in sight(and out of sight); to make out of every observable detail a generalization and out of every generalization an immutable law about Oriental nature, temperament, mentality, custom, or type;"

then what is modern Orientalism's response to the spontaneous, and exilic energies produced in these nations? The very unpredictable and chaotic nature of such protests frustrates and strikes at the very structures that Orientalism as founded its influence upon. Orientalism is based off the West's ability to produce a predictable, and manageable Orient subject for itself. This ability to produce came with Western dominance over the Orient crudely beginning around the 17th century. With this new political, and military power, the West was able to exert its will- to - power over the Orient, and produced knowledge about the Orient, and sought to give it a static identifiable structure for others who will need such information to continue domination over the Orient subject. The protests go against this belief, by giving the Orient the opportunity to represent itself. To establish and define it's own identity by the actions it takes, untampered by menacing traditions of knowledge that seeks to dis-mantle this humanistic(existentialist*) spirit.

The construction of this relationship and way of "dealing" with the Orient has been a long, and strenuous project throughout history that involved so many people, things, and ideas it can seem almost infinite, and unfortunately I do not have the ability to give you this history sufficiently in such as post as this one. This means that we will have to turn to more recent events for evidence. First, we turn to an explicit observation of this mode of thought and how it manifests in our everyday conversations, and atmosphere. Coincidentally it comes from a very recent headline in US News titled "Palin Not 'Enthused' by Obama's Handling of the Crisis in Egypt". This title has a couple of implications for the purpose of our discussion here. First is the entirely exceptionalist idea of America's "handling of the crisis". What is the "crisis", and why would a completely irrelevant actor need to be handling it. Is a revolt of youth who hope to save their country from economic degradation and rescue it from the sinking ship of a thirty year dictator a crisis? This is a striking example of how knowledge is produced about the Orient in terms of the Occident and in this process is distorted, and manipulated to relate itself to the Occident(US). Because the revolt does not benefit us, and even threatens our political, and strategic balance in the region, the experience is produced for the general public as a "crisis". Although almost obviously so, this is only a crisis for America(and the rational, civilized, Western nations). Surely the Egyptians do not see this as a "crisis" but freedom, and a moment of great pride. The West does not seek this distinction because it unravels the very mythical nature of its power and instead it labels and defines this phenomenon with a cliche, reified phrase "Crisis in Egypt". Said identifies this in the updated preface to Orientalism:

" It is common to hear high officials in Washington and elsewhere speak of changing the map of the Middle east, as if ancient societies and myriads of people can be shake up like so many peanuts in a jar"

this whimsical description is exemplified by the headline of the article in which the US is placed at the center of an Egyptian experience and thereby condemns to the abyss the Egyptian opportunity to represent itself to the West. The construction of an Orient crisis is what is used to justify the handling of such crisis by a more formidable, and superior Western power. The second intriguing portion of this headline is Palin not being enthused about Obama's ability to handle the crisis. This reveals the Orientalist ability to deposit his/her subject in exchange for the Orients. Thus, it is no longer an issue of the phenomenon that is taking place but rather how it affixes itself towards the disposition of the West. It indicates that there is debate being had, and decision being made over the Orient for the Orient but seemingly without the Orient present(because ironically it is in "crisis). Without giving the Orient the opportunity to represent itself, it allows the West to execute through a much more stealthy manner the inherently(traditionally) prejudiced, and violent knowledge producing problematic that disfigures the Orient experience and forces us to evade the possibility of these relationships being able to re-shape the way we understand ourselves and the Orient as its own subject(ivity). Although this headline only outlines Egypt there are a multitude of other articles discussing the many protests taking place that follow this same tradition of thought.To be able to avoid this we must be able to reposition the points from which we examine and understand the Orient and with this repositioning be able to better understand the implications of the events taking place in the Orient in our day and age.