Re: [Foucault-L] said's orientalism, foucault's comments?

Hi Mehmet,

I don't think Foucault ever commented on Said's Orientalism in print (well not in any of the English translations of F's work I have at hand). The men did meet, however, around 1979 (See interviews with Edward Said. Ed. Amritjit Singh and Bruce G. Johnson 2004).

I've never really been a fan of Said's reading of Foucault. Some of his comments in various essays and interviews, especially concerning Foucualt's 'sterile' conception of power or his lack of political activism just don't hold up in my opinion. In fact I wrote my MA dissertation on how un-Foucauldian (if we there is such a thing) I found Orientalism.

John



From: "Mehmet Kentel" <mehmet.kentel@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Mailing-list <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Foucault-L] said's orientalism, foucault's comments?
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 01:39:39 +0200

Hi all,

Working on Edward Said's Orientalism for a while, I am wondering if
Foucault had said anything about Said's work. The book, after all, was
published in 1978 and it got immediate response both from academic
circles and popular media. Being a work deeply based on Foucault's
analysis of discourse, I guess Orientalism must have had taken
attention of Foucault too in a six-years time. A brief search, though,
didn't come up with anything. Do you know any article or interview
where Foucault talks about Said?

Regards,

Mehmet Kentel

Boðaziçi University
Department of Political Science & International Relations
Department of History
Undergrad.

_______________________________________________
Foucault-L mailing list

_________________________________________________________________
Free update to Windows Live Hotmail http://www.newhotmail.co.uk


Folow-ups
  • Re: [Foucault-L] said's orientalism, foucault's comments?
    • From: Mehmet Kentel
  • Replies
    [Foucault-L] said's orientalism, foucault's comments?, Mehmet Kentel
    Partial thread listing: