Part of imperialism was that it denigrated local cultures. However, many European administrative officers became genuinely interested in the local languages and history. They often spent their entire career in the colonial country and learned the local languages in an entirely different way than today's aid workers. The discipline of anthropology was born under colonial rule, and many missionaries were pioneers in this field. Indian culture has always attracted European intellectuals.
Many researchers are now interested in how syntheses emerged between European and local culture.
European thinking was absorbed, adapted and in turn used against the Europeans. Today, Christianity has been adapted to local traditions and remoulded in an African guise to create a powerful force in Africa. Post-colonial' studies are concerned with this. However the perceptions of a 'golden age' of African history prior to the colonial period, a harmonious rural society without differences and conflicts, is pure myth and romanticism. Again it is necessary to differentiate.