The limits of cultural hybridity: On ritual monsters, poetic licence and contested postcolonial purifications

There are many parallels between hybridity theory, especially as it has bee n developed in che work of Bhabha, and theories of liminality in anthropolo gy, particularly in the work of Turner and Douglas. These share a stress on sited performance and the specific positioning of actors. However, the str ess in hybridity theory on the colonial encounter as the source of reflexiv ity and double consciousness does not engage, I argue, with the fact that c ultures produce their own indigenous forms of transgression and hence also of critical reflexivity and satire: ritual clowns, carnivals, poetry, and t he like. Moreover, while transgression is a potential tool of resistance wh ich upturns taken-for-granted hierarchies, it plays dangerously on the boun dary and, taken out of context, can become a source of offence, especially for postcolonial diasporas struggling for recognition. This raises the ques tion: what are the creative limits of cultural hybridity?