DISCOURSES OF IMPERIALISM
CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE MAINTENANCE OF
BRITISH IMPERIAL HEGEMONY
OFTEN USED, RARELY
UNDERSTOOD: HEGEMONY
• TERM HAS ITS ROOTS IN CLASSICAL GREECE – SPARTA AS
HEGEMON OF PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE
• IN THE 19TH C., DENOTED THE IMPOSITION OF IMPERIAL
POWER ON A NATION/PEOPLE WHO WERE FORCED TO ACT
AGAINST THEIR OWN INTERESTS
• IN EARLY 20TH C., GRAMSCI ASSOCIATED HEGEMONY
WITH
CULTURAL DOMINANCE SPREAD THROUGH CERTAIN MEANS:
• LANGUAGE
• BUREAUCRACIES
• MASS MEDIA
• INDIRECT CONTROL
• KEY IS ESTABLISHING A NEW CULTURAL STATUS QUO WHICH
MAKES REVOLUTION OR DISSENT INTELLECTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE
Antonio Gramsci (d. 1937), an
Italian Marxist imprisoned for his
political views.
WHY IS THIS TERM IMPORTANT?
• IN GRAMSCI’S SENSE, HEGEMONY
ANSWERED THE MOST PRESSING QUESTIONS OF HIS TIME:
• WHY DOESN’T THE PROLETARIAT RISE UP AGAINST ITS CAPITALIST OVERLORDS?
•
ANSWER: THE AMERICAN DREAM AND OTHER FANTASIES
• WHY DON’T THE PEOPLE OPPOSE THE RISE OF FASCIST REGIMES?
•
ANSWER: THE AGGRESSIVE FANTASY OF NATIONAL AND RACIAL SUPERIORITY
• ALTHOUGH GRAMSCI DIDN’T HAVE MUCH TO SAY ABOUT IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM,
PEOPLE LIKE SAID COULD REALLY WORK WITH THIS
• SO, WHY DON’T COLONIAL SUBJECTS RISE UP AGAINST THEIR MASTERS?
•
ANSWER: BECAUSE THEY’VE INTERNALIZED THE CULTURAL VALUES OF THE HEGEMON
CREATING AND MAINTAINING HEGEMONY:
WHAT IS CIVIL SOCIETY?
• THE AGGREGATE OF INSTITUTIONS
AND SITES FOR PUBLIC SPEECH AND ACTION THAT EXIST OUTSIDE
OF THE FRAMEWORK OF THE GOVERNMENT
• THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN
THE STATE AND THE PRIVATE SPHERE OF INDIVIDUALS’ AND FAMILIES’ LIVES
• INITIALLY CONCEIVED OF AS PRIMARILY ECONOMIC – ALL ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT
OF
CAPITALISM
• BUT IT EXPANDED (AFTER
MARX) TO INCORPORATE ALL OF THE FORMS OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE THAT
PEOPLE COULD PARTICIPATE IN OUTSIDE OF OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT
• THE MEDIA
• THE CHURCHES
• UNIVERSITIES
• VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS
• FOR GRAMSCI, CIVIL SOCIETY WAS BOTH THE PRIMARY VEHICLE FOR PROPAGATING HEGEMONY
AN THE POTENTIAL SITE OF ITS DISMANTLING
THE TWIN FACES OF HEGEMONY – MAINTAINING
SUPPORT AT HOME
• EDUCATION
• SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES
• TYLOR, FRAZER, AND THE RISE OF BRITISH ANTHROPOLOGY
• MASS MEDIA
• SERIALIZED STORIES AND NOVELS
• NEWSPAPER STORIES AND EDITORIALS
• RITUALS AND THEIR RE-PRESENTATION
• VOLUNTARY
ORGANIZATIONS
• LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY AND CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY
• ROYAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
• A PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC LINGUA FRANCA? THE FALLOUT FROM DARWIN
QUEEN VICTORIA’S JUBILEES: THE CELEBRATION OF EMPIRE
• IN BOTH 1887 AND 1897, QUEEN
VICTORIA CELEBRATED HER JUBILEE
ANNIVERSARIES
•
CELEBRATIONS INCLUDED RULERS OF
BRITISH COLONIES, ALLIED INDIAN AND
AFRICAN LEADERS, AND COLONIAL
TROOPS
• JUNE 22, 1897: HOLIDAY THROUGHOUT
EMPIRE CELEBRATED WITH BONFIRES
•
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN AS M.C.
