After the American Century: The Ends of U.S. Culture in the Middle East by Brian T. Edwards (review)

After the American Century is a book that will generate controversy. The title is inspired by Time publisher Henry Luce’s 1941 essay, “The American Century,”¹ which argued that the 20^th century was dominated politically, economically and culturally by the United States. Brian Edwards focuses on culture, arguing that it was American cultural products circulating and replicating across publics that made America appear powerful. (p. 28). But he says that although American products still circulate widely it is no longer the American Century because a new set of dynamics exists that differs from the period Luce describes (p. 21).

Edwards’s argument is complicated and at times obtuse. An assumption in the digital age, he says, “about globalization … is that there is endless circulation [of cultural products] … that might bring [American products] back home to America” in identifiable form after journeying to the Middle East and North Africa. He feels, however, that now “America cultural forms have been altered, localized and disoriented in their … adaptations” (p. 199) to the point where some lose “their humor or critical edge” (p. 200) and become hard for Americans to understand. For him this shows that “cultural products and forms are altered as they jump publics” and become difficult to translate back to their originators (p. 200). Indeed any “uptake” to a new public after the first alteration makes further circulation difficult (p. 201). He adds that when restructured products are repatriated (p. 200) often only select publics are receptive or understand them because of their particular interests (e.g. scholarly) or backgrounds (e.g. “hyphenated” Americans) (p. 201).

There are moments in history, such as today, he argues, when US publics are more receptive to Middle Eastern cultural products. But those that reach the US now often come in the form of neo-Orientalisms that “confirm prevailing and debilitating stereotypes about the region” (p. 202) or are used to “explicitly or implicitly justify U.S. intervention in the region” (p. 203). He says native “biases are often effaced via the logic that the native informant is necessarily unbiased and objective because of his or her heritage” (p. 205). The continued US military and political presence in the region contributes to this persistence of a demeaning Orientalism like that Edward Said described (p. 208).

The most interesting parts of the book are Edwards’s studies of the transformation of US cultural products in Casablanca, Cairo, and Tehran, chosen because they are global cities that although different share common attributes (p. 29). In these cases, he looks at “transitional moments and texts and the debates that surround them as a critical strategy” that “may be in itself an end” (p. 198). Edwards’ background and considerable expertise shine in these analyses, making the book a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the region.

The book, though, raises several questions. The first is Edwards’s use of the term “culture.” Edwards says that by culture he means cultural production (p.16) and attempts to address the “unresolved relationship between culture and politics” saying that “categorizing culture according to nation limits our understanding” (p. 17). Yet, by ignoring conventional definitions, he avoids the issues they raise. For example, culture defined as “a shared world-view” that facilitates communication among members of a society would suggest different ways of looking at the world, and imply that cultural products inevitably will be seen differently by adopters and creators.

In the digital age, the number of competing models of the new and modern makes it impossible to depend overly long on any single source of inspiration without the power factor. And it cannot be discounted that besides products the digital age also brings tools and skills that make adaptations possible that are more congruent with local meanings. In the definition of culture above, US products never entirely overpowered Middle Eastern products nor were they felt...