Controversies about cultural hybridity made it a crucial trend of research in “post-colonial theories”. While some used it to argue for the existence of democracy, others used it to support the current “neocolonial discourse” (Kraidy, 2002, p. 316) .Nevertheless, the current debate on cultural hybridity allows one to ponder upon the existence of hybrid identity and its development in both colonial and post-colonial discourses. In this case, my area of research will focus on cultural hybridity, which is the mixed culture arising from “interactions of both the colonizer and the colonized” (Yazdiha, 2010, p. 31) .Building on from Bhabha’s definition of colonial mimicry (Bhabha, 1994, p. 122) ,questions about the significance of these hybrid identity will surface out in colonial and post-colonial contexts. Hybrid identity in Terminator Genisys …show more content…
vi), hybridity involves an integration of two “relatively distinct forms, styles, cross-cultural contact or identities that often occurs across national borders, as well as cultural boundaries”. In colonial context, hybridity is closely related to Bhabha’s colonial mimicry. In fact, colonial mimicry results in the formation of hybrid identity. Bhabha states that “colonial mimicry is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of difference that is almost the same, but not quite” (Bhabha, 1994, p. 122). Bhabha’s colonial mimicry is in the perspective of the colonized, to question the authority of the colonizer. In this case, Prayer’s hybridity becomes appropriate in justifying the formation of hybrid identity because it shows the attempt of the colonizer to create a new identity for the colonized to maintain its dominance over the
In his introductory article, “Introducing Settler Colonial Studies,” Lorenzo Veracini makes the case for a distinction between colonialism and settler colonialism and attempts to argue for the necessity of making distinctions between them. Veracini marks the distinction between colonialism and settler colonialism through saying that colonialism is a matter of the Settler proclaiming “you, work for me” and settler colonialism “you, go away.” Though, these simple distinctions are misleading and require a much deeper analysis of what constitutes “work” and what constitutes “going away.” It is also worth thinking about how the Settler comes to be shaped by the demands themselves and how the Settler as ontological position becomes different in the demands.
This week’s articles carry a couple related, if not common, themes of imagined, if not artificial, constructs of race and identity. Martha Hodes’ article, “The mercurial Nature and Abiding Power of Race: A Transnational Family Story,” offers a narrative based examination of the malleable terms on which race was defined. To accomplish this she examines the story of Eunice Connolly and her family and social life as a window into understanding the changing dimensions of race in nineteenth-century America and the Caribbean, specifically New England and Grand Cayman. While Hodes’ article examines the construction of race in the Americas, Ali A. Mazrui’s piece, “The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Sai, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond,” looks at the construction of African identity. Although different in geographic loci, the two articles similarly examine the shaping influences of race and identity and the power held in ‘the Other’ to those ends.
Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include “genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion…” (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, have something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, “satirical fantasy”, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77).
I do not consider myself Paki-American. I am too "Americanized" to be Pakistani. (although by birthright, I am American), and I am not quite up to par with the American way of life. So what does all this have to do with my culture, what does a label really matter to cultural identity? It matters much. I believe that this seemingly trivial confusion over labels reveals the even greater confusion that surrounds my cultural identity: Am I a bridge between these two multifaceted cultures, or have I become a mosaic displaying colors from here and there, and elsewhere too? Perhaps both, and I could be a colorful bridge, or perhaps neither. Whatever the case, I cannot seem to separate these absolutely disparate realities within me. Their forces are still clashing, coming together within me, creating a wonderful confusion out of me. I believe that to truly analyze my culture, the roots of this confusion must be explored. In the span of this essay, I must try to encompass the widths of two worlds, their unique interactions within me... which I hope constitute what is called culture.
The definition of the cultural imperialism in the Cambridge dictionary is simply as one “culture of a large and powerful country, organization, etc. having a great influence on another less powerful country." Yet to get the real and important meaning of cultural imperialism, we have to know more than its basic dictionary definition.
The historical attempts of Europeans to claim lands that are not their own and forcibly take them from previous owners have created a repeated scenario of fierce conflict between the colonizers and the colonized. This scenario is seen so often in history that it has become a sort of universal theme, a fact not missed by writers and filmmakers. In both The Power of One and Pocahontas, the colonization of an existing culture creates tension between the colonizers and the colonized. This tension creates prejudice, and the prejudice often manifests itself in violence, whether it is the violence of a culture acting on their prejudices or the violence of a culture responding to the prejudice of another. The former, as well as the prejudice itself, is a part of the post-colonial theme of Othering; the latter is a part of the theme of Anti-Colonial Resistance. To explore these themes further, I will use my previous examples, The Power of One and Pocahontas, to show that the tension caused by colonization often affects cultures in a similar manner.
