The concepts of hybridity and border space presented by Gloria Anzaldúa in Borderlands: La Frontera / The New Mestiza (1987) are considered key themes in postcolonial studies., (ver aqui: http://www.qub.ac.uk/imperial/key-concepts/Hybridity.htm) and these can be related with "Third Space of enunciation" defined by Homi Bhabha in The Location of Culture (1995).
"The intervention of the Third Space, which makes the structure of meaning and reference an ambivalent process, destroys this mirror of representation in which cultural knowledge is continuously revealed as an integrated, open, expanding code. Such an intervention quite properly challenges our sense of the historical identity of culture as a homogenizing, unifying force, authenticated by the originary Past, kept alive in the national tradition of the People. In other words, the disruptive temporality of enunciation displaces the narrative of the Western nation (...) as being written in homogeneous, serial time.
It is only when we understand that all cultural statements and systems are constructed in this contradictory and ambivalent space of enunciation, that we begin to understand why hierarchical claims to the inherent originality or “purity” of cultures are untenable, even before we resort to empirical historical instances that demonstrate their hybridity."
Homi K. Bhabha.
Find and comment on examples of hybridity (in textual structure, narrative voice, themes addressed, and reproduced discourses) in the chapter of Borderlands to be read in class, and comment briefly on them.
In the preface, the author expresses her desire to write freely without having to restrict herself to a single language and culture in order to be understood. For once, she does not want to have to renounce on any part of herself, but rather, she wishes to be met halfway by the reader.
ReplyDeleteThe style of 'Borderlands' seems to be a result of this very expressive urge, as it is very hybrid in nature, and therefore true to the author's self-defined nature, i.e. a 'border woman'.
This is mainly apparent in two ways: firstly, the mixing of different genres in the textual structure, that is, poetry, historiography/journalism and autobiography, all intertwined with quotations from other authors. These genres are not merely juxtaposed, rather, they seem to be feeding on each other, mutually necessary in order to recompose the story of the author as a whole. The poetry contains autobiographical facts, the autobiography is a form of historiography, and the telling of current events contains some passages of lyricism (e.g. "trembling with fear, yet filled with courage, a courage born of desperation" or the poetic metaphor "The US-Mexican border es uma herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds"). In the continuous shift between this genres, the author's voice changes accordingly: at times she is the objective narrator of the struggles faced by her people, at times the inner turmoil she feels bleeds through her words, especially when recounting her personal life, or when writing in verses.
Secondly, the hybridism is very apparent linguistically: Spanish and English are constantly alternated, sometimes even in the same sentence, as bilingual people are in the habit of speaking. This is not very surprising in the most autobiographical parts, which are more emotionally connotated, for example in the part where the author reminisces on her aunt's words "No corran, don't run. They'll think you're del otro lao". The mixing of Spanish and English gives a more veridical appearance to her aunt's speech.
What is peculiar, however, is that the author mixes Spanish and English everywhere, even in the sections that have a more matter-of-fact tone. Of course, some terms, as 'conquistador' or 'mestizos' are of relatively common usage in historiography: but she uses full sentences in Spanish as well, for example when she is talking about the invasion of Cortés and the birth of a new race "En 1521 nacìo una nueva raza, el mestizo, el mexicano". She could have very well written this part completely in English, or, of course, completely in Spanish: but the words probably came to her mind in that one language, and she wrote accordingly, switching between the two languages, true to her desire of not having to translate herself.