Cultural Imperialism Research Articles

‘Wundt's work is merely an incident in one of the challenging scholarly careers on recent history’: The media and academic reception of Völkerpsychologie, 1900–1920

Wundt's Völkerpsychologie (VP) is an exceptional case in the history of psychology. Outlined in 1863 in the second volume of Vorlesungen über Menschen- und Thierseele (Lectures on the Human and Animal Soul), VP was finally published 37 years later in 10 volumes during the last 20 years of the author's life. The work was characterized by an ambitious program of multimethod and transdisciplinary research. This article explores the intellectual and contextual reasons for the early successes and failures of VP. We analyzed n = 264 articles published in the German press and n = 220 books, reviews, and articles published in scientific journals that explicitly cited the 10 volumes between 1900 and 1920. VP received considerable criticism from linguists and philologists, who claimed that its results were of little practical use for their research. The first volumes of VP were criticized for their abstract character and psychological indifferentism; on the other hand, positive reviews emphasized their attempt to systematize and give a philosophical order to the individual investigations of philology, linguistics, comparative history, religious studies, and so on. The normative-methodological role that VP tried to play in relation to the other historical sciences was significantly criticized, and this was a determining factor in its diminishing impact over time. Some of Wundt's hypotheses were philosophically at odds with the project of German cultural imperialism that was being developed at the time and with which most of his intellectual enemies agreed.

The Evolution of Advertising in Nigeria: Promoting Local Content for Sustainable Development

The complex relationship between advertising and local content promotion in Nigeria is one of the huge challenges to sustainable development. Cultural oversimplification, misrepresentation, and dominance of the West do significant damage to the representation of Nigerian culture authentically in the practice of advertising. This paper, therefore, reviews this relationship by incorporating historical evolution, and technological, cultural, and regulatory dynamics. The qualitative research design followed in this study generated primary data through the use of in-depth interviews conducted on key players in the Nigerian advertising industry. The primary data collected underwent a thematic analysis, while the historical analysis was supported by multiple sources, including historical records, publications from the industry itself, and scholarly literature. This research shall, therefore, be located within the understanding of the Cultural Imperialism Theory and the Development Media Theory as a lens to critically analyse the complexity of representations of local content in advertising. The results showed that there were positive and negative perceptions toward the integration of local content in Nigerian advertisements, as most consumers appreciate culturally authentic content. It identifies challenges and also shows how to use opportunities: bridging Nigeria's multicultural identity and digital platforms for sustainable development. This research underlines the need for a balance between global advertising practices and the local cultural nuances of impactful, sensitive campaigns that shall help lead the course of sustainable development and preserve the rich cultural heritage of this great nation.

Cultural imperialism of the Korean Wave and its impact on Thai society

As the Korean Wave in Thailand continues to gain sensational popularity, along with the development of the Korean Wave, the negative influence of the Korean Wave in Thailand has also been highlighted. The beauty of Korean-style whitening provides a new symbol of beauty in Thailand, and the desire to unconsciously imitate Korean beauty can be said to have political implications that go beyond simply personal desires and superficial issues. This research analyzes how the whitewashing of K-pop as a cultural imperialist element of the Korean Wave is affecting Thai society. Specifically, in-depth interviews were conducted with Thai Korean Wave fans who envy K-pop idols. Based on the interview results, it analyzed Thai beauty standards and perceptions of whitewashing that have become typical through K-pop and the political meaning of the stereotypical beauty standard of “white skin” and its influence on Thai society.