Recently, there has been growing interest in cultural studies and especially postcolonial studies. As mentioned in the previous chapters, one of the most criticized terms in the postcolonial cultural criticism is the concept is hybridity. As far as the notion of hybridity is considered, Bhabha is a key figure in the developments of the term. For the reading of colonial and postcolonial texts, Bhabha has presented a conceptual vocabulary, some of which are hybridity, ambivalence and mimicry. Leitch et al. have written that Bhabha “has infused thinking about nationality, ethnicity, and politics with poststructuralist theories of identity and indeterminacy” (2001, 2377). It is worth mentioning that the theories of Sigmun Freud, Jaques Lacan, Jaques
Culture is a major influence in not only the way we speak, dress, and act; but also a way we view the world. The extent of which culture influences ones’ views is dependent on many things; such as that of personal experiences as well as how one might view others, stereotypes, and even themselves. In different works such as “By Any Other Name”, “Legal Alien”, and “Multi-Culturalism Explained In One Word: HAPA”; we explore the different insights of not only multiple cultures, but almost entirely different worlds’ with the amount of variation between each story. I have personally viewed the different ways ones’ views might be affected, of which they all correlate to the same core message: that of which shows how culture is one of the biggest ways
Fanon is placing great importance on the past, as it is what is responsible for the present. In the same right, Thiong’o writes, “Our fathers fought bravely” (191). Those fighting colonialism in the past did what they could with what they had. It is, therefore, unfair to place blame on them for the current disfiguration of identity and culture. Pride for their efforts and trials should be declared.
The act of crossing cultures can be as simple as being the new kid in school just across town or as complex as belonging to a family who has recently moved half-way around the world. Each of these examples will invariably hold familiarities as well as polar opposite situations. Having the ability to adapt to new environments, people, and their culture will give a person a unique skill set that many people do not have undoubtedly making them invaluable as friends and ambassador’s. So the question is, “Where does this cultural proficiency originate and is it possible for anyone to become an expert at intercultural competence?”
Saleem links his hybrid history to ‘chutney’ which illustrates the sign of a mixed identity. “Green chutney on chilli-pakoras” , this imagery of chutney runs throughout the novel and assist Saleem’s story. He later, uses this image to sum up his hybridise culture, which parallels “the chutnification of history” and “pickling of time”. Rushdie comments on the colonised mimicking the coloniser. Two histories have emerged together, which is filled with contamination as mimicry becomes a problem as it disrupts the power. This reflects, what Rushdie calls like ‘chutney’, a mixture of history, and nationalism that become so dense and enmeshed that they transform to create a new culture. Rushdie effectively tackles issues of post-colonial studies of history, nationalism and hybridity, and Midnight’s Children illustrates and challenges these concepts.
Bhabha, Homi. "From 'Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse' in the Location of Culture, pp. 85-92." Stanford Presidential Lectures and Symposia
In the introduction to “The Pure Products Go Crazy,” James Clifford offers a poem by William Carlos Williams about a housekeeper of his named Elsie. This girl is of mixed blood, with a divided common ancestry, and no real collective roots to trace. Williams begins to make the observation that this is the direction that the world is moving in, as Clifford puts it—“an inevitable momentum.” Clifford believes in that, “in an interconnected world, one is always to varying degrees, ‘inauthentic.’” In making this statement, Clifford is perhaps only partially accurate. In the western hemisphere, where Williams was located, perhaps it can be said directly that the influence of modern society has attributed to the lack of general ancestry, as one culture after another has blended with the next. Perhaps it can be said as well that, as Clifford puts it, “there seem no distant places left on the planet where the presence of ‘modern’ products, media, and power cannot be felt” (Clifford, 14). The intention of this paper is to contend first that there is essentially such a thing as “pure” culture, and contrary to Clifford’s belief, that there are “pure” unblended cultures that remain (while not altogether untouched by foreign influence), natural within themselves. It will be argued as well that the influence of modern society does not necessarily lead to a loss of cultural soundness itself, but rather that a presence of certain cultural practices within the respective cultures has attributed to the lasting “purity” of certain cultures. In this case, we will be discussing the cultures that exist in Haiti and Bali.
The minimal space of the colony is used to dramatize the destabilization. The movie destabilizes identities position regarding the race and gender. The author suggests that the colonial structure depen...
Hybridity and National Identity in Postcolonial Literature. Every human being, in addition to having their own personal identity, has a sense of who they are in relation to the larger community—the nation. Postcolonial studies are the attempt to strip away conventional perspective and examine what that national identity might be for a postcolonial subject. To read literature from the perspective of postcolonial studies is to seek out—to listen for, that indigenous, representative voice which can inform the world of the essence of existence as a colonial subject, or as a postcolonial citizen.