The Dictionary of Human Geography

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making up the world, but an immanent

material self-organization that allows for the

possibility of new types of things to come

into the world. This work has been highly

influential for recent theoretical experimenta-

tions in human geography, providing perhaps

the fundamental ontological support for

non-representational theory(Deleuze him-

self had been treating the non-representational

ontologically since the 1960s) and for ela-

borations of actor__network theory (for

re-theorizations of human–nature relation-

ships). kwo/jpj

Suggested reading

Cloke and Johnston (2005); Dixon and Jones

(1998); Massey (2005); Sayer (2000); Tuan

(2001).

opportunity costs An important concept in

neo-classical economics, with the costs of

an action expressed as opportunities foregone –

usually in monetary terms. If rural land is set

aside as a nature reserve, there will be costs to

both the landowner and society in terms of

the net value of the agricultural products not

produced: similarly, a commuter may see the

cost of travel time as earnings foregone. The

concept can therefore be used in explaining

the allocation of productive resources between

competing activities, especially where they are

in short supply. It plays an important role in

theories ofrent,comparative advantageand

linear programming. rj

optimization models Mathematical models

that are used to search for the optimal solution

to a problem. Thesemodelshave a quantity

to be either maximised or minimized, known

as the ‘objective function’, such as the mini-

mization of total transport costs or the maxi-

mization of a firm’s profits, together with a

set of constraints that limit the range of

possible solutions, such as limits on supply

and demand, or the capacity of transport

routes. linear programming is the most

widely used form of optimization, but the

models may take a great variety of mathe-

matical forms and many spatial applications

(such as optimal location decisions) involve

non-linear forms. lwh

Suggested reading

Killen (1983).

Orientalism The term ‘Orientalism’ has

three main meanings. The first two involve

(i) the scholarly study of the Orient, and (ii)

a more general (and especially aesthetic or

cultural) interest in the Orient. But neither of

them pays much attention to the possibility

that the object of their interest – ‘the

Orient’ – is itself a predominantly European

and American construction produced within a

specific grid ofpowerand knowledge (cf.

occidentalism). This is the focus of the

third definition proposed by the Palestinian/

American literary critic Edward Said (1935–

2003): Orientalism as (iii) both adiscourse

and a ‘corporate institution’ for the produc-

tion and domination of ‘the Orient’ (Said,

1978, p. 3). It is this definition that has

attracted most attention in human geog-

raphy, but it is important to notice Said’s

double emphasis on productionanddomin-

ation: representations of ‘the Orient’ often

have the most acutely practical, material con-

sequences (cf.performativity).

Said acknowledged that Orientalism in

this third sense has a long and tangled his-

tory, but he focused on the specificallymod-

ern apparatus of power-knowledge that

emerged towards the end of the eighteenth

century. His proxy for this was the Napo-

leonic occupation of Egypt (1798–1801)

and, in particular, theDescription de l’E ́gypte

produced by the scholars who accompanied

the expeditionary army. Said’s emphasis on

the materialityof power-knowledge is also

significant. While he was keenly interested

in the production ofimaginative geograph-

iesof ‘the Orient’, Said insisted that Orien-

talism was not ‘an airy European fantasy

about the Orient, but created a body of the-

oryand practicein which, for many gener-

ations, there has been considerablematerial

investment’ (1978, p. 6; emphases added).

What gave Orientalism its peculiar power

was that it was produced from the outside

and marginalized or silenced the voices of

those who were its collective subjects:

‘What gave the Oriental’s world its intelligi-

bility and identity was not the result of his

own efforts but rather the whole complex

series of knowledgeable manipulations by

which the Orient was identified by the

West’(p.40).Itwasthis,aboveallelse,

that implicated Orientalism in the operations

of colonizingpower, because it made ‘the

Orient’ appear as ‘an essentialized realm ori-

ginally outside and untouched by the West,

lacking the meaning and order that only co-

lonialism can bring’ (Mitchell, 1992,

p. 313). For Said, then, Orientalism oper-

ated both in advance and in conjunction

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ORIENTALISM