The UK Prevent Strategy’s ‘fundamental British values’: a qualitative systematic review of perspectives from the education sector

The education sector is a key point of implementation for the UK Prevent Strategy, particularly with the introduction of the Prevent duty, which makes the promotion of ‘fundamental British values’ mandatory for educational practitioners. This article aims to explain the views and experiences that those within the education sector have of fundamental British values. A systematic search of four bibliographic databases and existing systematic reviews was conducted, yielding 26 studies which were included in the synthesis. The findings of the meta-ethnography yielded five third-order constructs: (1) cultural imperialism; (2) bifurcated Britishness; (3) assimilation versus pluralism; (4) educator agency; and (5) depoliticising Prevent. These culminated in a line-of-argument synthesis, which suggests that the mandatory requirement to promote fundamental British values can have a restrictive effect on the pedagogical practice of educational practitioners. It also alludes to ethnic minority practitioners as being more affected than their White counterparts. This review revealed evidence that is overwhelmingly England-centric. Research on the implementation of fundamental British values in the Scottish and Welsh educational contexts could be a valuable addition.

Paul and Imperial Cults at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth

Paul and Imperial Cults at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth

Critique of Colonialism and Cultural Imperialism in Selected Poems of Tanveer Anjum from Nai Zaban Kay Huroof Alphabet of a New Language

Postcolonial complexity of thought is an integral discourse in Pakistani writers’ works. Tanveer Anjum is a contemporary Pakistani Urdu poetess and her poetry is perceptive of personal, social and political concerns of modern times. In a postcolonial country, the colonial past is never detached from the common consciousness and the unending imperialism and post war traumas are part of its subjects’ collective memories. Five poems are selected from her recent collection of Urdu poetry, Nai Zaban kay Huroof (Alphabet of a New Language) for the postcolonial analysis. The poems are: ‘Interview’, ‘There Was a Village’, ‘The Last Nail’, ‘Sister Caroline’s Dappled Cats’ and ‘Like Sunbeams’. The research is qualitative in nature and the theories of Edward Said and Homi K. Bhabha are used for the textual analysis of the selected poems. The analysis reveals a parallel structure of thoughts in her poems which at one side endorses the need of cultural resistance and on the other, calls for a negotiation, which further affirms the complexities of postcolonial thought process.

Decolonizing AI: Implementing Humanitarian Artificial Intelligence

In this article, we critically examine the implementation of what Carlos Montemayor calls Humanitarian Artificial Intelligence from a decolonizing perspective. We highlight the dichotomy of optimism and fear surrounding AI, elucidating its potential to address fundamental human problems and the risks of monopolistic control. We critique Montemayor’s proposal to align AI with a human rights framework, arguing that it insufficiently addresses global inequalities. Our tripartite analysis focuses on the distribution of AI resources, language inclusion, and content diversity to ensure AI benefits all humanity. We emphasize the need for equitable access to AI, linguistic diversity in AI training data, and the preservation of marginalized epistemologies. We advocate for strategies to mitigate environmental impacts and avoid cultural imperialism disguised as altruism, calling for a balanced approach between private sector innovation and state regulation to foster a truly humanitarian AI.

A son of Souffles ? Abdellah Taïa and the poetics of illiteracy in Vivre à ta lumière

In 1966, ten years after Morocco gained independence from French colonial rule, a group of decolonial writers founded the journal Souffles (1966–1972). Its mission was to deconstruct the suffocating binaries, concepts, and essentialisms that trapped Morocco in an enduring French cultural imperialism or hermetic cultural atavism. In this article, I draw a critical genealogy between leading Moroccan anti-imperial thinkers including Abdellatif Laâbi, Abdelkébir Khatibi, Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine, and Abdellah Taïa’s latest novel Vivre à ta lumière (2022). Just as the Souffles generation exposed the politics of illiteracy that had cemented the conditions of oppression during the Protectorate and its violent aftermath under the reign of Hassan II, so I argue that Taïa inhabits his mother’s illiterate tongue in the novel as a decolonial language that refuses to make itself legible to monologic forms of European, or Moroccan neocolonial, intellectualism. Attentive to the metatextual tropes of language, words, letters, scripts, and even envelopes as spaces in which Taïa reworks hegemonic colonial and absolutist narratives, I explore the poetic potential of illiteracy not as a cultural lack, relegated to silence in Morocco’s post-independence struggle for national sovereignty, but as a potent instrument of postcolonial literary critique.

