Cultural Imperialism of the West in the Work of Edward W. Said

Abstract

This article presents the main ideas and views of Edward W. Said on the relationship between culture and imperialism, and also on the link between Western culture and the formation of imperialism. Hence, special attention is given to Said’s interpretation of novels as constructions of the geopolitical reality: i.e. the characteristics of “imperialism” are examined as found in such English and French writers as Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad and Albert Camus, illustrating the way how novels as an aesthetic form participated in the “cultural construction” of colonialism. In the next part of the discussion, the paper presents another main topic of Edward Said that reveals how “cultural imperialism”, “orientalism” and “covering Islam” are still, unfortunately, current topics. Special attention is given to Said's demystification of the opposition between “us” and “them”, or “the West” and “Others”, through the example of the relationship between “the West” and “Islam”. Behind this issue, unequal power relations exist, as well as unequal relations of power and knowledge; “anti-systemic movements”, especially, and the “post-colonial discourse”, in general, warns us of this.

Keywords

• Edward W. Said
• culture
• imperialism
• colonialism
• “orientalism”
• “covering Islam”