Language learning and area study function as covert instruments of population control

Evidence

The acquired foreign language is therefore made part of a subtle assault upon populations, just as the study of a foreign region like the Orient is turned into a program for control by divination. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 742

Categorization

• XREF: Directly builds the bridge to Islamophobia readings: the Orient-as-field-of-control mechanism that later analyses of anti-Muslim expertise will inherit. Also echoes the reader’s interest in how representation constructs the Other.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 742