This paper considers homi bhabhas notion of hybridity and a cultural third space in his seminal 1994 work the location of culture. This paper suggests a way of looking at postcolonial african identity as fluid, relational and always in flux. This volume explores his writings and their influence on postcolonial theory, introducing in clear and accessible language the key concepts of his work, such as ambivalence, mimicry, hybridity and translation. Mimicry, ambivalence, and hybridity 8 august 2016 daniel dafoes 1719 novel, robinson crusoe, is a rich text for understanding the mechanisms of european colonialism and the relation between the colonizer and the colonized represented by crusoe and friday. Mustafa cannot come to terms with his hybridity in the way that bhabha and fanon advocate, and so he fails to overcome his postcolonial hangups. Fluid compartments in the mammalian body broadly comprise two compartments, each with several subdivisions. The production of meaning requires that these two places be mobilized in the passage through a third space, which represents both the general conditions of language and the specific implication of the utterance in a performative and institutional strategy of which it cannot in itself be conscious. This third space generates hybridity bhabha, 1984, from the contested interpretations resistance of what constitute indigenous values and the traditional responses of accommodation and. Soja for a conceptualization of the term within the social sciences and from a critical urban theory perspective. Initially bhabha attended cathedral school and he then enrolled for studies at elphinstone college at the age of fifteen.
Bhabha s terms, the public and outvvard nature of the historical process is privatised through bishops focus on jacle his house and the ivlaori men. The third space the intervention of the third space of enunciation, which makes the structure of meaning and reference an ambivalent process, destroys this mirror of representation in which cultural knowledge is customarily revealed as integrated, open, expanding code. The 66yearold cultural theorist likes to have lunch meetings over takeaway in his capacious, book lined office on quincy street near harvard. Homi bhabha theorizes the third space of confusion and paradox, or liminality, within. Homi bhabha national institute, an indian deemed university. Along the coninuum of anthropomorphism, the rabbits are humanoid, dressed in suits and undorms, arnvmg 111 sajl1t1g ships, blllld1t1g houses and by signiflers of science and technology. May 23, 20 in tayeb salihs season of migration to the north, mustafa represents a beento. He was the first chairman of indias atomic energy commission homi jehangir bhabha was born on oct. Communicating in the third space aims to clarify homi k. You cant understand the spread of isis or the arab spring without the relentless advance in computing and telecom moores law creating so many. Bhabha will discuss translations impact on the construction of social memory, historical narrative, and cultural identity.
Although bhabha is critical of the oversimplification of the binaries of east and west and colonizer and colonized in saids early work as both poles are hybrid and implicated in each other, their locus of enunciation and intellectual positions can be considered similar as both examine processes that divide, categorize, and dominate the world. In the location of culture, bhabha uses concepts such as mimicry, interstice, hybridity. Homi bhabhas third space and african identity but as enunciation. Homi bhabhas contribution and critics springerlink. Aug 08, 2016 mimicry, ambivalence, and hybridity 8 august 2016 daniel dafoes 1719 novel, robinson crusoe, is a rich text for understanding the mechanisms of european colonialism and the relation between the colonizer and the colonized represented by crusoe and friday.
Cultural diversity and cultural differences homi k. Bhabhas most popular book is the wretched of the earth. It is not a question of harmoniz ing with the background, but against a mottled background, of becoming mottled exactly like. Homi bhabha centre for science education, mumbai, india. In this sense, he is a highly hybridized character. Deemed universities in india have been divided in three categories by the ministry of human resource development and hbni has been placed in category a, highest of the three categories. Hybridity also plays a crucial role within bhabha s own theoretical development, as it is intimately linked with his other concepts such as third space. Sep 25, 2008 communicating in the third space aims to clarify homi k. The title the third space is taken from the work of the influential cultural and post colonial theorist homi bhabha. His mode of extension is to draw on work of postcolonial theorists spivak, bhabha and anzaldua mainly to create a parallel between notions of third space in postcolonial theory and lefebvres ideas of spaces of representation. Huma bhabha takes an ax to her exhibit at the met the.
