47 pages • 1 hour read
The Location of Culture
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Introduction-Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Introduction Summary: “Locations of Culture”
Bhabha’s Introduction to the text provides an overarching view of his argument, including the central claim that cultural identities are created in moments “in-between”—moments when colonial cultures and indigenous cultures intersect to create something blended and new. In other words, cultural identity is hybrid because it is created in, and defined by, these “in-between” moments when groups of people interact. Pure national identities, Bhabha argues, are a construction.
Bhabha also discusses the “borders” between past, present, and future and how those borders affect identity. “Post-” schools of criticism (i.e., post-colonialism, post-modernism, etc.) reference the “beyond,” or the future, but they are actually an interaction, in the present, between past and future.
Bhabha also addresses related concepts, including public versus private spheres and how they relate to his concept of “in-between” or interstitial spaces. He references post-modern works like Toni Morrison’s Beloved and art by Renee Green to explore how their works provide metaphors for the “in-between” and the passages between times and groups of people.
Bhabha also examines the concept of “unhomeliness,” which refers to how colonized subjects feel caught between two cultures: The colonial culture and their indigenous one. Discussing the concept of an “unhomely” moment, especially in post-colonial lives, Bhabha explores the borders between public and private spheres and how they develop an intimacy in their interstitial interactions. He explores works like Beloved and Nadine Gordimer’s My Son’s Story that represent unhomely conditions, when the outside world, or the public world, has invaded the home, or the private world. He argues that such works represent the unhomely world in an effort to “affirm a profound desire for social solidarity” (27).
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Commitment to Theory”
Bhabha uses Chapter 1 to address—and counter—the common assumption that theory is “the elite language of the socially and culturally privileged” (28). He recasts theory as a useful tool for political activism rather than simply a reflection of Western hegemonic power.
He takes the example of a political leaflet and a theory of ideology, explaining that they are not completely separate. Instead, they perform different functions in discourse and political development. The leaflet’s purpose is organizational, whereas the theory of ideology informs the overarching political ideas and principles of the leaflet.
Bhabha proposes that knowledge can only become political through dissent, or comparison to an “Other,” because politics and the language of critique only exist in opposition to something else. Political or cultural identity is thus always hybrid by nature. He promotes the idea of cultural difference over cultural diversity: Cultural diversity is a static, superficial understanding of cultural identity, whereas cultural difference is dynamic and fluid, demonstrating the ways in which cultures and individuals constantly negotiate cultural meaning.
Bhabha calls on readers to rethink their perspective on cultural identity, utilizing concepts like Derrida’s différance, which emphasizes that the meaning of a sign is derived from its relationship with other signs. Our restrictive notions of cultural identity, he says, focus on claims to cultural purity that are not, and have never been, true.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Interrogating Identity: Frantz Fanon and the Postcolonial Prerogative”
Bhabha explores postcolonial identity through the lens of Frantz Fanon’s work and argues that identity is created through “relation to an otherness” (63). Bhabha analyzes how Fanon represents colonized peoples’ struggles for self-definition and the impact of colonization on identity. He asserts that identity is always dual, created between colonized peoples’ self-conceptions of their identity and the colonial identities imposed on them.
Colonized peoples, Bhabha argues, often adopt colonial narratives and adapt them into their own subversive tools. This adoption and subversion create a hybrid identity. Bhabha wishes to explore the fluidity of identity and the ways power dynamics shape personal identity and cultural belonging in a postcolonial society.
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Other Question: Stereotype, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism”
Bhabha explores racial stereotypes, their role in colonial encounters, and their impact on identity formation. Stereotypes, he argues, are not simplistic concepts but rather complex discourses reflecting and reinforcing power dynamics between colonizers and the colonized. They give colonizers a sense of superiority and dehumanize the colonized, helping to justify colonization.
The survival and power of stereotypes rely on their continual re-articulation throughout history. Bhabha uses Freud’s concept of fetishism to explore racial stereotypes as fetishistic, demonstrating how “otherness” is both an object of desire and derision and “contained within the fantasy of origin and identity” (96). He defines the stereotype as a form of knowledge and identification that is considered already known, and yet it is unstable in that it must be repeated. Stereotypes reflect colonial discourse’s reliance on “the concept of ‘fixity’ in the ideological construction of otherness” (94).
