Unsettling the World: Edward Said and Political Theory

by Jeanne Morefield

Unsettling the World is the first book-length treatment of Edward Said’s influential cultural criticism from the perspective of a political theorist. Arguing that the generative power of Said’s thought extends well beyond Orientalism, the book explores Said’s writings on the experience of exile, the practice of “contrapuntal” criticism, and the illuminating potential of worldly humanism. Said’s critical vision, Morefield argues, provides a fresh perspective on debates in political theory about subjectivity, global justice, identity, and the history of political thought. Most importantly, she maintains, Said’s approach offers theorists a model of how to bring the insights developed through historical analyses of imperialism and anti-colonialism to bear on critiques of contemporary global crises and the politics of American foreign policy.

461 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 29, 2022

About the author

Jeanne Morefield is Associate Professor of Political Theory and Fellow at New College. She is also a Non-Residential Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Washington D.C. Before coming to Oxford she taught as Associate Professor of Political Theory at the University of Birmingham, Professor of Politics at Whitman College, and was a Professorial Fellow at The Institute for Social Justice, Australian Catholic University. Between 2016 and 2019 she served as Co-President of the Association for Political Theory.

During the 2021-2022 academic year, Dr. Morefield will be taking a British Academy and Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship.

Dr. Morefield’s scholarship sits at the intersection of political theory, international relations, and intellectual history with a particular focus on the relationship between liberalism, imperialism, and internationalism in Britain and America. She is the author of Covenants Without Swords: Idealist Liberalism and the Spirit of Empire (Princeton, 2005), Empires Without Imperialism: Anglo American Decline and the Politic of Deflection (Oxford, 2014) and the forthcoming Unsettling the World: Edward Said and Political Theory (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022). Her next book project, The Political Worlds of Sex Trafficking: From the League of Nations to QAnon, examines the role of sex trafficking panics in the construction and contestation of global liberalism. Morefield’s popular work has appeared in The Boston Review, Jacobin, Responsible Statecraft, and The New Statesman.

Reviews

[mnaufalu · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s impossible for anyone to engage with left or postcolonial/decolonial politics and not be familiar on some level with the work of Edward Said. Having said that, prior to reading this book I had a very surface level understanding of his intellectual contributions. I was made aware of this book because I had the privilege to attend a presentation given by the author at my University. The idea I was most attracted to within Said’s thought, and which becomes a running theme throughout this book, is (as the title might suggest) his unsettled disposition. Said sees exile, although a literal material experience experienced by an ever increasing number of people, as being a metaphorical experience one can adopt in order to see beyond the fixedness of identity categories. For Said, this involves a double-consciousness (or Said might call it a contrapuntal consciousness) in which the exile is both deeply aware of the need for ‘home’ and yet also deeply aware of its impermanence, or the inherent insecurity of the notion of ‘home’. This is a state which can be painful to experience, but if the exile is able to overcome it they are then able to gain something from it. This feeds into Said’s sympathetic critique of nationalism; simultaneously understanding the need for nationalism within the context of colonial and imperial domination while also being conscious of its limitations and its potential constriction of people.

Related to his use of the word ‘contrapuntal’ (borrowed from music theory; I have no experience with music theory so can’t comment on this) Said sees the binary between the imperialists and the imperialised as one which must be read together. Upholding the relationship as one which is binary in fact limits possibilities, and freezes the two groups within their fixed identities and as necessarily different. Said instead argues for humanist and contrapuntal criticism which acknowledges the humanity of all and acknowledges their mutual constitution of each other.

This only scratches the surface of the aspects of Said’s thought covered in this book. This book has been very helpful for me both intellectually and personally, and I am definitely going to have to dedicate some more time to engaging with Said.

[Michael Godwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsettling the World: Edward Said and Political Theory is a deeply insightful and intellectually ambitious examination of Edward Said's influential cultural criticism and its significance for contemporary political theory. Jeanne Morefield offers a compelling argument that the power of Said's thought extends far beyond his most widely discussed work and provides valuable resources for understanding some of the central political challenges of the modern world.

One of the book's greatest strengths is its exploration of Said's writings on exile, contrapuntal criticism, and worldly humanism. Morefield demonstrates how these ideas offer important ways of thinking about subjectivity, identity, global justice, and the history of political thought.

The discussion of exile is particularly compelling. Rather than treating exile merely as a condition of displacement, the book explores how the experience can generate a distinctive perspective on political belonging, identity, and the relationship between individuals and the worlds they inhabit.

Morefield's examination of contrapuntal criticism is equally thought-provoking. By highlighting the importance of listening to multiple histories and perspectives simultaneously, the book presents Said's method as a powerful model for examining the complex legacies of imperialism and colonialism.

The concept of worldly humanism provides another important dimension to the study. Morefield shows how Said's critical vision can help political theorists connect historical analysis with contemporary political concerns, including global crises and the politics of American foreign policy.

Unsettling the World: Edward Said and Political Theory will appeal to readers interested in Edward Said, political theory, postcolonial studies, cultural criticism, imperialism, anti-colonial thought, global justice, identity, and the history of political thought.

Overall, Jeanne Morefield presents a rigorous and timely study that demonstrates the continuing relevance of Edward Said's ideas. The book offers readers a powerful framework for understanding how historical criticism, political theory, and worldly humanism can illuminate the political challenges of the contemporary world.

[caisha]

can't rate this tbh, but chapter 2 & 7 were very very perfect. the critique of liberalism in IR is top-tier. highly recommending this!!