Confessions of a Dangerous (Arab) Mind

A third of a century after the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism and after Michel Foucault’s death, it is difficult to think of two intellectuals who have been more influential not just within their respective fields, but whose influence has travelled beyond the confines of their disciplines. The intellectual and personal relationship between Edward Said and Michel Foucault - particularly the former’s assessment of the latter - has been the subject of a considerable amount of controversy, generated not least by Said himself. Said’s very public disenchantment with Foucault’s theoretical project and its political implications - in particular, Foucault’s supposed unwillingness to translate ‘insurrectionary scholarship’ into political activism - has been the subject of much debate, not least because it resonates with much (mostly positivist) criticism of post-structuralism generally, and because it came from such a prominent figure, noted for both his contribution to post-positivist theory and for his activism on the Palestinian question. One would not be alone in finding this reading of Foucault’s analysis and of his political practice questionable,1 but the aim of this contribution will not be to offer yet another attempt to ‘rule’ over the dispute by arriving at a ‘correct’ interpretation of these two intellectuals’ thought, not least because it attempts to take seriously warnings by both scholars concerning the political implications of ruling on ‘truth.’.