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47 pages 1 hour read

The Location of Culture

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1994

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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary: “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse”

Bhabha explores mimicry as a tool of colonialism. Mimicry can be a form of resistance by enabling subversion of the colonizer’s authority, but it also reinforces colonial power structures. He discusses the “mimicry” of a colonized person who emulates the habits, knowledge, and speech of the colonizer; although the colonized under English imperial power can, for example, be “Anglicized,’ they can never be truly “English.” Mimicry thus fractures identity and exposes the ambivalence of colonial discourse.

Chapter 5 Summary: “Sly Civility”

Bhabha focuses on the concept of “civility” as a means of exerting control, arguing that colonial power operates both through overt force and a façade of civility. Colonizers use this façade of civility to placate their post-Enlightenment sense of “rightness” while maintaining their power and control over colonized peoples, allowing them to continue their reliance on ambivalent discourse. Colonial discourse uses civility to create a sense of superiority while maintaining an oppressive relationship with the colonized: The colonizers become the benevolent paternal figure, “civilizing” a colonized people, while also enforcing cultural dominance.

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