Edward Said and Education

Book excerpt: This volume offers a deep interpretation of Edward Said’s literary thought towards the development of educational criticism. Insofar as Said’s academic career was built around the contours of literary analysis, Leonardo demonstrates how Said’s work propels scholarship on schooling in ways that enrich our ability to generate insights about the educational enterprise. The book draws from four main themes of Said’s work – knowledge construction as part of empire, representations and reconstruction of the intellectual, the exile condition, and contrapuntal analysis. These themes cohere in providing the elements of educational criticism and placing them in the wider context of a rapidly changing sociality and educational system. The author reviews key arguments in the field whilst contributing new analyses designed to elicit wide-ranging discussions. Edward Said and Education is a valuable teaching resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of education studies, postcolonial studies, and ethnic studies.