Discourse about ‘the Arab’ erases individual Arabs and their narratable histories.

Evidence

In such statements as these, we note immediately that “the Arab” or “Arabs” have an aura of apartness, definiteness, and collective self-consistency such as to wipe out any traces of individual Arabs with narratable life histories. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 578

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the construction of ‘the Other’ in the reader’s critical-theory toolkit, and to similar moves in colonial texts read later (e.g., Veiled Sentiments, Imperial Eyes).
• DEFINE: Names the mechanism by which Orientalist categories suppress individual Arab selfhood — an ‘aura of apartness’ and ‘collective self-consistency’.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 578