Cultural Imperialism: British Changes, Research Paper Example

That the British dominance and presence in India became the source of irreversible cultural changes is a well-known fact. Under the pressure of imperialistic strivings, and being suppressed between opposing cultural challenges, India became a country dramatically different from what it had been a century earlier. Cultural imperialism in India brought in both negative and positive effects, and was a source of important cultural and social influences.  In the context of history, what Britain brought about India at the age of imperialism set the direction for the subsequent cultural development in the country. This paper will analyze the positive and negative cultural influences of Britain on India at the age of empire. The aim of the paper is to show that British Imperialism in India was the source of both positive and negative cultural shifts, and although, under British rule, India was given a unique chance to assimilate with westernized cultural traditions, it is still unclear whether the loss of the cultural uniqueness in India was justified.

It is difficult to deny that imperialism in its traditional sense is always about culture. Regardless of whether empires seek to use their subjects for economic or political purposes, these necessarily reflect in culture. India is just one of many examples of the way imperialist strivings impacted cultural visions and attitudes in dominated countries. Moreover, that paramount attention should be given to cultural imperialism is justified because “cultural traffic under modern empires has principally been hierarchical and one-directional. The interrelated spheres of language, law and religion are perhaps the most obvious and enduring manifestations of this unequal cultural exchange.”[1] As a result, in the process of the gradual shift from Indian to British governmental control in India, the country was bound to face challenges and experience changes in culture.  For the most part, the mixed cultural changes in India were caused by the need for Britain to link India to its cultural norms and to promote changes, which would make it possible for Britain to impose its cultural vision on India. Not everything India experienced under British rule was completely negative.  It would be more objective to say that in order to benefit from the cultural changes, India had to go through a period of temporary  cultural negativity.

Of course, the discussion of cultural changes in India under British influence should begin with the language. It is clear that were it not for Britain, India would have hardly assimilated itself with the anglicized culture. Prior to Britain becoming the imperial ruler of the Indian state, the latter was nothing else but a combination (or rather compilation) of numerous, geographically scattered native groups with various dialects and languages. More than 700 dialects and more than 10 minor languages were spread in India, creating a picture of diversity, but also cultural disagreement on the Indian continent.[2]  Within the caste system, which existed in India, only higher castes and educated members had an opportunity to learn English and, as a result, to access and become familiar with the cultural and economic achievements of the world.[3]  As such, India was culturally isolated from the rest of the world, having grown its own unique cultural atmosphere, and was protected from various external influences. With the emergence of the new English language culture in India, the Indian population was given a unique opportunity to educate itself and to become familiar with the prominent ideas of international thinkers.[4]  Simultaneously, the culture based on the English language became a significantly destructive force, which worked against the languages and ethnic diversity already existing in India. These cultural influences, as a result, imposed language uniformity on the native residents. In brief, Indians had to remain Indians by blood and color, but had also to become English in their tastes, intellect, and opinions.[5] At times, Indians were simply unable to maintain and preserve this unique combination of being simultaneously Indian and English, and the pendulum shifted in favor of British cultural values.

The cultural changes brought to India by Britain were not limited to language. The cultural shifts extended to cover more intimate and more traditional aspects of Indian existence like gender, marriage, and sexuality. “In early 1920s, a young British woman visiting India met the man she should subsequently marry. As the woman’s daughter later revealed, she and her companions ‘were just sitting down to dinner when he came in through the door and one of the bearers came forward to take his gun and clean it”.[6]  However, that a woman saw a man as her future husband had nothing to do with his gender of sexual dominance. On the contrary, for the first time in history, the subject of gender equity and the equality between a man and a woman became the subject of an active cultural debate. Throughout the history of India, gender equity was a matter of the major cultural concern. Widowed women did not have the right to remarry, and other female rights were increasingly limited. However, British imperialism in India resulted in the emergence of a new culture, in which not only gender equality and freedom became a standard, but in which the majority of European rights and freedoms became widely applicable and used. For examples, widows were no longer forbidden to remarry.[7] Also, freedom of speech and religious expression became the dominant features of British expansion throughout India. For the first time in their history, Indians were given an opportunity to get acquainted with the basic legal and human principles that had been developed in the western world.  For example, Indians were given the right of free association; traveling was no longer a problem; and liberalism for many Indians became the determining feature of culture.[8]

Regardless of whether one speaks about Britain or other world empires, “cultural imperialism always consists of the spread of modernity”.[9] Tomlinson writes that cultural imperialism is always cultural loss and not cultural expansion; and in his view, not a single conspirator in the history of the modern world ever tried to expand the presence and relevance of particular culture; rather, progress and technologies have always worked against the benefits and stability of national culture.[10] This, however, is not totally true when one speaks about British influence on the culture in India. Although, in general terms, British culture worked to replace native culture, and although, in many aspects, that cultural influence was suppressive, Britain, with its liberal cultural views, gave India a unique chance to restore its individuality and to preserve its cultural uniqueness to the extent where certain basic principles of British liberalism were not violated.

