September 25, 2001

Contact: Janet Crow, Hall Center for the Humanities, (785) 864-7823

Middle East expert, noted author Said to speak at KU on American humanism

Editors note: Said is pronounced "Sigh-eed"

LAWRENCE -- Noted literary, political and cultural critic Edward Said will speak on "The Dilemmas of American Humanism" when he presents the first installment of the 2001-2002 Hall Center Humanities Lecture Series at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4, in the Kansas Union Ballroom.

Said, currently a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, is one of the most prominent intellectuals in the United States. He is known as both a scholar of modern literature and an expert on international and Middle Eastern politics. He's also a scholar of music, opera and an accomplished pianist.

Said has taught at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Yale, and has lectured at more than 150 universities and colleges in North America, Europe and Asia. Perhaps his most famous book, Orientalism (1978), has been translated into 26 languages and was the runner-up for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Besides literary criticism, much of Said's writing is inspired by his passion for the Palestinian cause. These books include The Question of Palestine (1979), Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981), and Blaming the Victims (1988). Recent works include Reflections on Exile (2000) and the Edward Said Reader (2000).

A critic of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, Said was a member of the Palestinian parliament-in-exile for 14 years until 1991. He's a frequent contributor to national and international media outlets on the state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and U.S. activity in the Middle East.

Born in Jerusalem in 1935, Said's family was forced from their home in Palestine in 1947 and became refugees in Egypt. Said came to study in the United States when he was 16 years old, receiving a doctorate in English literature from Harvard. He has been teaching at Columbia University since 1963.