We are at a point in our work when we can no longer ignore empires and the imperial context in our studies. (p. 5)
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of acknowledging historical and cultural influences on our understanding of various subjects.
Edward Said highlights the critical necessity of recognizing imperialism and its contexts when engaging in academic studies. He argues that ignoring the influence of empires can lead to incomplete or skewed interpretations of historical and cultural phenomena, underlining the interconnectedness of knowledge and power dynamics.
In practice
In a university lecture on the impact of colonial histories on modern literature.
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.
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.
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.
Since the time of Homer every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.
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.
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.
Doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites; but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ's sheep.
You must somehow understand that we as horsemen can do very little to teach the horse. What we can do is to create an environment in which he can learn.
We have found that the most successful teachers in low-income communities operate like successful leaders. They establish a vision of where their students will be performing at the end of the year that many believe to be unrealistic.
Libraries have had a long history of dealing with authoritarian organizations demanding reader records - who's read what - and this has led to people being rounded up and killed.
Spare the rod and spoil the child - that is true. But, beside the rod, keep an apple to give him when he has done well.
The thing I loved the most - and still love the most about teaching - is that you can connect with an individual or a group, and see that individual or group exceed their limits.
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