I stumbled on this video of Brian Eno making a point that a lot of so-called musical "geniuses" actually come out of a "scene" of similar artists, which Eno terms "scene-ius," i.e., a music scene that breaks new ground. The "geniuses" just happen to be the most celebrated artists/bands on the scene at the time.

I think he makes a good point, but it got me wondering about the Velvet Underground. They seemed to be kind of in their own world, even for their time, with their very loud and often avant-garde aesthetic. Were there other New York bands doing a similar thing? If so, who were they? If not, who were the Velvet Underground's New York contemporaries and what style of music were they playing?

Some long time readers of this feature might find terms such as hegemony and discourse already familiar – Said relies heavily both on Gramsci's concept of hegemony as well as on Foucault's notion of discourse, which have been discussed before here and here.

The essence of Said's argument in Orientalism is that the representation of "the Orient" in Western art, culture, and academia – the Western knowledge of the Eastern world – is not based upon an objective exercise of intellectual inquiry but upon a fictional depiction in the form of an intellectual exercise in self-affirmation. It is a system of thought that in the words of Said "approaches a heterogeneous, dynamic, and complex human reality from an uncritically essentialist standpoint; this suggests both an enduring Oriental reality and an opposing no less enduring Western essence".

The examples he cites from Orientalist fiction, covering everything from travel literature of the 19th century to 20th century academic texts show the strong discursive tendency to exoticise the East, portraying it as irrational, psychologically weak, feminized, industrially backward, despotic and backward which is contrasted with both an implicit and often explicit portrayal of the West as rational, psychologically strong, masculine, and capitalistically developed.

The Orient that is reproduced in culture, academia and politics is a field of projection unto which the West throws the negative images of its own self-image. It is constructed both in a negative and imaginary frame: As a realm of despotism and backwardness but also as the abode of legend, fairy tales, and marvels; of senusuality and pleasure. It epitomized longing for a different option. Alongside alleged Eastern cruelty, the portrayal of the Orient also – through its relationship with the feminine – involved sensuality and being a refuge from the alienation of the rapidly industrializing West. As Said writes:

Scenes of harems, and slave markets were for many Western artists a pretext by which they were able to cater to the buyer's prurient interest in erotic themes (...) Such pictures were, of course, presented to Europeans with a "documentary" air and by means of them the Orientalist artists could satisfy the demand for such paintings and a the same time relieve himself of any moral responsibility by emphasizing that these were scenes of a society that was not Christian and had different moral values.

But Orientalism entails more than mere projection. Like every comparison, it creates dichotomy and thus entails a power relationship. It works in a dialectical relationship with an alleged European mission to civilize and like every hegemonic discourse has a tendency to assert itself in a very real power dynamic. As Said asserts "by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient." It creates both the basis and the legitimacy for how scores of Western politicians, experts, and colonial administrators have dealt with the alleged Orient, from North Africa to India and thus has very real implications for the relations of power between the political regions of Europe and the US and the aforementioned regions of "the Orient".

What Said has written about in Orientalism is of relevance to historians, even those who deal not with the Orient per se, because of the particular lessons it teaches that can be expanded beyond the particular example of the Orient:

The first one is the importance of the Other as revealing about the self. How past and present cultures and societies describe those they see as different is an important factor in revealing something about themselves. This concept of the Other was originally pioneered in the field of philosophy, by Edmund Husserl in his phenomenology and in the field of psychology with the Other being constituent for the self. In a more historical sense and following Said, given that the Orient is not real, not an inert fact of nature but rather a discoursive construct with a historical formation, we can glean more about those who define themselves as the West by reading what they have to write about the Orient than about the countries and societies that are the alleged Orient. This is not limited to that particular example: From the Roman and Greek writing about the Barbarians to the 19th century German discourse on Jews and Slavs, historians have learned and realized to examine these as more revealing to their authors than about their subjects.

Expanding this, historical discourses on the Other are almost always power discourses, meaning they have the tendency to assert themselves in concrete and manifest power relations. Here Said's relevance for post-colonial studies comes into play for what kind of knowledge is produced about certain people can strongly influence the relations of power with them. Subjugation can justified this way, as can colonial projects and continued discriminatory measures. This reading is also one that can be applied in a fruitful manner by historians of almost every period and every region – seeing how not only identities of self are solidified through the Other but how they change and shape the relationship with the alleged other is a topic relevant from the beginning of antiquity to the present day.

In short: Said's writings on Orientalism make interesting reading even for those who do not deal with the Orient for it exemplifies certain dynamics and relations that are relevant throughout human history and can help particularly those of us who are in academia take a critical look on what kind of knowledge we produce within the framework of its historical context. For more, read Said's introduction to this book, where he also addresses criticisms here.