Public educators as interpretive critics: Edward Said and Raymond Williams

The work of Edward Said and Raymond Williams exemplifies an important aspect of the role of the public intellectual as educator. This paper concentrates on the significance of their work as public educators and on the tradition of interpretive criticism as they developed it within the field of literary and cultural theory. The argument builds from the assumptions that (1) the work of these two very different critics provides important methodological insights regarding the nature of interpretation; (2) these insights have general application across the human and social sciences; and (3) their application is integral to the role of the public intellectual as educator. Central to the argument is that the prime responsibility of the public educator is not to mark out her or his own value position, but to ensure that there are the necessary civic spaces for others to do so – and, crucially, that these spaces are kept open. Holding open the civic spaces is the duty and moral responsibility of the public educator as interpretive critic.