– “IT IS
THE DUTY OF THE LANDLORD TO IMPROVE
HIS ESTATE”
THE SECOND FACE OF IMPERIALISM: CREATING
AND COOPTING COLONIAL ELITES
• THE POPULAR PRESS, SIMULTANEITY, AND THE CREATION OF AN IMPERIAL “IMAGINED
COMMUNITY”
• CONVERSION AS A CULTURAL (AS WELL
• MILITARY SERVICE AS A ROUTE
•
AS RELIGIOUS) TRANSFORMATION
TO GREATER STATUS (E.G.
THE EXPANSION OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AND
1 MILLION INDIANS SERVED IN WWI)
ENGLISH FLUENCY
• COMPLICATED ROLE OF MISSIONARIES
• BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND THE “EMPIRE OF SCHOLARS”
• SUBSEQUENT CREATION OF SIMILAR UNIVERSITIES IN THE COLONIES
VISUALIZING THE
IMAGINED
COMMUNITY
LET’S MAKE SURE THAT WE DON’T FORGET…
• RACE MATTERED: IT WAS
THE PREDOMINANTLY WHITE SETTLER COLONIES THAT GAINED THE
GREATEST ACCESS TO THE WIDER RESOURCES OF EMPIRE
• THE CREATION OF ELITE COLONIAL POPULATIONS WAS ABOUT COOPTATION AND THE
PRACTICAL NECESSITIES OF EMPIRE – EQUALITY WAS NEVER ON THE TABLE
• WE
ALSO CAN’T FORGET THAT THE DESIRE TO ESTABLISH HEGEMONIC AUTHORITY WAS
SUBORDINATE TO THE NEED TO EXERCISE IMPERIAL POWER
• BUT, WE
ALSO SHOULDN’T TOTALIZE THE BRITISH AND THEIR IMPERIAL ASPIRATIONS
– THERE
WERE ALSO VOICES OF OPPOSITION AT HOME AND ABROAD WHO RESISTED BRITISH
HEGEMONY
CIRCLING BACK TO SAID (VIA AIJAZ AHMAD)
• SAID’S ACHIEVEMENTS:
• ECLECTICISM AND ELOQUENCE
• THE TRIUMPH OF PERSONAL POLITICS AND MOVING BEYOND MARX
• ORIENTALISM AS DISCOURSE
• POSITS CONTINUITY FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD TO THE PRESENT (HIGH HUMANISM), BUT…
• SEES SOMETHING CHANGING CIRCA 1800 – IMPERIALISM AND ENLIGHTENMENT
• THE PROBLEM OF ESSENTIALIZING – SAID DOES TO THE WEST, WHAT THE WEST
HAD DONE TO
THE EAST
• THE ABSENCE OF NATIVE/COLONIAL/SUBALTERN
VOICES
• CREATION OF, AND OBSESSION WITH, A CANON OF CLASSIC AUTHORS
• PRIVILEGING ORIENTALIST STYLE OVER IMPERIAL POWER
FROM OTHER FORMS OF DISCOURSE
MASKS WHAT SEPARATES ORIENTALISM
SO, WHAT CHARACTERISTICS OF “ESSENTIAL” EUROPE
MIGHT WE IDENTIFY AS THEY DEVELOPED THROUGH
CONTACT AND CONFLICT WITH NON-WESTERN
SOCIETIES?