Editing Cultural imperialism (section)

=== Post-colonialism ===
[[Edward Saïd]] is a founding figure of postcolonialism, established with the book ''[[Orientalism (book)|Orientalism]]'' (1978), a [[Humanism|humanist]] critique of [[Age of Enlightenment|The Enlightenment]], which criticises Western knowledge of "The East"—specifically the English and the French [[Social constructionism|constructions]] of what is and what is not "Oriental".<ref>Robert Young, ''White Mythologies: Writing History and the West'', New York & London: Routledge, 1990.</ref><ref name="Orientalism">Saïd, Edward. 1978. ''Orientalism''. New York: Pantheon Books</ref> Whereby said "knowledge" then led to cultural tendencies towards a [[binary opposition]] of the Orient vs. the Occident, wherein one concept is defined in opposition to the other concept, and from which they emerge as of unequal value.<ref name="Orientalism" /> In ''[[Culture and Imperialism]]'' (1993), the sequel to ''Orientalism'', Saïd proposes that, despite the formal end of the "age of empire" after the [[World War II|Second World War]] (1939–1945), colonial imperialism left a cultural legacy to the (previously) colonised peoples, which remains in their contemporary civilisations; and that said American ''cultural imperialism'' is very influential in the international systems of [[Power (social and political)|power]].<ref>Saïd, Edward. 1993. ''[[Culture and Imperialism]]'' New York: Pantheon Books</ref>

In "Can the Subaltern Speak?" [[Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak]] critiques common representations in the West of the [[Sati (practice)|Sati]], as being controlled by authors other than the participants (specifically English colonizers and Hindu leaders). Because of this, Spivak argues that the [[subaltern (postcolonialism)|subaltern]], referring to the communities that participate in the Sati, are not able to represent themselves through their own voice. Spivak says that cultural imperialism has the power to disqualify or erase the knowledge and mode of education of certain populations that are low on the social and economic hierarchy.<ref name="speak">[http://www.maldura.unipd.it/dllags/docentianglo/materiali_oboe_lm/2581_001.pdf Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1988. "Can the Subaltern Speak"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105154619/http://www.maldura.unipd.it/dllags/docentianglo/materiali_oboe_lm/2581_001.pdf|date=5 January 2012}}</ref>

In ''A Critique of Postcolonial Reason'', Spivak argues that Western philosophy has a history of not only exclusion of the subaltern from discourse, but also does not allow them to occupy the space of a fully human subject.