Said framed Orientalism as compiling an inventory of colonial traces upon himself

Evidence

In the Prison Notebooks Gramsci says: The starting-point in critical elaboration is the consciousness of what one really is … as a product of the historical process to date, which has deposited in you an infinity of traces, without leaving an inventory.’ The only available English translation inexplicably leaves Gramsci’s comment at that, whereas Gramsci’s Italian text concludes by adding that ‘therefore it is imperative at the outset to compile such an inventory.’ … In many ways my study of Orientalism has been an attempt to inventory the traces upon me, the Oriental subject, of the culture whose domination has been so powerful a factor in the life of all Orientals. (p. 25) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 284

In the Prison Notebooks Gramsci says: ‘The starring-point in critical elaboration is the consciousness of what one really is as a product of the historical process to date, which has deposited in you an infinity of traces, without leaving an inventory. The only available English translation inexplicably leaves Gramsci’s comment at that, whereas Gramsci’s Icalian text concludes by adding that ‘therefore it is imperative at the outset to compile such an inventory. … In many ways my study of Orienralism has been an attempt to inventory the traces upon me, the Oriental subject, of the culture whose domination has been so powerful a factor in the life of all Orientals. (p. 2 5) This passage from Gramsci seems to have meant a great deal to Said, for it reappears at the beginning of his ‘Zionism’ essay. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 638

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains Said’s personal-scholarly self-understanding of Orientalism via Gramsci’s ‘inventory of traces’ concept.
• QUESTION: Chase: which English translation dropped the second half of Gramsci’s sentence — and why did the omission matter for how Said’s debt was read?
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s question on strategic essentialism: Said’s ‘inventory of traces’ of being an Oriental subject is a self-positioning that grounds a discourse critique in lived identity rather than materially classed position — exactly the move Ahmad will contest.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 284; Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 638