Introduction-Chapter 3 Analysis
In Part 1, Bhabha sets the stage for his broader critique of colonialism and its lingering impact on cultural identity. His argument disrupts traditional models of colonial oppression, offering a more nuanced understanding of The Negotiation of Cultural Identity and Hybridity under the pressures of colonial power. Bhabha challenges the idea of fixed cultural identities early on by introducing the concept of a “third space,” where cultural interaction, translation, and hybridization occur “in between” the colonial and indigenous cultures. This third space is created through the interaction between colonizers and colonized, and it is marked by ambiguity and flux. Cultural identity, Bhabha argues, is not static or “pure,” but is instead always in a state of negotiation and shaped by historical and social contexts. This concept is central to his critique of colonial power and its lingering presence in the modern, postcolonial world.
Bhabha introduces the concept of “locations of culture” as dynamic sites of continuous identity construction and re-definition. He offers his own concepts of diversity and difference, explaining that cultural identity is hybrid, meaning it is a combination of influences, meanings, and practices that cannot be reduced to a single, essentialized narrative (See: Index of Terms). Diversity, he argues, is the static coexistence of different groups, and it includes a superficial understanding of those groups and how they negotiate identity.
Difference, on the other hand, is more dynamic and fluid, reflecting how cultures articulate identity and negotiate cultural meaning. Difference is not just the blending of cultures but a radical transformation, opening up new possibilities for cultural meaning and expression. Through this concept of difference, Bhabha argues that the colonized subject is never merely a passive recipient of colonial rule. Instead, the colonized subject is always in an active process of redefining and negotiating their identity in relation to both colonial and indigenous cultures.
In Part 1, Bhabha explores how colonialism imposes a fractured and ambivalent sense of self upon the colonized, drawing on Frantz Fanon’s psychological analysis of colonialism. He demonstrates how the colonized are subjected to the colonizer’s gaze, which attempts to fix their identity through racial and cultural stereotypes that cannot fully capture the colonized subject’s lived experience. These alien and imposed identities are never fully stable and always fluid. By engaging with Fanon, Bhabha argues for the need to rethink identity as something not only shaped by history and oppression but also as a dynamic, evolving process.
The theme of Deconstructing Binaries in Colonial and Postcolonial Discourse also plays a role in Bhabha’s Part 1 analyses. Bhabha critiques rigid binaries by emphasizing their instability and inherent contradictions, revealing how the colonizer’s representations of the colonized are never entirely consistent. The colonized are portrayed as both inferior and dangerous, and this tension within colonial discourse creates openings for resistance and subversion. To further develop this argument, Bhabha uses the concept of mimicry, in which the colonized subject imitates or adopts the cultural norms of the colonizer, often in a distorted or exaggerated manner (See: Index of Terms). Mimicry may seem like submission or assimilation, but Bhabha argues that it is also a form of resistance. Mimicry enables the creation of a hybridized identity that exposes the absurdity of colonial authority and its enforced binaries.
Mimicry is thus a type of ironic resistance, wherein the colonized subject creates a distorted image of the colonizer’s identity. This blurred copy undermines the power of colonial representations by exposing the artificiality and contradictions of colonial power and traditions. Bhabha critiques binaries further by engaging with Frantz Fanon’s psychoanalytic dimensions of colonial identity, particularly his work on alienation and the psychological toll of colonialism. The colonized internalize negative stereotypes imposed by the colonizer, and this results in a fragmented sense of self. Bhabha suggests that the process of identity formation under colonialism is not just one of oppression but also of constant negotiation and reconstruction.
Bhabha consistently uses the concept of hybridity as a central device in his analysis. It allows him to avoid simplistic categorization of cultural identity and highlights the constant state of flux that is part of hybrid identity. Hybridity encapsulates the dynamic and fluid nature of cultural identity. Bhabha also builds his argument with consistent intertextuality, engaging with many literary and theoretical works to situate his analysis within a broader theoretical conversation. He engages with theorists like Fanon and Edward Said and offers examples of postcolonial identity creation in works of literature like Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
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