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Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.
Edward Said
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the intricate relationship between geography and human experience, emphasizing that struggle encompasses more than just physical boundaries.

Edward Said's quote reflects on the multifaceted nature of geography and its influence on human life. It suggests that while geography may seem like a mere backdrop for human struggles, it is intricately linked to our thoughts, beliefs, and cultural expressions. The struggle over geography is not just a physical battle; it extends to ideas and perceptions, shaping how we understand and interact with the world around us.

Themes

GeographyStruggleIdeasPerceptionHuman Experience

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on cultural diversity, this quote can illustrate how geography influences identity.

More from Edward Said

All knowledge that is about human society, and not about the natural world, is historical knowledge, and therefore rests upon judgment and interpretation. This is not to say that facts or data are nonexistent, but that facts get their importance from what is made of them in interpretation… for interpretations depend very much on who the interpreter is, who he or she is addressing, what his or her purpose is, at what historical moment the interpretation takes place.
Edward SaidRead
Uninformed and yet open to appeals for justice as they are, Americans are capable of reacting as they did to the ANC campaign against apartheid, which finally changed the balance of forces inside South Africa.
Edward SaidRead
Refuse to allow yourself to become a vegetable that simply absorbs information, pre-packaged, pre-ideologized , because no message.. is anything but an ideological package that has gone through a kind of processing.
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Since the time of Homer every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.
Edward SaidRead
Much as I have no wish to hurt anyone's feelings, my first obligation has not been to be nice but to be true to my perhaps peculiar memories, experiences and feelings.
Edward SaidRead
It is quite common to hear high officials in Washington and elsewhere speak of changing the map of the Middle East, as if ancient societies and myriad peoples can be shaken up like so many peanuts in a jar.
Edward SaidRead

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