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Cultural imperialism is defined as the cultural aspects of imperialism. Imperialism, here, is referring to the creation and maintenance of unequal relationships between civilizations favoring the more powerful civilization [1]. Many scholars employ the term, especially those in the fields of history, cultural studies, and postcolonial theory [citations needed]. The term is usually used in a pejorative sense, often in conjunction with a call to reject such influence. Cultural imperialism can take various forms, such as an attitude, a formal policy, military action, so long as it reinforces cultural hegemony.

Theoretical Foundations edit

Many of today's academics that employ the term, Cultural imperialism, are heavily informed by the work of Foucault, Derrida, Said, and other poststructrualist and postcolonialist theorists [citation needed]. Within the realm of postcolonial discourse, Cultural imperialism can be seen as the cultural legacy of colonialism, or forms of social action contributing to the continuation of Western hegemony. To some outside of the realm of this discourse, The term is critiqued as being unclear, unfocused, and/or contradictory in nature [2]

Michel Foucault edit

The work of French philosopher and social theorist, Michel Foucault has been utilized in a variety of disciplines, such as history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and linguistics (citation needed). Particularly influential for many who utilize the term, Cultural imperialism, is his philosophical interpretation of power and his concept of governmentality.

Following an interpretation of power similar to that of Machiavelli, Foucault defines power as immaterial, as a "certain type of relation between individuals" that has to do with complex strategic social positions that relate to the subject's ability to control its environment and influence those around itself [3]. According to Foucault, power is intimately tied with his conception of truth. "Truth," as he defines it, is a "system of ordered procedures for the production, regulation, distribution, circulation, and operation of statements" which has a "circular relation" with systems of power [4]. Therefore, inherent is systems of power, is always "truth," which is culturally specific, inseparable from ideology which often coincides with various forms of hegemony. Cultural imperialism may be an example of this.

Foucault's interpretation of governance is also very important in constructing theories of transnational power structure. In his lectures at the Collège de France, Foucault often defines governmentality as the broad art of "governing," which goes beyond the traditional conception of governance in terms of state mandates, and into other realms such as governing "a household, souls, children, a province, a convent, a religious order, a family" [5]. This relates directly back to Machiavelli's The Prince, and Foucault's aforementioned conceptions of truth and power. (i.e. various subjectivities are created through power relations that are culturally specific, which lead to various forms of culturally specific governmentality such as neoliberal governmentality.)

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Edward Said edit

Informed by the work of Noam Chomsky, Michel Foucault, and Antonio Gramsci, Edward Said is considered to be a founding figure for postcolonialism [6]. Said self describes his book, Orientalism, as a humanist critique of the enlightenment [7]. In it, he criticizes Western (specifically English and French) knowledge about Western constructions of "the East." [8] This "knowledge" then leads to a tendency towards binary opposition of the orient vs. the occident, where one is defined in opposition to the other, and are unequal in value. [8] In Culture and Imperialism, the sequel to Orientalism, Said argues that while the formal "age of empire" ended after World War II, imperialism has left a cultural legacy in the overtaken civilizations that remains today. He furthermore argues that this legacy of imperialism, or cultural imperialism is still very influential in international systems of power. [9].

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Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak edit

Another influential voice in discussing matters of cultural imperialism is the self-described " practical Marxist-feminist-deconstructionist," [10][11] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Spivak has published a number of works challenging the "legacy of colonialism" including A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Towards a History of the Vanishing Present (1999), Other Asias (2005), and "Can the Subaltern Speak?" (1988). [12]

In "Can the Subaltern Speak?" Spivak critiques common representations in the West of the Sati, as being controlled by authors other than the participants (specifically English colonizers and Hindu leaders). Because of this, Spivak argues that the subaltern, referring to the communities that participate in the Sati are not "allowed" or "able" to "speak." [12]

In A critique of Postcolonial Reason, Spivak argues that Western philosophy has a history of not only exclusion of the Subaltern from discourse, but also does not allow them to occupy the space of a fully human subject.

