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Culture and Imperialism Summary by Edward Said

Introduction

In his introduction, Edward Said mentions his approach to the key linkage
explored in this book: “the connections between culture and imperialism“. He
expresses that he will reveal three empires in relatively recent times (1700 to
1990) such as Britain, France, and the United States. “Culture and Imperialism”
has been presented as a sequel to but also an extension of the author’s prior
work Orientalism (1978).

Edward Said exposes the concept of “contrapuntal” analysis and interpretation,

which will construct a major focus throughout the book. With this approach, the
perspectives of both the colonizer and the colonized are thought and texts are
read with an awareness of their historical context.

Chapter 1: Overlapping Territories, Intertwined Histories

Chapter 1 contains five parts, Said mentions the influences of geography on the
empire. He reveals the rapid growth of imperialism on the part of the European
nations. They governed 35% of the world’s surface in 1800. By 1914, this figure
had increased to 85%.

The colonizers were generally outnumbered by the colonized. Said confesses that
the urge to dominate is universal and global, but influence and alteration is a two-
way street. He expresses the “hybridity” of all cultures, which never remain in
isolation or in a pure form but depend on borrowings.

In the analysis of “Heart of Darkness” (1899), Joseph Conrad’s short novel, Said
discriminates two visions, the first pessimistic and the second somewhat more
optimistic. He also Comments on Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt (1798), Said
observes “discrepant” experiences of the past, depending on perspective.

Here he mentions that people have different experiences depending on their

social circumstances, including the perspective of both the colonizers and the
colonized. Finally, he also marks the value of a contrapuntal approach that
expresses both the perspective of the imperialists and those who resist them.
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Chapter 2: Consolidated Vision

Chapter 2 contains eight parts and forms the core of Said’s book. At the very
outset of this chapter, he expresses the centrality of the novel as an expression of
culture. This literary form arose to popularity at the same time as the flourishing
of British and French imperialism.

Said dedicates one part of this chapter to a detailed analysis of the role of
imperialism in Jane Austen’s novel “Mansfield Park” (1814). Said exposes two
more parts in this chapter to illustrate Rudyard Kipling’s most important long
work, the novel “Kim” (1901). He also mentions the complex relationships
expressed by the French novelist Albert Camus in two of his leading works,
L’Étranger (The Stranger) (1942) and La Peste (The Plague) (1947).

Said also mentions other cultural expressions than the novel in this chapter. He
reveals Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida (1871) in considerable detail, expressing the
influence of the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette on the opera’s libretto and
storyline.

Chapter 3: Resistance and Opposition

In this five-part chapter, Said expresses his focus on the complex

interrelationships between imperialists and the imperialized. He highly mentions
the radical change of the global map in the second half of the 20th century. For
example, Forty-Nine new African states came into being between 1945 and 1990.

Said moves forward to consider some of the outstanding themes of resistance

culture. In a lengthy analysis, he points out the nationalism and resistance of the
great Irish poet William Butler Years (1865–1939). He expresses a number of
resistance texts pertaining to the Caribbean region, the Middle East, India, and
Malaysia. He also mentions the issue of collaboration between the colonized with
the colonizers.

Chapter 4: Freedom from Domination in the Future

The focus of the book’s final chapter, which contains three parts, is the United
States. In Said’s view, the world domination that the United States gained in 1945
has been marred by imperialist ventures such as the Gulf War (1990–91). Said
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counsels his American readers to reach out globally and to learn more about the
world.

He finishes the book by re-emphasizing the hybridity of all cultures and by

mentioning the usefulness of a contrapuntal approach to the issues raised. Both
colonizers and colonized peoples regenerate cultural identities based on the
effects of imperialism.