In his current project, he investigates the experiences of patients with diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases, and alcohol addiction in the socialist healthcare system of east germany. Bhabha, a leading figure in contemporary cultural discourse, whose theory of. Does bhabha s liminal space itself become a privileged, textual, discursive space accessible only to academic intellectuals. Hybridity also plays a crucial role within bhabhas own theoretical development, as it is intimately linked with his other concepts such as third space. Bhabha 1996 bhabha posits hybridity as such a form of liminal or inbetween space, where the cutting edge of translation and negotiation bhabha 1996 occurs and which he terms the third space. Markus wahl is a research fellow at the institute for the history of medicine at the robert bosch stiftung in stuttgart, germany. In bhabhas terms hybridity is camouflage bhabha 193 and, provocatively he offers hybridity as heresy bhabha 226, as a disruptive and productive category. Third world and in conditions of metropolitan racism. See ambivalence, hybridity, liminal space, paradoxical space. Bhabhas theory of the third space of enunciation by reconstructing its philosophical, sociological, geographical, and political meaning with attention to the special advantages and ambiguities that arise as it is applied in practicalas well as theoreticalcontexts. Postmodern space, postcolonial times and the trials of cultural translation the indian theorist homi k. Yet the third space in this study occurred as a dynamic process during which the western teaching practices and ethos were introduced, varied responses emerged from the context, and negotiation on both sets of educational values continued.
Jamshed bhabha theater ncpa, mumbai, india baba disambiguation. Space, postcolonial time and the trials of cultural translation in the location of culture, 19942004. The author draws firstly on carol gilligans book in a different voice, which. Homi bhabha the uncanny the uncanny the uncanny is. Rachit anand professor subarno chattarji department of english, university of delhi 1020 a critical analysis of homi k. Season of migration to the north by tayeb salih looks. Homi jehangir bhabha biography, facts and pictures. It is the inbetween space that carries the burden of the meaning of culture, and by exploring this third space, we may elude the politics of polarity and emerge as the others of our selves. Homi jehangir bhabha was born on 30 october, 1909 to a wealthy parisi family in mumbai that was very influential in the west of india. Bhabha contends that all cultural statements and systems are constructed in a space that he calls the third space of enunciation 1994. A study of the notion of bhabhasques hybridity in v. Rothenberg professor of the humanities at harvard university. Bhabha in his the location of culture 1994, is taken up by karin ikas and gerhard wagner in their edited volume communicating in the third space 2009 to raise a critical debate on third space in this age of globalization where.
Signs taken for wonders hybridity and resistance benjamin graves 98, brown university. Hybridity, otherness and stereotyping in postcolonial studies are discussed in relation to the central argument of this thesis which is the roles teachers and students play at aiming for the construction of shared malaysian identity in multicultural classrooms. Bhabha argues that the third space of enunciation is a space of inbetweenness and liminality in which a new form of identity is recreated 37. Homi bhabha, in full homi jehangir bhabha, born october 30, 1909, bombay now mumbai, indiadied january 24, 1966, mont blanc, france, indian physicist who was the principal architect of that countrys nuclear energy program born into a rich aristocratic family, bhabha went to the university of cambridge, england, in 1927, originally to study mechanical. Homi bhabha refers to the inbetween spaces as terrains for elaborating strategies of selfhood singular or communal that initiate new signs of identity, and innovative sites of collaboration, and contestation, in the act of defining the idea of society itself. Such an intervention quite properly challenges our sense of the historical. That is, bhabhas formulation of an exilic, liminal space between rather than supportive of national constituencies is problematic in that it fails to engage the material conditions of the colonized third world. Bhabha grew up in karachi, and she has been living in the united states for almost 30 years. Part of the chapter discusses the novel the satanic verses by the indian born british novelist salman rushdie. Nov, 2015 homi bhabha knows that good work cant be forced.
His work still provides a salutary example in its total engagement with the most urgent and extreme political issues while refusing to subordinate the necessarily uncertain and unpredictable outcomes of intellectual enquiry to the exigencies of dogma or doctrine. Born into a rich aristocratic family, bhabha went to the university of cambridge, england, in 1927, originally to study mechanical engineering, but once there he developed a strong interest in. Bhabha, in his the location of culture 1994, this new unfixed identity is a hybrid identity. Bhabha, author of the location of culture and the anne f. Rothenberg professor of the humanities at harvard, will deliver the keynote talk of the translation. The muchdiscussed yet stillenigmatic concept of third space, primarily propagated by homi k. Two of the artists in the show, indonesian entang wiharso and ghanaiangerman daniel kojo, are resident amherst college copeland fellows for the 20072008 academic year. After graduating from elphinstone college and the royal institute of science in bombay, he went to cambridge university, receiving a doctorate in 1934.
Bhabha examines several moments in postcolonial literature that depict the sudden, fortuitous discovery of the english book 102. Bhabha has 35 books on goodreads with 51745 ratings. However, bhabhas critical achievement is not bound to the development of these terms. In tayeb salihs season of migration to the north, mustafa represents a beento. She attended the rhode island school of design for her undergraduate degree and then got an mfa.
