Western scholars controlled the academic study of the Orient even as late as 1927.

Evidence

Said’s Orientalism is not a book about the Orient per se. It is a book that analyzes Western discourse about the Orient, including Islam and Arab peoples, and how this discourse relates to Western domination over the Orient in light of the colonial projects of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 206 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

For students of literature and criticism, Orientalism offers a marvelous instance of the interrelations between society, history, and textuality; moreover, the cultural role played by the Orient in the West connects Orientalism with ideology, politics, and the logic of power, matters of relevance, I think, to the literary community. … My hope is to illustrate the formidable structure of cultural domination and, specifically for formerly colonized peoples, the dangers and temptations of employing this structure upon themselves or upon others. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 94 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Western scholarly discourse about the Orient was entangled with colonial domination — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 206; Orientalist scholarship was overwhelmingly dominated by Western scholars into the 1920s; Western cultural discourse about the Orient is a formidable structure of domination. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 94 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Orientalist scholarship was overwhelmingly dominated by Western scholars into the 1920s #corroborates (0.95)
• Western scholarly discourse about the Orient was entangled with colonial domination #corroborates (0.85) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 206
• Western cultural discourse about the Orient is a formidable structure of domination. #corroborates (0.75) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 94
• Said defines Orientalism as a Western instrument for dominating the Orient #corroborates (0.72) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 59