Schoenberg as Strauss

This article examines and contextualizes Arnold Schoenberg’s arrangements of waltzes by Johann Strauss, arguing that they demonstrate how Schoenberg’s music, while radically modern, was at the same time profoundly shaped by nostalgia. This particular type of nostalgia—not simply a longing for a lost past, but rather an act of remembering that is imperfect, a dialectical process that looks backwards even as it participates in constructions of the self that are oriented towards the future—underwrites Schoenberg’s engagement with the past and anxiety about the future. His waltz arrangements, celebrating the pinnacle of Viennese imperial culture, are contemporary with his foray in dodecaphony, and as such curiously anachronistic. But, as I argue here, considering Schoenberg as a nostalgic—via the work of cultural theorists like Svetlana Boym—opens the door to some possible different narratives for music history. Schoenberg’s legacy of “crisis and progress” can thus be challenged, and something like Boym’s “third way” of modernism, with its “lateral possibilities,” can emerge.

Hallyu Beyond the Age of American Cultural Imperialism: Counter Cultural Flows and Cultural Diplomacy

Hallyu Beyond the Age of American Cultural Imperialism: Counter Cultural Flows and Cultural Diplomacy

Ambivalent Utopias: Corporate Biopower and the Gendered Limits of Agency in Reset

Abstract This article examines Reset (逆时营救, 2017), a Chinese science fiction film that diverges from the genre’s typical patriotic themes. Reset offers a compelling case study for exploring technoscience’s impact – as a tool of corporate biopower and neocolonialism – on human corporeality, subjectivity, and female agency. The film’s protagonist, Xia Tian, transforms from a career-focused scientist to time-traveling cyborgs, ultimately reverting to a traditional maternal role. Analyzing this trajectory through Foucault’s biopower, Haraway’s cyborg feminism, and contemporary theories on reproductive futurism and sacrificial motherhood, the study unveils Reset’s function as an allegorical lens. It magnifies the effects of global corporate biopower on human subjectivity, particularly female agency amid apocalyptic upheavals. Xia Tian’s journey illustrates the complexities professional women face in balancing career and family, reflecting broader societal issues and mirroring Chinese cultural imperatives that simultaneously valorize motherhood and women’s workforce participation. Reset performs a double movement: introducing alternative forms of womanhood via cyborg iterations while framing these as incompatible with the envisaged societal future. This paradox highlights the film’s ambiguous stance, critiquing neocolonial capitalism’s manipulation of human bodies while exhibiting a conservative approach to gender roles.

“Anything Too Black Nuh Good:” Contouring the Everyday and Extraordinary Anti-Black Racism of Contemporary Jamaica

If asked, many Jamaicans will adamantly state that the country does not have a race problem; rather, it (openly) has a class problem. This series of "meditations on race" explore the tensions of living, loving, and dying in a "paradise" tenebrously held together by the country's motto "Out of Many One People." The excursion starts at the feet of an Indian grandmother, the counterpoint against which the writer’s earliest understandings of her own Blackness were formed. Along the way, it onboards and unpacks the experiences of the BlackPoor, the BlackQueer, the BlackWoman, the BlackChild, and Jamaica’s mostly Black diaspora, to grapple with the complex and far-reaching anti-Black reality of colonial and contemporary Jamaica. What does it mean when Black death is so normalized that it redefines grief and an entire genre of music? What decisions must be taken by people living in the chokehold of racism and cultural imperialism, as a matter of survival? And how do even the most intimate aspects of human existence deflate and reform under the pressure of persistent poverty, supported and exploited by the “Global North”? Through prose-like and poetic explorations of the every-day and extraordinary experiences of Black Jamaicans, this piece unsettles the easy equivocation of a majority Black population with a Black-accepting nation. It shifts the façade of "paradise" to explore the depth of its colonial roots. And it amplifies the breathless, relentless question of "should I stay or should I go?" that has haunted the writer and many like her for decades.

