Rethinking trajectories of the Intellectual: Edward Said and Antonio Gramsci

Jackson, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6195-1067 (2024) Rethinking trajectories of the Intellectual: Edward Said and Antonio Gramsci. Notebooks: The Journal for Studies on Power, 4. pp. 39-67. ISSN 2666-7177

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Abstract

A generation has passed since Edward Said’s Reith Lectures, in which he examined the role of intellectuals in modern society. Among the inspirations of Said’s ‘secular criticism’ is the work of Gramsci. Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and subalternity, his reflections on intellectuals, and his discussions of the spatial relationship between culture and power feature in Said’s ‘contrapuntal’ approach. This article hypothesises that Said’s intellectual represents a type of ‘commando’ in the context of the obstruction of forms of critical intellectuality. Exploring Gramsci’s use of this politico-military figure to explain cultural processes provides the opportunity to examine the trajectories of intellectual-arditismo, either as a spark for social transformation or as a radicalism that enshrines popular passivity. Reciprocally, Said’s exilic analysis recovers the criticality of the Gramscian intellectual associated with subaltern groups. This enables a comparative study of Gramsci’s and Said’s treatment of intellectuals, while recognising the ‘worldliness’ of their respective approaches.