"IN 1492..." PART TWO, Bergotte [books to read as a couple TXT] 📗

The seminar group assembled in Dr Denham’s room as they had done the previous week, but this time there were three more students in attendance. All of them had talked over the topic of cultural imperialism together. In fact, there had been a heated discussion in the union bar the night before. The three newcomers had struggled to complete the prescribed reading for the course, but as mature students they were finding it hard-going to assimilate such difficult material in just one week.

“Last night we couldn’t even agree on a definition of cultural imperialism,” observed Holly.
“Well, let’s try again, now,” suggested their tutor.
“Imperialism is simply the rule of an emperor, but the concept implies much more than that,” continued Holly.
“It suggests the taking over of a country by another more powerful country….” suggested Bethany.
“… the government of which is established and maintained by force of arms,” said David.
“You three have done your homework,” Denham commented.

Tanis confessed that she had begun to rethink the whole topic. “In the case of cultural imperialism,” she said, “force is not necessary where one group of people willingly adopt the cultural practices of another group. I’ve been trying to think of another example of the kind we discussed last week, where American culture excludes the indigenous Indian culture after Columbus, and I can’t.”
“The 1549 Book of Common Prayer was imposed by law in England. It was strongly resisted by the Cornish, many of whom did not speak English. I discovered through my reading that retribution followed immediately, with the execution of twenty eight Cornishmen at Launceston Castle,” Lucy said.

This reminded Mark of something. “I seem to remember,” he said, “that Saint Augustine is often credited with bringing Christianity to Britain, but it was here much earlier and developed in its Celtic form, in Northumbria. The Roman form was imposed on Northumbria by the Synod of Whitby in 664.”

“A few of us met together at the beginning of this week,” said Mark, “because not all forceful acts are harmful, whilst the term cultural imperialism, is used pejoratively to express disapproval. We tried to think of examples where forceful acts would meet with our approval.”
“Good,” said Denham, “let’s hear them.”
“Parents might coerce their children to do something for the youngsters’ benefit,” suggested Mike.
“Compulsion is another example,” continued Tanis. “I think that John gave a compelling performance of a Brahms violin sonata, in the sense that it forced my attention on the player and the piece.”
“Law enforcement is for the good of the community, despite the fact that some people, namely the law-breakers, suffer,” cut in Martin.
“I’ve thought of an example,” interjected Bethany. “The notion of constraint suggests force but positive results might ensue. People are often told that within certain constraints they may do x, y or z.”

“I would hope to put forward a forceful argument,” said Lucy, with a smile, “challenging your assumptions and convincing you of the truth of what I am saying.”
“So, there are good and bad consequences to forceful actions,” observed Samira. “Think of a violent storm…”
They all then began to suggest examples one after the other, in rapid succession. Martin offered “…a violent argument…” Mark suggested “a violent outbreak…”
Holly thought of “a passionate kiss…” and Bethany “a raging torrent of abuse.”

“It would seem to me,” said Samira, “that some cultural practices, rubbing off or influencing others can be positive. Slaves brought their rhythms from Africa to America, which contributed to the development of jazz.”

“This is all very well,” said Mark, “but you don’t have to listen to jazz. There are other forms of music. However, in many areas of our country, and this is becoming more and more common, there is no alternative to supermarket shopping. High street shops are closing rapidly, bringing about ghost towns. What is more, the supermarkets bring with them their own cultural practices. Supermarkets cater for car-drivers, not cyclists or pedestrians.”

“This is what constitutes cultural imperialism. The 1549 Rebellion followed the passing of the Act of Uniformity, whereby all churches had to follow the same liturgical services. Proposals to translate the English Prayer Book into Cornish were suppressed and in total some 4,000 people lost their lives in the rebellion.

“We still haven’t been able to come up with a definition of cultural imperialism,” said Mark.
“That does not matter,” reflected Martin thoughtfully. “We can know what something is without being able to define it. We can’t define a game, but we recognise one when we see it.”
“I think we will leave it there,” said Dr Denham.

Publication Date: 09-07-2011

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