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    by Kennet Coutts-Smith

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    164 views23 pages

    Some General Observations On The Problem of Cultural Colonialism

    Uploaded by

    dschwabe
    by Kennet Coutts-Smith

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    ‘SHU GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROBL CULTURAL COLONTAL ISM. by Kenneth Con: A Paper offered as 2 contritution to 12 dabete of the Congress of A.T.C. he held in Liston, Septesber 1278. Treditionelly, hletoriens of culture in general and ert-critics in perticuler heve tended to bese their enelyses and their theoretical pletforms upon the essumotion thet ert somehow reoresents the eatodinent or the coneretizetion of basic velues end fundsnentel truths thet exist somerhere outside of history, beyond sociel mutation, axtornel to peliticc! ené econonts reslity. ‘The complex of idees thet is clusterec sround the inter-related notions of the essentiel. lity of art, the cublimity of the restive expentence end the presion of gonius, hee served ae + central hemus in the vest mejority of thinking concerning nesters of aesthett siace the inception of thet area of incuiry se 2 specific cioline com to the orecent point in time. Tho validity of this position is, hpvever, currently being severely cuestioneds though fron the grest mjority of publiched ert-eriticion in epecialist books, in art journals and in eatelorue prefaces, not seen that our dieeipline hes yet begun to take mich note of 2 najor shift in focus thet te now securing in the broad spectrum of world cultare, ‘ths procont cansentetor hingel! is no longer able to accept the ides of the extre- hictoriedty of ert end the notion thet ertictle events take place in sone namer in & continuus thet ie 2iv0 4 fron cociel end polities) dymamice, It slso epnears evitent to His thet shen (in the vist acjority of inctancos) me epesk of » vorlé-nide high" calture, « eignificent part of which ie foraed by the whole spectrum of the Fine Arte, we ere ectuelly speeking of » tradition thet 1s lergely restricted to the European cultaral experience. Evon 2 cursory glence st recent issues of the various “international” art Journals, or xt miseun end major—exhibition catelogues, whether they enenete from furope, frou North Anerice, Latin Anerice, Soviet Fussie, Indie, Jepen or wherever, reveels © honogeneity of thought vhieh fails utterly to cuestion the Eurocentricity of most contenporery art-criticel assumptions. ‘The tro phenonena, the notion of the extrahtstorteity of art end the Rurocentric bial of cur thinking on calture, ere not merely in ¢ cleer reciprocal relationship but would to be mitueLly dependant one upon the other. In the present. writer's oninion, ‘ney would also eppear to be centrel especte of e total attitude torards ert which cannot, in cleer honesty, be defined es enything Less than Culturel Colonielisa. The stated these of this present Congress is Bodern Art and Nogroeafricen art, Reclprocel Relations, Such subject obviously presupposes an exeminstion of the reletionship Detween Arricen cultare in teras of its nationél anc repionel heritege end ite present manifestations on the one hend end the htstorieelly-defined egirice of uropesn culture on the other. incuiry cannot possibly avoid the issue of Cultural Colontalisn, end the fo! oxine observations offered in the hope thet they may be found to be of sone velue in this debete. ‘These observations, however, cen only serve at this point in tine as & sketch outlining ‘tne oroblen in brosd strokes and thus ettenpt to define the gonersl areas in which research and anslycis is indiceted. Thic epec{fie inquiry is currently of m extrenely pressing nature for obvious moral se yell ee histories] rascones but the scope of the euection 1s very ride and far-re: ‘ing, penetrating, as it does, into every corner end crevice of our caltursl superstructure, into every essumption and belief thet nelps to suport our identity end self-esteen, into every facet ent asoect of life thet re regerd as justifying our individasl roles ond ectivities. In the broadest sense, whet ve regerd genersily es culture snd spectficelly ss art ts ‘the continuslly auteting end-nroduct of @ orocess thet 1s basicelly aythte in nature, ‘bet 1s to say, # orocess in which beliefs end assumptions gain substance, become yelldeted. But the dyneates of culture do not only lead in this vey tonards the fluid isentifleetion of 2 collective Identity rithin # society, they elso tend towerés the freezing of concents supportive to the interests of » doninsnt minority within thet society,’ [dees which are et First the orofucts of historicel necessity ere tms treneforned into cheolutes thet re cited in justificstion of sttenpte to srrest the historicel pracese, ta maintein the stetas-quo. ‘The nocd to oxemine our orecent culture] cscunptione