A review by 4harrisons
Culture and Imperialism by Edward W. Said

5.0

This book is somewhat less well known that Said's "Orientalism" but in lots of ways I found it more powerful. Said explores the relationship between imperialism and western culture. His basic premise is that the two cannot be separated but are inextricably intertwined. He begins by exploring through a number of novels, including for example Austen's Mansfield Park, how imperialism forms an unavoidable part of the basic fabric of the period. The second section develops this by looking at how the resistance of the colonised created a dialectic (not a word used by Said, but what struck me in reading) which drove forward the society of both the colonised and the colonisers "contrapuntally" in Said's phrase. Finally Said assesses the state of modern American imperialism, and the ways in which it maintains the structures of dominance seen in the European empires, despite US protestations to be different. This book prompts a white European reader (ie. me) to reconsider the whole basis of European culture and the inseparable part that imperialism has played in its development. It is very much essential reading for anyone looking to move beyond a Euro-centric view of the world.