Page 121 - Introducing Cultural Studies
P. 121
Liberal democracy or Marxist historicism, Bhabha further asserts,
cannot cope with the diversity of cultures. Their tendency to
universalize and historicize makes cultural diversity transparent
and elusive. In any case, different cultures are "incommensurables"
and cannot be categorized into universalist frameworks. Against
this containment of cultures, Bhabha seeks, as the title of his book
suggests, The Location of Culture (1994), a "third space". This new
space is "hybridity". Hybridity not only displaces the history that
creates it, but sets up new structures of authority and generates
new political initiatives.
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