One area where colonial impact was the most profound was - cultural sphere. Our education system, our dressing, our architecture, our sports - all gave way for a new cultural system. Not only in India, it happened across the world. It is also termed as 'cultural universalization/homogenization' by some who see it as an inevitable cultural evolutionary process. Some countries like China and Japan preserved some aspects - like their languages which others couldn't -but they also gave away to a lifestyle which is primarily Western. English (and other European languages) became colloquial languages in their colonies to a large extent. This is also termed as 'cultural hegemony' by many socio-political analysts, while others don't have such an adverse view. Some form of cultural exchange is inevitable in a globalized world, but it is problematic if it is skewed. When some ideas dominate over others, there can be cultural backlashes as well. Recent instances of call to glorious pasts and rise of fundamentalists are cases in point.
But Sir, these struggles against the invasive culture are not recent events. These have been happening in every society whenever there is an attack by foreign culture on the indigenous culture. Some societies succeeded in preserving their some basic tenets of culture while some others totally got subsumed into the invasive culture. India is one of the example. India has been in a state of continuous cultural war for a long long time even before the colonial times. Do you agree sir?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Satnam
Hi Satnam,
DeleteYes I agree with you. It happens all the time and everywhere as some dominant values overshadow the others. During colonial rule it became even more apparent as the rule was at a global scale.