in the lleht of the above contention esnnot be emphesised stronzly enough. It vould seem thet in the precent majority view, here is erdly # single feeet of thet conslex structure which re refer to ce "hight calture thet {2 understood to rentin conditionel upon historic necessity; rather, the hole cultural cuperetracture eposere to be anerslly regarded ee constituting « Loted eyster obedient orly to the exigencies of Nert-histors" - © 2ifferent nstter cltogather. The dLecipline of ert-history hee never, until now (excepting in the vork of ieoleted incividusle reserded, inetitutionally, es tengentisl) been required to mubsit iteol? to the historleal rigoure of socisd ené politicel fect, but hes been nourdcied in the retephrsicel speculstions in on poetic incight a inception in the Lete Renciccance, ultinstely Little sore then © tion of mythe ineseepebly engendere¢ ty the trin concepte y of the erertive process [which logicelly cefiner ert lence Locete® in the soherdo? the idee rather than the cetuel) en? the centre! tyle (which pregiertes the ceousntisl develoenent of an art vhose centri] subject= trictec to ite confrantetion with previous ert rether then vith reel g piece in hietory). The notion of the extr Artertoity of ert Le, however, clocrly « felee one ~ not even, but gepecteldy - in torme of the clece who do not only deferd this ier, but 4 rho heve cleo reieod it te on ideological imperctive, The bourgeoie ineLetence upon eclict neture of the whcle crestive process cen te seen to serve, on the one ictifyine the viow held by thet clace thet ite underetending of the ‘Curlistic, conpetet!tive end eccuisitive nstune of am ie not s clesevier but elute tunen condition, end, on the other hené, to obseare the elzost totel apopogriction of "high" culture ce both the orivete crocerty end precerve of © orivileged eroup md es the epirituel vinélestion ef their continuing economic end poli tiee! nine tion. n rritten © of cultured inctitel one to hosed thet it vill be here ec-epte? thet the poccession of « broed culture end © Mberel-tunenist ecucetion ts not merely the priviléze 02 the bours fe at thet it else comprises the ctructure of the code eienale ty vhich indivicusl montere of the ise exch other ond consoligete their own privete ldentitier. The ‘erence ené ecculsi tion of cultural oroverty teke olece ch the tren: such © renner es to gerpetuete exicting clees priviliges end to reetrict the entree of ext cleee individucle to those whoce otetue Se coneidered in tec of thet ie to eey, ec cendidetes for indoctrinetion into the ht be cteted thet it is not cur pargose here to concider the etill-extetingy oh 90: ‘bly erodine, bourgeois cless-cominence other then vhere clees hezenany releter to ooloniclict e:: vunotions, But, this flnelly rould be @ aeeningless stetement inee it not > ible to ceperete either, hictoricelly, the develoorent of bourgeeis conccioumess from the developuent of colonielism, or, socielly, the bourgeois tex fron recict end imoerielist essumptions of sueriority. Very little that tOul can be eohleved in ttenoting to think of imoerielice er & phenonenon Sivoreed fron the ol ¢ escunotions of cayitelism this 1s en error frequently msde in the vest by meny writers concerning the internally-eolonielist status of the Blacks in North Americe end eleevhere, end, nore recently, in rogers to the Anerinciens end 5 internelly-colonized etoriginel peoples. The "whites", ee « collective end politically undifferenticted ness, rether than the cepltelict system which sroduces the eltenetion requisite for recist attitudes, are een es the oppressors, To our prevent context 1t Ls absolutely cructel to recognice thet the tro cuestions of calturel colonielism ond cless enpropristion are interrelsted end interderencants end, elihourh spece cleerly precludes thet tunis caper should etterpt en anelysic on these Bi cy it mist te enpieeisec thet the dimension of cless contrediction be tome in mins throu hout the ren inter 9! thie exposition. Ye hove intimated thet culturelly colonlelist ¢ttitudes end essumptions vhole donsin of "hich" culture, end thet this no vhere nore evident then ceroce the soectrur of the Fine Arts. The rescon for this my well te releted to the reacen for ‘the annerent oreeninence In our present culture of the viexel mode in the erte over toth el end the vertel, Up until che end f the Leth Century it wou: G soneer thet el culture vere more highly rererted then ree plastic culture, thich, vith fev eientricent exceotions, essentielly nes considered es deine the srovince of nse Indeed, ix Anglo-Saxon countries, © en attitude hus persisted until recentl} wherety Litersture micht, under cortein ct stenees, Lo soncidered Pit oc tion for € gentlenen, vhile, ct the same tine, there tre conething suspect, indeed Hereputetle, in tte ides of xekine ¢ cereer © peinter. Le interecting te observe, over « periad 6 time, the cheneing cociel