(I apologize if this question seems a bit weird or uninteresting, I would be happy to clarify what I mean as I'm not able to frame it appropriately at this point. If someone can help me reframe this question or point me toward a resource it would be greatly appreciated and I would gladly edit it. I also hope the question sticks to the guidelines. Thanks! EDIT - People down voting please consider helping me out here, I'm fairly new to the subject area and would greatly appreciate resources/references I can read and learn more. Am I off topic or does the question reek of crackpot conspiracy?)
Have there been examples of one civilization or culture actively influencing and shaping the direction of another? I'm wondering about the means for such action via debates or public discussion or through written work that is biased in someway.
For example, one culture might finance scholarly work about aspect X of another culture and in doing so create a general attitude about X within itself that would eventually spill over to the other culture.
I can provide a modern day scenario if that helps. Consider a large publishing company that actively seeks out books written by caucasian women about the struggles of "oppressed" south asian women. In doing so, the company creates a body of work that highlights the oppression and therefore permeates a subtle idea of something-is-wrong-with-them-and-needs-to-be-fixed among those who consume the literature. (I write oppression in quotes because I have not defined a point of view and therefore have not defined what oppression is).
This seems like a fantastic question for r/anthropology
It might be easier to think of your question in terms of specific nations/organizations instead of cultures. The boundaries of a "culture" aren't always clear, so how can one know where the influencing culture ends and the influenced one beings. Also I would say many cultures are actively influencing other cultures today (Japan and America are a great example). Are you asking if one group makes a conscious and concerted effort to effect another group? In that case I would cite the efforts to "civilize" native American populations by the American government, and similar efforts by the British government on Indians.