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Contemporary Ideas and Debate edit

Africa edit

Of all the areas of the world that scholars have claimed to be adversely affected by imperialism, Africa is probably the most notable. In the expansive "age of imperialism" of the nineteenth century, scholars have argued that European colonization in Africa has led to the elimination of many various cultures, worldviews, and epistemologies. [13][14] This, arguably has led to uneven development, and further informal forms of social control having to do with culture and imperialism. [15] A variety of factors, scholars argue, lead to the elimination of cultures, worldviews, and epistemologies, such as "de-linguicization" (replacing native African languages with European ones) and devaluing ontologies that are not explicitly individualistic. [15] One scholar, Ali A. Obdi, claims that imperialism inherently "involve[s] extensively interactive regimes and heavy contexts of identity deformation, misrecognition, loss of self-esteem, and individual and social doubt in self-efficacy."(2000: 12)[15] Therefore, all imperialism would always, already be cultural.

Ties to Neoliberalism edit

Neoliberalism is often critiqued by sociologists, anthropologists, and cultural studies scholars as being culturally imperialistic. Critics of neoliberalism, at times, claim that it is the newly predominant form of imperialism. [15]. Other Scholars, such as Elizabeth Dunn and Julia Elyachar have claimed that neoliberalism requires and creates its own form of governmentality.[16][17].

In Dunn's work, Privatizing Poland, she argues that the expansion of the multinational corporation, Gerber, into Poland in the 1990s imposed Western, neoliberal governmentality, ideologies, and epistemologies upon the post-soviet persons hired. [16] Cultural conflicts occurred most notably the company's inherent individualistic policies, such as promoting competition among workers rather than cooperation, and in its strong opposition to what the company owners claimed was bribery. [16]

In Elyachar's work, Markets of Dispossession, she focuses on ways in which, in Cairo, NGOs along with IOs and the state promoted neoliberal governmentality through schemas of economic development that relied upon "youth microentrepreneurs." [17] Youth microentrepreneurs would receive small loans to build their own businesses, similar to the way that microfinance supposedly operates. [17] Elyachar argues though, that these programs not only were a failure, but that they shifted cultural opinions of value (personal and cultural) in a way that favored Western ways of thinking and being [17]

Development Studies edit

Often times, methods of promoting development and social justice to are critiqued as being imperialistic, in a cultural sense. For example, Chandra Mohanty has critiqued Western feminism, claiming that it has created a misrepresentation of the "third world woman" as being completely powerless, unable to resist male dominance. [18] Thus, this leads to the often critiqued narrative of the "white man" saving the "brown woman" from the "brown man." Other, more radical critiques of development studies, have to do with the field of study itself. Some scholars even question the intentions of those developing the field of study, claiming that efforts to "develop" the Global South were never about the South itself. Instead, these efforts, it is argued, were made in order to advance Western development and reinforce Western hegemony. [19]

Criticisms of "Cultural Imperialism Theory" edit

Critics of scholars who discuss cultural imperialism have a number of critiques. Cultural imperialism is a term that is only used in discussions where cultural relativism and constructivism are generally taken as true. (One cannot critique promoting Western values if one believes that said values are absolutely correct. Similarly, one cannot argue that Western epistemology is unjustly promoted in non-Western societies if one believes that those epistemologies are absolutely correct. [2]) Therefore, those who disagree with cultural relativism and/or constructivism may critique the employment of the term, cultural imperialism on those terms.

