28 ORIENTALISM it in its Islamic branch, Orientalism resemble each other very closely is a historical, cultura}, and politica) truth that needs only to be mentioned to an Arab Palestinian for its irony to be perfectly understood. But what I should like also to have contributed here is a better understanding of the way cultural domination has operated. If this stimulates a new kind of dealing with the Orient, indeed if it eliminates the “Orient” and “Occident” altogether, then we shall have advanced a little in the process of what Raymond Williams has called the “unlearning” of “the inherent dominative mode.”'”

l The Scope of Orientalism . .. fe génie inquiet et ambitieux de Européens . . . impatient d’employer les novveaux instruments de leur puissance... . —Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier, Préface historique (1809), Description de ?Egypte