At today’s café discussion we spoke about how Homi Baba’s concept of hybridity applied to our personal case studies. This is the gist of what each of us had to say.
Reka
Homi Bhabha’s argument complements the immense hybrid identity of soccer as a whole. Take, for example, the French national soccer team, where a significant amount of players originate from Mali, Senegal, Algeria, and other countries previously colonized by France. This multicultural facet of the team mutually benefits both countries; the players migrate to France in hopes of playing for a world-renown team and the team welcomes immense talents. In this regard, I realized that national teams embody a collective representation of the country, with its ethnic diversity and its multitude of origins. Further, through the lens of this particular case study, hybridity takes on complicated implications; it brings into question the true ethnic identity of any particular nationality. Due to colonial times, what does being a true Frenchman mean? Bhabha presents a strong argument when he notes the way in which post-colonialism does not bear complete distinction to colonialism; indeed, the two periods are strongly linked and post-colonialism has strong connections to its corresponding past.
Ben
As one of the leading theorists regarding hybridity, Homi Bhabha is incredibly relevant to my personal blog topic. My topic, Southern Linguistics, Accents, and Creole Dialectic all stem from the concept of hybridity. As the Acadians migrated south from eastern Canada in the late 1700s, they settled in diaspora communities across the US, but mainly became concentrated in the South, particularly in eastern Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, as well as select areas of Maine. These communities took the French influence and combined them with local influences, mainly African slave culture and southern dialogue, forming a type of accent and colloquial collection of words and phrases. The history of these phrases can be traced, but their hybridity is remarkable because they have permeated both society and media. This multiculturalism, especially the Creole culture, is directly related to Bhabha’s theory, a culture that has close ties to colonization, but has created a unique image among the ‘new’ or hybrid culture.
Rochi
The term housewife has lately been transformed in popular media. Thanks to the popular show “The Real Housewives”. The term housewife has come to encompass a wealth successful woman who stays at home, but also manages a business while keeping up appearances in her very active social life. This is not to mention the fact that most of these women also do all of the housework, take care of their kids and manages to look like a million dollars throughout the whole ordeal. The thing that I find most difficult to understand is you don’t have to be married to be a housewife to be on the show. This is where Homi Bhaba’s concept of ‘hybridity’ applies to my independent research. Up until now the word housewife defined a very specific sort of a role played by a wife. She stayed at home and priority was given to her family above all else. However, this show has hybridized the businesswoman, the stay at home mom, the socialite, the trophy wife all into one and labeled them of housewives based on the following things that they all have in common considerable wealth, ‘good looks’ and a thirst for fame.