I hope you have already buckled your seat belts, because our wild ride through po-co theory continues this week with the concept of mimicry and then next week with hybridity. My diss advisor Deep Singh is, for real, a lifesaver, because he has articulated these two concepts in a way I have never seen before. So concise. This post will save you a lot of mental trouble, so I would read it before you hit the Bhabha piece. Reading Deep’s piece, I am reminded of how important it is to have a rock star as an advisor…
It seems our conversation about identity is bound to continue, and the novel I have chosen for this week (or the first half of it) is pretty much THE novel a po-co scholar will use to discuss these two concepts. Plus, I love this novel because I think it is teachable to a secondary school population. Getting world lit texts in the classroom is a goal of mine, so anytime I can assign a piece that a high school teacher could use, I do.
What I would like you to do with week’s blog post is apply your understanding of the theory to Nervous Conditions (I think you should be able to do that having just read the first half). Pick a scene or a character and start to play with applying theory to text. If you are feeling nervous about doing that (sorry, I had to), let me know. I am here to help.
I love this cover. I love the extra-diegetic gaze of the girl. So smart and assertive. We don’t always see book covers like this one, as this great piece will illustrate in just a few minutes of your time.
If you have an extra 90 minutes, you can watch this. NOT required. Just throwing it out there for your consideration if you would like to spend an hour and a half with Homi Bhabha instead of Idris Elba.
KU Postcolonial Theory and Texts 