Intellectual Imperialism: Definition, Traits, and Problems – Syed Farid Alatas

Imperialism is not confined to the political or economic aspects of the historical process. Rather, it is to be considered as a cluster. A phenomenon such as imperialism is a cluster of different aspects of human undertakings. What is usually discussed is economic and political imperialism. In this paper, however, we turn to intellectual imperialism, first describing what it is, and second enumerating the problems connected with it. Intellectual imperialism has, among other things, resulted in a displacement of attention from issues that should be of vital concern to Asian and African societies. The emancipation of the mind from the shackles of intellectual imperialism is the major condition for the development of a creative and autonomous social science tradition in developing societies.