Edward Said and the Writing of History

Said famously argued in 'Orientalism' that the West developed, at the peak of colonial expansion, a body of knowledge that imperialists could use to gain power. Walia investigates the need for alternative 'subaltern' histories and the influences – Foucault, Gramsci – that inspire them. Said famously argued in 'Orientalism' that the West developed, at the peak of colonial expansion, a body of knowledge that imperialists could use to gain power. Walia investigates the need for alternative 'subaltern' histories and the influences – Foucault, Gramsci – that inspire them.