Cultural Imperatives on Indigenous Kinship Care among the Poumai Naga Tribe in Manipur, India

The increasing scale of human suffering in the world caused by disasters, wars, violence, conflicts, old age problems and other physical ailments has led to a high demand for care providers. Similarly, the demand for care providers in India is no different and arises from poverty, violence, communal riots, ethnic conflicts, development-induced displacements or climate change disasters. The problem of care has penetrated even into the domain of the private life of the family. Social practices associated with caring are highly valued in the sociocultural milieu. It is a new way of thinking about care that can be incorporated into the conception of social pedagogy. This study highlights the absence of intimate parental care due to many sociopolitical circumstances, which creates a vacuum in fostering early childhood care. The objectives were to determine the dilemmas faced by care providers in the limited resources division between their own and their kin’s child and the invisible social stigma associated with the tag of orphans. Kinship care practices among the indigenous Poumai Naga tribe involve alternative relational care to institutional care for children. The descriptive research design involved in-depth interviews with the elders, care receivers and care providers in the community. The article concludes that relational bonds, rather than obligatory senses, are the guiding factor for keeping children with them despite hardships and natural allure of sending them to institutional care.

Identity and cultural expression in Nigerian hip hop

This paper explores the profound influence of vernacular language on the construction of identity and ideology within Nigerian hip hop music. By analyzing the lyrics of prominent Nigerian hip hop artists, the study highlights how artists like Olamide, 9ice, and Tuface utilize Nigerian Pidgin and local dialects such as Yoruba to forge a distinct cultural and national identity. These artists not only celebrate their linguistic heritage but also leverage it as a form of resistance against linguistic and cultural imperialism, promoting a nationalist ideology that resonates deeply with their local audience. The paper argues that the incorporation of vernacular language in Nigerian hip hop goes beyond mere artistic choice; it serves as a critical tool for social and political commentary. This linguistic strategy enables artists to address and critique socio-economic inequalities and political issues, making hip hop a voice for the marginalized. Moreover, the study sheds light on how the use of local dialects and pidgin enhances the accessibility and relatability of the music, thereby strengthening the bond between artists and their audiences. This exploration into the intersection of language, identity, and ideology in Nigerian hip hop not only enriches our understanding of the genre's cultural significance but also underscores the dynamic role of language in shaping artistic and social landscapes. The paper contributes to broader discourses on language policy, cultural expression, and identity politics within the global context of hip hop.

Gladiators and amphitheatre spectacles in the greek cities of the Pontus Euxinus

Abstract tradus Our study proposes to discuss several aspects related to the gladiators attested in the Greek cities of the Pontus Euxinus (Chersones, Histria, Tomis, Callatis, Dionysopolis, Odessos, Byzantion, Sinope, Amisos), such as the names, social status and mentality of these amphitheatre fighters. Our analysis also focuses on the equipment and weapons of the gladiators, their fighting techniques and the various aspects of the organisation of gladiatorial combat. Our research is based on the study of epigraphic and archaeological documents (bas-reliefs). Inscriptions and reliefs attest several types of gladiators, such as retiarius, secutor, scissor, provocator and bestiarius. The names of the gladiators reflect their winning qualities and their physical or moral qualities. Most gladiators were slaves or free men. Documents from Tomis from the 2nd-3rd centuries AD confirm that gladiatorial fights and beast hunts in the amphitheatre are closely linked to the imperial cult. At Tomis, Odessos, Sinope and Amisos, the organisers of these spectacles were at the same time pontarchs and high priests of the imperial cult. Gladiator fights took place in amphitheatres (at Tomis) and other specially designed venues such as theatres (at Odessos). Nemesis and Ares are the patron deities of gladiators.

