P. Werbner, The limits of cultural hybridity: On ritual monsters, poetic licence and contested postcolonial purifications, J ROY ANTHR, 7(1), 2001, pp. 133-152
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?