Culture and Imperialism
From MarxWiki
Written by Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism examines the relationship between the West and its imperial conquests within the context of culture. Said views imperialism not as a contained era of history, but rather as something more fluid. According to Said, imperialism works in both the material world and in the imagination (hence his focus on literature); thus the removal of a colonial or imperial power does not put an end to the influence of imperialism in the beliefs and practices of a nation. The repercussions of imperialism are still evident today in Western culture and the culture of places that have been colonized as well. Any analysis of imperialism must acknowledge this two-way relationship, exploring how the colonizer country has impacted the colonized, as well as looking at the ways imperialism has shaped the culture of the colonizer. In this work, Said analyzes Western novels such as Heart of Darkness and those by Jane Austen, to uncover the (often unrecognized) impact of imperialism on Western culture, and reveal the ways these novel propagate Western notions of our role in `uncivilized` lands. Said also looks at historically marginalized voices from non-Western countries.
Said systematically addresses colonial and postcolonial literature through the construct of the western literary canon. Said addresses the literary implications of imperialism and the effects that it has had upon overall western culture. He specifically addresses the way in which subjugated peoples are represented within literature and how it has affected not only these peoples but also the cultures in which they live. To accomplish his goal Said sets up a methodological argument within which he addresses three main concepts. First, that imperialism is not about a specific moment in history, but rather a continuing interdependent dialogue between subject peoples and the dominant hegemony of the empire. This is essential to Said's argument because it demonstrates that the end of imperialistic influence upon literature did not end with colonial rule. But rather, continues to exist within postcolonial culture because of the circumstance in which subjugated peoples have been placed. Secondly, through the production of popular western literature authors have perpetuated a sense of continued domination upon subject peoples. This theorization that postcolonial oppression has been institutionalized within western literature is reference to the idea of a continuing interchange of ideas between dominant culture and oppressed peoples. Lastly, Said's comparison of colonialism to racism is integral to his argument about the continuation of oppression in a postcolonial environment. Throughout his analysis of culture, he focuses on the limitations of subjugated peoples within western culture and the reasons for their continued oppression. Said points out that there are serious restrictions placed upon colonized peoples, which not only affect the pursuit, but also the construction of their social and economic goals. Within his discourse on this subject Said addresses numerous novels in his attempt to construct a paradigm for western culture. One text stood out from the rest, because of its representative nature, and the methodological manner in which Said systematically addresses it. Said suggests that it is often postcolonial society that tends to oversimplify the intent of past imperialistic powers. By this oversimplification we attempt to justify the view of European hegemony that was used as a mechanism to bring about colonial rule, therefore separating colonial intent from colonized impact. With this in mind it seems unusual that Said is proposing that social pains of racism are quite different from those of colonialism. Throughout this section he continues to reinforce the idea that access to societal benefits simply draws attention away from the idea that there is a glass ceiling in the context of colonized people in regard to social and economic goals. Within his comparison of colonized people and those afflicted by racism, Said conjectures that marginalized peoples within the construct of racism have substantial societal advantage over formerly subjugated populations of colonized countries.
In this book, Said is attempting to move beyond a "rhetoric of blame" and deconstruct the binary of "colonizer" and "colonized" (18). Said does not view violence as an effective means of dealing with the legacy of imperialism, instead placing much greater faith in the power of multicultural education.
