 In Orientalism , Said contended that much Western study of Islamic civilization was political intellectualism meant for self @-@ affirmation , rather than for objective intellectual inquiry and academic study . Thus , Oriental studies functioned as a practical method of cultural discrimination and imperialist domination ; i.e. , the Western Orientalist knows more about the Orient than do the Orientals . As such , Orientalism has exerted much impact upon the fields of literary theory and cultural studies , human geography and history , and Oriental studies . Parting from the philosophical works of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault , and the works of the early Western critics of Orientalism — such as Abdul Latif <unk> , <unk> Abdel @-@ Malek , Maxime Rodinson , and Richard William Southern ( Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages , 1978 ) — Said argued that " Orientalism " and the derived perceptions of " The East " by " the West " purveyed in them are intellectually suspect , and cannot be accepted at their face value as faithful , true , and accurate representations of Oriental peoples and things . Said proposed that the history of European colonial rule , and its consequent political domination of the Eastern civilizations , distorts the writing of even the most knowledgeable , well @-@ meaning , and culturally sympathetic Western Orientalists , transforming " Orientalism " into a pejorative term . 