Other major critiques are that the term is not defined well, and employs further terms that are not defined well, and therefore lacks explanatory power, that cultural imperialism is hard to measure, and that the theory of a legacy of colonialism is not always true. [2]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Johnston, Ronald John (2000). The Dictionary of Human Geography (4th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. p. 375. ISBN 0631205616.
  2. ^ a b c White, Livingston A. "Reconsidering Cultural Imperialism Theory" Transnational Brodcasting Studies no.6 Spring/Summer 2001.
  3. ^ Foucault, Michel. 1979. "Omnes et Singulatim: Towards a Criticism of Political Reason" in Faubion, James D. (ed.) Essential Works of Foucault, Volume 3: Power New York: The New Press
  4. ^ Foucault, Michel. 1979. "Truth and Power" in Faubion, James D. (ed.) Essential Works of Foucault, Volume 3: Power New York: The New Press
  5. ^ Foucault, Michel. 1978. "Governmentality" in Faubion, James D. (ed.) Essential Works of Foucault, Volume 3: Power New York: The New Press
  6. ^ Robert Young, White Mythologies: Writing History and the West, New York & London: Routledge, 1990.
  7. ^ Orientalism 25 Years Later, by Said in 2003
  8. ^ a b Said, Edward. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books
  9. ^ Said, Edward. 1993. Culture and Imperialism New York: Pantheon Books
  10. ^ Perumalil, Augustine (2009). History of women in philosophy. Global Vision. p. 347. ISBN 9788182202740.
  11. ^ LAHIRI, BULAN (6 February 2011). "Speaking to Spivak". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  12. ^ a b Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1988. "Can the Subaltern Speak"[1]
  13. ^ Monga, C. 1996. Anthropology of Anger: Civil Society and Democracy in Africa. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner
  14. ^ wa Thiongo, N. 1986. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London: James Curry.
  15. ^ a b c d Abdi, Ali A. 2000. "Globalization, Culture, and Development: Perspectives on Africa" Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences 2(1): 1-26
  16. ^ a b c Dunn, Elizabeth C. 2004. Privatizing Poland: Baby Food, Big Business, and the Remaking of Labor Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
  17. ^ a b c d Elyachar, Julia. 2005. Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development, and the State in Cairo US: Duke University Press
  18. ^ Mohanty, Chandra. 1988. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses" Feminist Reveiw no. 30
  19. ^ Dossa, Shiraz. 2007. "Slicing Up 'Development': Colonialism, political theory, ethics." Third World Quarterly 28(5):887-899

References edit

  • Tomlinson, John (1991). Cultural imperialism: a critical introduction (illustrated, reprint ed.). Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 082645013X, 9780826450135. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Hamm, Bernd (2005). Cultural imperialism: essays on the political economy of cultural domination. Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 155111707X, 9781551117072. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • White, Livingston A. (Spring–Summer 2001). "Reconsidering cultural imperialism theory". Transnational Broadcasting Studies (6). The Center for Electronic Journalism at the American University in Cairo and the Centre for Middle East Studies, St. Antony’s College, Oxford.

Additional references

  • Truth and Power" by Foucault
  • "Omnes et Singulatim" by Foucault
  • "Governmentality" by Foucault
  • Discipline and Punish by Foucault
  • Of Gramatology by Derrida
  • Writing and Difference by Derrida
  • Orientalism by Said
  • Culture and Imperialism by Said
  • Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation by Mary Louise Pratt
  • Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense by Ann Laura Stoler
  • Privatizing Poland: Baby Food, Big Business, and the Remaking of Labor By Elizabeth Dunn
  • Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development, and the State in Cairo By Julia Elyachar
  • "The Gendering of Disaster: Cities and City Manhood in Joyce Vincent's The Celestial Hand" by Johhny A. Bell
  • "Transgressive Transnationalism: Griffith Taylor and Global Thinking" by Carolyn Strange
  • "The Forgotten Commandment: James Wallis and the Newcastle Penal Settlement, 1816-1818" by David A. Roberts & Daniel Garlan
  • "Globalization, Culture, and Development: Perspectives on Africa" by Ali A. Abdi
  • "The Case of the Awkward Statistics: A Critique of Postdevelopment" by Daniel Clausen
  • "Neoliberal Globalization, ZANU PF Authoritarian Nationalism and the Creation of Crises in Higher Education in Zimbabwe" by Munyaradzi Hwami
  • "The Imagined Freedom: Post-Soviet Intellectuals between the Hegemony of the State and the Hegemony of the Market" by Madina Tlostanova
  • "Slicing up ‘Development’: colonialism, political theory, ethics" By Shiraz Dossa
  • "Latin America and the Challenge of Globalizing the History of Sexuality" by Pete Segal
  • "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses" by Chandra Mohanty

External links edit

  • "In Praise of Cultural Imperialism?", by David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy no. 107, Summer 1997, pp. 38–53, which argues that cultural imperialism is a positive thing.
  • "Reconsidering cultural imperialism theory" by Livingston A. White, Transnational Broadcasting Studies no. 6, Spring/Summer 2001, which argues that the idea of media imperialism is outdated.
  • "What American Culture?", by Alexander S. Peak, 14 September 2004, which argues that what the world is witnessing is the gradual evolution of a new, global culture.
  • Academic Web page from 24 February 2000, discussing the idea of cultural imperialism


Category:Imperialism Category:Cultural studies Category:Cultural geography Category:Political science Category:Cultural hegemony

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