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''Culture and Imperialism'' is a collection of essays by Edward Said published in 1993. Said attempts to trace the connection between imperialism and culture in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It followed his highly influential ''Orientalism'', published in 1978. Said conceived of ''Culture and Imperialism'' as an attempt to "expand the argument" of ''Orientalism'' "to describe a more general pattern of relationships between the modern metropolitan west and its overseas territories." ==Subject== In a series of essays, Said argues the impact of mainstream culture (mainly British writers of the 19th and early 20th century, like Jane Austen and Rudyard Kipling) on colonialism and imperialism,〔 〕 and conversely how imperialism, resistance to it, and decolonization influenced the English and French novel. In the introduction to the work, Said explains his focus on the novel: he "consider() it ''the'' aesthetic object whose connection to the expanding societies of Britain and France is particularly interesting to study. The prototypical modern realistic novel is ''Robinson Crusoe'', and certainly not accidentally it is about a European who creates a fiefdom for himself on a distant, non-European island." On the connection between culture and empire, Said observes that "The power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them." Hence he analyzes cultural objects in large part to understand how empire works: "For the enterprise of empire depends upon the ''idea'' of ''having an empire''... and all kinds of preparations are made for it within a culture; then in turn imperialism acquires a kind of coherence, a set of experiences, and a presence of ruler and ruled alike within the culture." Said defines "imperialism" as "the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory." His definition of "culture" is more complex, but he strongly suggests that we ought not to forget imperialism when discussing it. Of his overall motive, Said states:
The title is thought to be a reference to two older works, ''Culture and Anarchy'' (1859) by Matthew Arnold and ''Culture and Society'' (1958) by Raymond Williams. Said argues that, although the "age of empire" largely ended after World War II, when most colonies gained independence, imperialism continues to exert considerable cultural influence in the present. To be aware of this fact, it is necessary, according to Said, to look at how colonialists and imperialists employed "culture" to control distant land and peoples. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Culture and Imperialism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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