Edward Wadie Said (Arabic: إدوارد وديع سعيد, transliteration: Edward Wādi Sa‘id) (1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and outspoken Palestinian activist. He was Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and is regarded as a founding figure in post-colonial theory. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism (1978), Said described the "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."He argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe and America's colonial and imperial ambitions. Just as fiercely, he denounced the practice of Arab elites who internalized the American and British orientalists' ideas of Arabic culture. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.