ettitusee of rth jmericen niséle-clece toverde ne Fine Arter This process 4: rhepe ue lece to the fect thet fineneiel srofit nee le in both production and sveculetion then to the cuopesition that ceinting (and sculpture to # lesser extent) ras the ert-fora thet best otjectified bourfeois ideeie, since the incivicus? oleture coule tecone property in the absolute we, since Lt could untouely eabocy toth the status and the asptretions of its omer in ¢ menner that ves obviously denied to the poen, the novel, the pley or the opere. ‘Thot Cirect finenctel potentiel ves not e factor to be teken into serious ec-ount vecones cleer Lf one ¢ to renester thet only trice in the history of ert curing modern tines res there 8 brie! eituetion of boom ané epeculetion in which art production end nerketing could be seid to eporosch © sufficiently high tenperature of sceculetive potenticl to Interest the serious investor or finencier, One of these booms wee in lete-Victorien fenre painting, tut the cannot in eny vey be considered « phenonenon of visuel culture eince 1t wes, in essence, the sentimentel ent moralistic subject-netter exonplified ty the vork cf such painters es Lender end the late Millele thet res et Lesue, Tt Le not gossitie, in this instence, to regerd the ert-rork ap © culture] oroduct cesigned for the consumption of © vieuslly Literete public, nor is Lt possible to see the indivicuel peinting opereting es @ speciel objet de luxe. The rhole phenonenon ves nore in the nature of an eerly construct of mecs-nedia soporific, one desimed es « plecete for e restless lover nidile-clees end upper-proleteriet. The veet orices thet vere peic for incivicuel works, the eure of gossip end fame, the celetrity stetus fed such ertist: as Watts, Alne—Tedene, Leighton end Poynter, ss well es to such sucrort-system menderine 2s fustin, vould seen to meke it obvious thet, if parsilels rere to be dremn with more recent tines, then this extreordinery period stould be releted to the rocue extravegence of Hollywood et its zenith, et © polnt yhen © leter ond only slightly more cophicticeted generation of the erticulete deprived were clearly persuaded to subserge their claims in a vicurious participation in constructed glemour. The ert toon, nov subetorticlly deflated, of the imvediste pect ves 2 different ratter altogether. It was the product of two forces first, a direct ené vary Iuerative sion of speculation whereby industriel end corporetive marketing technicues sled to sophisticated prorotionsl nethede vere epplied to the nerchendising of ert, end, seconderily, the recently initisted end still-ongoing "eenoniestion" of culture vherely the erts have, tos certein extent, been reguired to fill a role of seculer Arituslization in © veewun Left by the demise of religion within en increeeinely ensted 7 hovever, not in respect of, tut rether desrite, these two art "boone", both resulting from forsee extrencous to ert iteelf, that wo note tho grogreccive secension of the Fine Arts from s sonerhnt lorly status to ® position of preeminence enonz cther qulture] pareuite to = point whereby the word "art" became synononoas with the visual ‘experience and connote © dinension of rutlinity only previously escocteted cit aysticol ené divine vicitetion. The hypothects that thie precese roprocente tho eovolopnent of the cultural symbolasysten most aperopriste to a society incressinely eccred to profit end consurption vould seem to be supported by © hetorieel juxtaposition in art during the last 160 yeare or 60 end the parallel emergence to confldence, to polities! snd to eccnonic power, of the bourgeoieie. If there is eny virtue in the ebove line of thought, then one roulé expect to discover « 1 cleerly Ampected end more deeply ingreined structure of colonialict eceanptione in the douein of the Fine Arte then in other parsilel disciplines, Literature, certeinly, in the gest neintedned e cleer ellegience to e tredition vherely it sought to locste iteelf is an "ecedenicN ctreem of Liberal-hunenicm which rectricted the definition of verbel culture te the Baro hovever, on the threcheld of the nedern period, e¢ we shell see, it shendoned this specific structure of collective civil velus for © genere? structure of subjective snd regionel relue. ‘The notion thet culture comprises « mumenizing body of velues end concepts through rhich the gduccted both recomice cask other end comsunieste vith eech other (through ‘the cosmon possession of @ vocebulery of metaphors end hictoricel or classical reference) nee sn davention of the High Reneicconce. There it on incontertible Loeic in the fect thet, curing the firct years of evolving Ampericlien and condensing Europeen icenvity, the energing nercantile society should have rezerded Itsel? es both # historicel end cultufst nexus, end, In order to Justify itself by inititeing fe clein upen pregececsors ond oxonplare, chould heve projected va uo end