Orientalism - Edward W. Said (1978)

The Snake Charmer, Jean-Léon Gérôme (1880)
Wikipedia - "Orientalism is a 1978 book by Edward W. Said, about the cultural representations that are the bases of Orientalism, defined as the West's patronizing representations of 'The East'—the societies and peoples who inhabit the places of Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. According to Said, orientalism (the Western scholarship about the Eastern World) is inextricably tied to the imperialist societies who produced it, which makes much Orientalist work inherently political and servile to power. According to Said, in the Middle East, the social, economic, and cultural practices of the ruling Arab élites indicate they are imperial satraps who have internalized the romanticized 'Arab Culture' created by French, British and, later, American Orientalists; the examples include critical analyses of the colonial literature of Joseph Conrad, which conflates a people, a time, and a place into a narrative of incident and adventure in an exotic land. The critical application of post-structuralism in the scholarship of Orientalism influenced the development of literary theory, cultural criticism, and the field of Middle Eastern studies, especially regarding how academics practice their intellectual enquiry when examining, describing, and explaining the Middle East. The scope of Said's scholarship established Orientalism as a foundation text in the field of post-colonial culture studies, which examines the denotations and connotations of Orientalism, and the history of a country's post-colonial period. ..."
Wikipedia
W - Orientalism
Counterpunch: Orientalism by Edward Said (August 5, 2003)
The Atlantic: The Roots of Muslim Rage
NYBooks: Orientalism: An Exchange, Edward W. Said and Oleg Grabar, reply by Bernard Lewis
Guardian - The 100 best nonfiction books: No 8 – Orientalism by Edward Said (1978)
New Yorker: A French Novelist Confronts Orientalism
Guardian: Compass by Mathias Énard review – a dreamlike study of Orientalism
NY Times: A Prize-Winning French Novel About the Western Obsession With the East
[PDF] Chapter 1 of Orientalism
amazon: Orientalism - Edward W. Said, Compass - Mathias Énard
YouTube: Edward Said On Orientalism 40:13, Orientalism: How the West views the rest of the world

Convulsionists of Tangier (1837–38), Eugène Delacroix

Léon Cogniet - L’Expédition d’Egypte Sous les Ordres de Bonaparte (1835)