愛德華．薩依德(Edward W. Said, 1935-2003)於1978年出版《東方主義》(Orientalism)一書，引起了廣大的迴響，也開啟了後殖民論述的先河。書中對殖民時期以來「東方主義者」按照西方的意願建構了「東方」，卻背離了東方的實體多所抨擊。殖民時期正是民族學〔人類學〕蓬勃發展的年代，薩依德在書中提出了許多民族學式的論述，而他本人身處兩種語言、兩種文化、兩個世界的雙重認同身分，其寫作《東方主義》，批判「東方主義者」的書寫位置也是民族學上值得討論的課題。

The book Orientalism, authored by Said, Edward W., 1935-2003, has gathered tremendous echoes and pioneered in the post-colonial propositions since its publication in 1978. The book was critical on the “Orientalists” who have since the colonial age built the “Orienttalists” who have since the colonial age built the “Orient” according to the wishes of the West, thereby betrayed the oriental reality. The colonial age is the blossomy period for the ethnology. Said presents many ethnological positions in book. He was put in a dilemma of bilingual, bi-cultural and bi-world identity. The position he took to criticize the Orientalists in the Orientalism book is worthy of discussion from the ethnological point of view.