virth onto 5 mixec trecition thet wes part nistoricel fect end pert legendary construct. ‘The eprropriction, in this manner, of @ past that wae en analgem of ayth and cctuel event nas in esrence the culture] dinension of s Burooecn exosnetoniom thet hed ite 8 montel dimension in the developing scientific approach tonerds the naturel world end ite political end geogrephicsll dimensions in the mercentile end neritine explosion which tock place at the crumbling of the Aristotdlean universe. The birth of Europe wes rot only achieved in reletionship to the twin forces of emergent eclence end emergent cepttelion, but it ves sleo fixated with a profound conviction of the fundamental centrelity cxé senifeot preainence of the new political and socisl structures, ené this event war sccompenied from the very first by « deeply ingrained process of epsropriation. Coloniclism aid not eppeer in the modem vorld with the forays of Cortex into Yucsten, or with the destruction of Tenochtitlén, but with the clain of historicel cozeneze cxtended ty Renelsemnce mercantile republicanion torercs the exenplers of = dinly- renentered Ronen polis observed through the roseate lenses of political anbition and sriftly-consolideting clees interest. Tt is fron thie point that re can note the develoonent of « body of cultural property: thet nee Later to be defined as the tradition of Liberel—nuneniem. At the beginning thie reprecented simply the collective celf-identificstion of a smell, but enormously confldent, mercentile cleee in Florence ené elsenbere; tut as time went on, the dee of Mhueniea" ves to be identified with civilised value itself, 1t vas to becone the oreresulsite bese of culture en eduction, In thie wey, the special interests of 2 specific clese and the brosd snoop of sbeolute culture] velue vere seen e¢ synononcus. ‘hte cleim upon Metory initiated the orocess of cultural myetifiestion fron whieh ve ore till cuffering, ond, ae we may now perceive, it relied for its continued expansion upon £ process of culturel aporoprietion. cunture, in tho now poet-Rensissence understanding, vas henceforth to serve the interests of & cless rether than those of the collective te the new economic imperstives penetrated the feuds world thoy inexorchly mutsted the relationskips thet existed tn thet vorié, trensforning the co-operative Gemeinschaft of the collective of Christianity Into the competitive Gesellschaft of economic, end later, of industriel, nen. Furthermore, the ne concept of culture, ae in tho very asture of cepitelism itself, demended both © continuelly-oxpending lode of resources and & continually-expending waerket™s Tn opposition to the static and genuinely Mabsolutet value of feudal culturé, it wes in essence ¢ynamic end reletive (though, of course, it pretended cleims to the absolute) and, this, could enly finction in # condition of permanent expension. Since ite mbjectonetter wes not peslist in the fmudel sense, that is to say, one not reflecting the existent end, internally to thet society, colf-origently timsless on stemal volues subceribed to by thet society, but, rather, wes Ldeelist (In thet tts notive tes to project the poetic and the conditional, to project motephories] eilustons to a universe thet 14 rot yet. extetvbnt ahich micht possibly be trousht inte boing through the povero of the tneginetion) then, cleerly, Lt nas constrained to look outside cf the gonerel body of cymbole end concepte thet ede up the common heritege of the soctety. Tho culture of the feudel world, in terns of the understending of thet rorld, wes fer fron & netephysicsl one, for, despite the totally Christion nature of its eynbolion, the besic concept of the universe wee of e hiererchice! continuum riing verticelly vprerd fron the Lo et pessent through tho renke of the nobility, the renke of the Charch, through the Pope to the eapyresn, to Christ snd, flnelly, to the Godheed. The ctrctare of aecievsl thought, just Like the content of medievel religous peintingy ed end tengtbhey celly preceat in both tine end spece es ves nan end nie deily mundene res escontistly ons which wee concerned with things + were getually. thinge €2 ohye setivities end espirstions. Peredoxicelly, it fe with the development of pictoriel reriien in the purely technical sence thet ve Siret note the ehift tonerce the depiction of © metephyrical end Ideslist universe. It voulc not seen to be covinci¢ental thet the Mediel end ther successors shoule have choeen tnd reinforced the nedium of the viouel erts to exprece end confirm the Justification for their vision of « new, fragmented, en¢ competitive structure of franen coelel relations, cince thir sodium could perhape best enbody the dimension of cubjective ideslia with 1¢ notion of individuel "goniuet, ond, thuc, help to salve and obscure #) peredox engendered by the noceccery opposition betveen urcury end charity, betneen competition snd co-opers