Implications of Social Media Usage on Jukun Culture: A Multidisplinary Approach

The intrusive impact of social media has revolutionised communication globally, thereby altering the status quo in virtually every aspect of life in the society. This is manifestly seen in the influence social media exerts on indigenous cultures in most especially developing countries like Nigeria. Jukun culture which is a rich traditional culture from Taraba State, Nigeria is not spared from this unfortunate reality. This study therefore, ascertains the implications of social media usage on Jukun culture from a multidisplinary point of view. Specifically, the study unravels the socio-cultural perspectives of social media usage on Aku-uka’s transitional rites; examines the perceptions of Jukun stakeholders on the implications of social media usage on Jukun traditional rites and proffers possible ways of integrating social media for promotion and transmission of Jukun culture. Anchored on cultural imperialism theory, the study adopts indepth interview to elicit relevant data from Jukun stakeholders on the implications of social media usage on Jukun culture. Among other things, the study found out that the use of social media breaches some aspects of Jukun culture and that certain foreign practices are also being introduced. The study recommends that indigenous pages and accounts should be created on different social media handles for the preservation and propagation of culture in its original form. Conclusively, social media usage has a double-edged impact on Jukun culture with the negative impact competing side-by-side with the positive impact.

Full Metal Kuleshov Effect

“Full Metal Kuleshov Effect” interrogates “Full Metal Jacket” with a particular emphasis on the problematics of its neo-colonial gaze, racism, sexism, and cultural Imperialism, by counterposing the works of Santiago Alvarez (Cuba) and Hai Ninh (Vietnam).

Is Monogamy Part of ‘Who We Are’? Romantic Norms, Defensiveness, and Collective Identity

AbstractI discuss a certain kind of emotionally charged negative reaction to defences of non-monogamous love, which I call collective-identity reactions. Expanding on work by Audrey Yap and Jonathan Ichikawa, who consider defensive reactions grounded in individual identity, I argue that collective-identity reactions are characteristically associated with claims about who we are, and motivated by a sense that the relevant we is in some way under threat. Looking into which we might be threatened by defences of non-monogamy, and why, reveals that this apparently personal subject matter is in fact entangled with global political issues like capitalism and American cultural imperialism. I conclude with some thoughts about ameliorative strategies for situations structurally similar to this one.

한중 대중문화의 기능적 담론 비교 연구

The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning of popular culture in Korea and China, and to analyze and compare the pure and dysfunctions of popular culture in the two countries. In China since its transition into the market economy by the reform and opening, its people have become well-off and had more desire to enjoy culture. Under these circumstances pop culture played affirmative roles such as relieving economical and mental stress, educating people and forming civic society. On the other hand, because of cultural imperialism, cultural values and a way of thinking from the West have influenced upon Chinese pop culture and collapsed its traditional spiritual culture, causing the crisis of Chinese humanism. In Korea, the positive aspects of its pop culture are as follows: the Korean pop culture not only serves as a way to express oneself and relieve mental stress but also produces economical profit. However likewise the Chinese case, South Korea is confronted by the crisis of the humanities, traditional art and folk culture. Studying these diverse functions of the two nations’ pop cultures, I could understand the two cultures and seek plans to achieve mutual development gradually through the two countries’ cultural interchanges.

The YWCA of the USA ‘In Service for the Girls of the World’, 1947–1985

Before mid-century, the Young Women's Christian Association of the USA (Y-US) was complicit with global northern imperial projects, as its work with women across national borders was characterised by an ethos of ‘imperial maternalism’. Applying Serene Khader's (2019) analysis of imperialism in global northern feminisms shows that Y-US's approach to ‘overseas’ work was ‘missionary’ in its use and promotion of ‘western’ values and strategies. Although Y-US inevitably worked within ‘asymmetrical power relations’ (Grewal & Kaplan, 2000, para.4), in the 1970s its approach shifted as it began to recognise these imbalances. By the 1980s, Y-US's ‘global’ programmes sought out women's context-specific knowledge to identify and critique structural inequalities and US imperialism, characteristic of ‘transnational feminist’ ethic. The contribution of Y-US to the YWCA movement was more complex, and positive, than a perpetuation of cultural imperialism. In its national policy and project planning and evaluations, Y-US continued until the 1980s to apply mixture of missionary and transnational feminist lenses to understand its role and responsibilities as a member of the worldwide YWCA movement, and to grapple with the implications of US power on the world stage.