Season of migration to the north by tayeb salih looks and. Third space theory explains the uniqueness of each person, actor or context as a hybrid. Marginality and the third space of unadopted plotlander roads. Bhabha says of benjamins work, he has led me to speculate on differential temporal movements within the process of dialectical thinking and the supplementary or interstitial conditionality that opens up alongside the transcendent tendency of dialectical contradiction i have called this a third space, or a time lag. Hybridity concept in postcolonial studies cultural studies essay. Cultural identity today is part of a yearlong interdisciplinary initiative at amherst college on the theme of art and identity in the global community. Hybridity concept in postcolonial studies cultural studies. Bhabha surname bhabha crater, on the moon bhabha scattering, in quantum electrodynamics. The author, homi bhabha, was unknown to me, end the topic the arrival of the english book scripture, literature, technology at a scene of colonial reception suddenly made my whole previous sense of english literature seem insular and provincial, even as it seemed to speak precisely from the provincial and colonial margins of english. Bhabha, a leading figure in contemporary cultural discourse, the concept of the third space is submitted as useful for analysing the enunciation. Rothenberg professor of the humanities at harvard, will deliver the keynote talk of the translation theory today conference. This changes the value of difference and its rales of recognition 1994, 114.
Nation and narration is provocative in its rewriting of much received wisdom. Within the area of postcolonialism, this thesis concentrates on two specific topics. In his opinion piece, the world according to maxwell smart, part 1, thomas l. He is one of the most important figures in contemporary postcolonial studies, and has developed a number of the fields neologisms and key concepts.
It is how newness enters the world bhabha 227 and it is bound up with a process of translating and transvaluing cultural differences bhabha 252. That is, bhabha s formulation of an exilic, liminal space between rather than supportive of national constituencies is problematic in that it fails to engage the material conditions of the colonized third world. Postcolonial culture laura james, black girl with wings larger size mimicry of mimicry and man from the location of culture. The principal theoretical frame departs from homi bhabha s concepts of the third space of enunciation and mocking mimicry, which serve as a more. As bhabha believed, the result of cultural interaction may result in two intact cultures.
For bhabha 1995a, the third space defines cultures in the moment of their use, at the moment. Does bhabhas liminal space itself become a privileged, textual, discursive space accessible only to academic intellectuals. Bhabha, through development of critical terms such as. The homi bhabha national institute hbni is an indian deemed university established by the department of atomic energy, which unifies several of their constituent institutions. The ambivalence of colonial discourse homi bhabha mimicry reveals something in so far as it is distinct from what might be called an itself that is behind. Bhabha, born in mumbai india, is currently a professor of the humanities at harvard. Ed soja is proabably the principal postmodern developer of henri lefebvres geographical trialectic. It argues that bhabhas concept of hybridisation is predicated upon the everchanging location of. The 66yearold cultural theorist likes to have lunch meetings over takeaway in his capacious, booklined office on quincy street near harvard. In this paper i invoke homi bhabhas notions of hybridity and the third space and offer some. Bhabha shifted the limelight from the binary1 of the colonizer and the colonized to the liminal spaces in. The comment concerning bhabha in the norton anthology of theory and criticism. One of the foremost figures in postcolonial studies, homi k. Bhabha is one of the most highly renowned figures in contemporary postcolonial studies.
Homi bhabhas concept of hybridity literary theory and. Friedman, who is someone i enjoy reading, because i learn, though i dont necessarily agree with him all the time, says the following. It is in the emergence of the interstices the overlap and displacement of domains of difference that the. Homi bhabha, harvards wild card professor from mumbai. In this space, two different cultures connect to each other. For all its international fame, however, the concept seems to be little understood. The third space is a postcolonial sociolinguistic theory of identity and community realized through language or education. This chapter seeks to examine key concepts that underpin this study. Homi bhabha, indian physicist who was the principal architect of that countrys nuclear energy program. Remembering fanon new formations number 1 spring 1987. Cultural identity always emerges in this contradictory and ambivalent space,which for bhabha makes the claim to a hierarchical purityof cultures untenable. David huddart draws on a range of contexts, including art history. There is no attempt made at any point in this book to explain what are undoubdtedly fascinating.
The inaccessability of this text to the wide majority of readersand that is not due to a need for reading classes has left bhabhas liminal space an area of discussion accessible only to a handful of individuals whose academic capital apparently surpasses that of their humility. The indian atomic scientist homi jehangir bhabha 19091966 made contributions of fundamental importance to quantum theory. He is one of the most important figures in contemporary postcolonial studies, and has developed a number of the fields neologisms and key concepts, such as hybridity, mimicry, difference, and. Bhabha shifted the limelight from the binary1 of the colonizer and the colonized to the liminal spaces inbetween in the. Although bhabha is critical of the oversimplification of the binaries of east and west and colonizer and colonized in saids early work as both poles are hybrid and implicated in each other, their locus of enunciation and intellectual positions can be considered similar as both examine processes that divide, categorize, and dominate.
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