Rethinking Cultural Imperialism Discourse in Amitav Ghosh’sThe Glass Palace and The Circle of Reason

Abstract

Cultural imperialism is the imposition of certain features of one society's culture typically one that is politically or economically dominant on another community that is not dominant. It is the practice of promoting one culture within another. The former is typically a sizable, militarily or, economically powerful nation, whereas the latter is a more modest, less developed nation. A specific strategy or a broad way of thinking can both be examples of cultural imperialism. It's a vast concept that covers fiction, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and art criticism. Amitav Ghosh is an acknowledged writer who has a specialisation in postcolonial literature. His life has been significantly impacted by the political and cultural climate of India after independence. The work, which portrays a thorough political and cultural transformation, sheds insight on early understanding of the social, psychological, and cultural inferiority imposed by colonizers and illustrates cultural conflict. People making an effort to achieve political, cultural, and ethnic independence. The idea of unity in diversity permeates all of the writings by Ghosh. The diverse social issue backgrounds of his characters are the main focus of his writings. In order to prevent the appropriation of voices by people from different socio-economic groups and cultural backgrounds, they also reflect the devolution of narratorial responsibility. Ghosh tells the story of colonialism from a post-colonial viewpoint in his critically acclaimed literary masterpiece. The colonization of Malaya, Burma, and India on the Asian continent gave rise to discontent, resistance, exile, and displacement, all of which are depicted in the fictionalized history of The Glass Palace. In the book The Circle of Reason, it is discussed how imperialism changes non-European peoples and how Western civilization's invasion of urban areas disrupts traditional rural life. To be more precise, the book investigates how colonialism-borne cultural imperialism affects people in Third World nations. Western reason from the post-Enlightenment is mentioned in the book through Reason. By examining the novel's overall structure through a postcolonial lens and concentrating on the use of postcolonial themes like cultural imperialism, this article aims to shed light on the postcolonial perspective.