tion, between the possession of econoric pover and privilege by s minority end the requicite reeigetion to poverty end to subeervience derended of a sajority. ‘The ne idee of the creetive pover of the ineginetion es the prine sesunption within the donein of culture és, in so reising isolated end personel actions to « ‘undesentel principle, without doubt engendered ty the need to vindicate the morél ambiguity of individuel economic end entrepronciriel cggression. Sintlerfly, the clei upon precedent raieod by tho delinestion of parallels between the 16th Century mercentile rerlity end en {deelized view of Ronen republicen virtue ras conditional upon the neeé to lecitimize @ sociel stance that mas based upon fiscel menipulstion in a society A that had for centuries regarded ursury es & cerdinal in. A concest of sporopriction that is oon to declere itsel? eo colonislict in neture cen thue be seen to have initieted ite centrel role in Buropeen culture fron the very point of the energence of ¢ continental "Buropeen" consetoumsee. Though the fret pheco of thie shonomonen cen be sean to hevo opercted almost exclusively in the doncix of "Hotory", wo mst be cleer et thie point that the force thet wao working in thie context nee fer from whet we understand by the concept today. dn underetending of hictory a¢ @ continuun of evente wheroby the occurrences of the peet to 2 greet extent Logically preclude the-patterns of the future ic dependent upon ‘the possession of accurste records or plausible speculetion together vith an objective nelysie of this evidence. History, until the end of the 18th Century st lesst, wes a5 mich, 1f not sore, & netter of crojection 68 1 wes of reseerch end onelysi: the seperetion between lecend end fe et nes not accomplished until the conperetively recent pests Biehop Uscher's wicely-aovepted chronology, for exemple, whereby the rorlé wes understood to heve been crested in scripturel totelity upon s epectfic day in Februsry 4,094 B.C., oF the fect that Tecce Norton wee hincelf ultinately nore interected im hie theological and hie bletorogrephiecl speeuletions then in hie ectentific obeervetions, dononstretes @ profound enbiguity in regerd to the pect existing as Lete ec the Brlichtonnent. At thet time it wae otill imperative to comchow oqucte the Literel ond revecled truth of Eiblice! text with the virtuel and obsorved truth of archeologicel end peleeontologicel evidences n Even on the threshold of Romembieion ve ney obcorve Milliem Bleko cltemetely swinging detneen, on the one hend, his "nodernict* response to the injustices of industriel sockety end to the revolutionery eepiretions of on cwskening politics) consetousnese end, on the other, hie restéuel, tut deeply intultivo, conviction of seriptural truth end his inteLlectuel debt to Swedentorg end Jecob Eryent; indeed, it is from the very tensions of thie parsdox thet his poetic inspiretion depended. ‘The Ronentic period, however, nss not singly the mejor culture] response to the developing technologies! dimension of the industriel revolution end to the energing evctel dimension of cless-consclousness, it also nerked the shift of centrel enpheote in the ongoing process of eppropristion from the historical donein directly to the gcogrephlcel, end, ubtinetely, to the colontel domein, The conflict between Classioten end Rosenticiss thet aerked the closing decodes of ‘the 13th Century as well as the opening ones of the 13th Centary, vas not the result oP shag! stylistic orsehplastic rivalry, it nas not even prinerily the expression of anteganian betrean the nening, slased society of post-Restoration aristocrsey and the goelet forces unlsee by the French Revol ya. Rather, it vee such more the evprascion of the fact thet developing body of selentific knovledce hed berun to dor history opecue to the penetretior of ospitelict conranristion. History hed boenra, iteel£, 2 selene, end, es e result, the poseibility of 2 relaterpretstion of ‘the stet in Sevour of en elite bezen to reece in the Seco of the incroceing cvetlability to 9 wider gublic of olecr end unsabiguous informetion. In the Licht of the ercheologicel discoveries of Minckelnenn end oth » the ancient sorld tcos on the cleerly defined linearents of real Life, The Classics) snticus, maled et last to the the scrutiny of dayliznt, ths lost the anbiquous and oroblenanticsl dinenslone which elone aede it melleeble to the iderlien of eporoprost- ton. The Clescical meted into the Neo-Classical; end, 9s the distinction betreen Lezend end fact ves clarified, so images ia ert beceme more archeologically “truthful” ond oragrescively lees end les able to sagvort the orocess of aystificetion. a Ine finel ond ectaculer burs: 9! historicel eporopristion, the French Revolution Stool? cloined justifiestion fra the ancient world; but the brief pegenien of the Girinity of Reeson was com to

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