Balfour justifies the necessity and obligation for British occupation of Egypt when he equates supremacy with “our” knowledge of Egypt; the knowledge of “our” (English) superiority and their inferiority (Egyptian). Balfour’s self proclaimed knowledge of the Egyptian people came from his study of a civilization “from its origins to its prime to its decline.”(Said p.41) He believes that having knowledge of it, or the Oriental co

In Edward W. Said’s book “Knowing the Oriental” he quotes Balfour in saying “To have such knowledge of such a thing (Egypt) is to dominate it.”(Said p.32) I believe that this is a necessary statement because domination of Egypt does not necessarily have to be a result of England’s knowledge of the “Oriental” but can be. For example domination of Egypt by England could have solely been the result of superior military forces. To disprove that this statement is a necessary one I could say that no matter how much military or economic strength a nation has it does not help without having knowledge of the country that you are trying to dominate. An example of this that could be used is the war in Vietnam. Despite America’s far superior military they were defeated by the Vietnamese because America lacked knowledge of the Vietnamese.

untry, allows “us” to dominate “it” and subsequently deny independence to it. He illustrates English and Western superiority by stating the Western capacity for self-government and “Oriental’s” inability to establish it by its own motion. In addition, Balfour views the Orientals as inferior, lacking in initiative, and suspicious. His views on Orientalism and his justification for the policy of occupying Egypt can be described as the “ineradicable distinction between Western superiority and Oriental inferiority.”(Said p.40)

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