The first step toward restoration and subsequent preservation of Indian cultural uniqueness was reflected in the establishment of the Royal Asiatic Society in Calcutta; the latter was actually a copy of the Royal Society of Britain and was created to explore the historical and cultural past of India. The head of the Royal Asiatic Society in Calcutta made significant contributions to the study of Asian languages.[11] Also, the formal takeover of India by Britain left sufficient room for traditional religious practices and the British gave people in India an opportunity to restore and rebuild their temples as a reflection of Britain’s favorable attitudes toward local culture in India. At the same time, the new generation of monks, which appeared under British rule, was better prepared to face various cultural challenges. Not only were they more welcoming toward the British culture, but they were also well-read in Western literature; thus, they were better prepared to build and maintain productive cultural relationships with the British Empire.[12]

Despite these positive shifts, cultural imperialism in India worked to create a distinct border between the two cultures: one being British and the other being Indian in its various manifestations. “The West culturally dominated the Orient by creating an artificial cultural vision of the latter as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience; Western imperialism and Third World nationalism feed off each other, but even at their worst they are neither monolithic nor deterministic”.[13] As such, the changes which Britain brought to India were neither completely positive nor totally negative. On the one hand, the population in India was not fully open to cultural changes, which Britain initiated in order to bring India closer to cultural needs. On the other hand, there was and there is still a great difference between traditions in England and India. Even after India became independent from Britain, the British cultural influence was still powerful and even violent. Although British domination opened the gateway for the Indian integration with other world cultures, and although the introduction of the English language and liberal principles gave Indian a unique opportunity to become a culturally progressive country, this progress was not without problems and losses.  For the most part, India had to sacrifice its uniqueness to assimilate with the British traditions, which were transformative and innovative. However, are there any achievements without losses? History does not know such examples.

British imperialism caused irreversible cultural changes in India. The changes which Britain brought to India reflected in the introduction of the English language and the eradication of long-standing language diversity within the country. The development and establishment of Western principles of liberalism and freedom was another distinctive feature of the British cultural influence on India. British imperialism was a form of cultural intervention and did result in the destruction of Indian authenticity. No matter how beneficial and positive the cultural changes were, they had been aimed to fit the preferences and the principles of the English population. It is difficult to deny that liberalization and the introduction of westernized cultural principles laid the foundation for subsequent progressive growth of India, for some today it is still difficult to evaluate whether the cultural losses, which India experienced under Britain, were necessary and justified.

Endnotes

[1] Alejandro Colas, Empire, (Cambridge: Polity, 2007), p. 150.

[2] Alejandro Colas, Empire, (Cambridge: Polity, 2007), p. 144.

[3] Alejandro Colas, Empire, (Cambridge: Polity, 2007), p. 145.

[4] Alejandro Colas, Empire, (Cambridge: Polity, 2007), p. 146.

[5] Alejandro Colas, Empire, (Cambridge: Polity, 2007), p. 147.

[6] Mary A. Procida, “Good sports and right sorts: Guns, gender, and imperialism in British India”, The Journal of British Studies 40, no. 4 (2001): 454.

[7] Alejandro Colas, Empire, (Cambridge: Polity, 2007), p. 170.

[8] Bernd Hamm, & Russell C. Smandych, Cultural Imperialism: Essays on the Political Economy of Cultural Domination, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), p. 19.

[9] John Tomlinson, Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction, (New York: ACLS History, 2008), p. 84.

[10] John Tomlinson, Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction, (New York: ACLS History, 2008), p. 84.

[11] Bernd Hamm, & Russell C. Smandych, Cultural Imperialism: Essays on the Political Economy of Cultural Domination, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), p. 41.

[12] Bernd Hamm, & Russell C. Smandych, Cultural Imperialism: Essays on the Political Economy of Cultural Domination, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), p. 42.

[13] John Tomlinson, Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction, (New York: ACLS History, 2008), p. 101.

Bibliography

Colas, A. Empire. Cambridge: Polity, 2007.

Hamm, B. & Smandych, R.C. Cultural Imperialism: Essays on the Political Economy of Cultural Domination. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005.

Tomlinson, J. Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction. New York: ACLS History, 2008.

Procida, M.A. “Good sports and right sorts: Guns, gender, and imperialism in British India.” The Journal of British Studies 40, no. 4 (2001): 454-488.