 Edward Wadie Said ( Arabic pronunciation : [ wædiːʕ sæʕiːd ] Arabic : إدوارد وديع سعيد , Idwārd Wadīʿ Saʿīd ; 1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003 ) was a Palestinian @-@ American literary theoretician , professor of English , history and comparative literature at Columbia University , and a public intellectual who was a founder of post @-@ colonial studies . A Palestinian Arab born in Jerusalem in the days of Mandatory Palestine , Edward W. Said was an American citizen by way of his father , Wadir Said , a U.S. Army veteran of the First World War ; having moved from Jerusalem as a young boy , Said would later advocate for the political and human rights of the Palestinian people . 
