Hybridity and the Crisis of Identity: Negotiating Selfhood in Postcolonial Literature

Abstract

Abstract:
Postcolonial literature critically engages with the multifaceted construction of identity in societies shaped by colonial domination and its enduring aftermath. Among the key theoretical interventions in this field is Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of hybridity, which foregrounds the cultural interstices produced through colonial encounters. Hybridity, in this context, does not merely signify a harmonious blending of cultures but rather a complex, often contentious, negotiation of meanings, values, and identities. This paper examines the ways in which hybridity generates an identity crisis in postcolonial subjects, who are frequently positioned between competing cultural frameworks and epistemologies.
Drawing upon postcolonial theory and select literary texts, the study explores the psychological dislocation, cultural ambivalence, and linguistic fragmentation that characterize hybrid identities. The analysis demonstrates how individuals in postcolonial contexts experience a persistent tension between inherited indigenous traditions and imposed colonial structures, leading to a fractured sense of self. At the same time, this condition of “in-betweenness” opens up a productive space for rearticulating identity beyond rigid binaries such as colonizer/colonized and self/other.
Furthermore, the paper investigates how language becomes a crucial site of struggle, as writers employ hybridized forms of expression to resist linguistic domination and assert agency. Through close readings of representative texts, the study highlights how hybridity operates both as a source of alienation and as a strategic mode of cultural resistance. Ultimately, the paper argues that identity crisis in postcolonial literature should not be viewed solely as a condition of loss or instability, but also as a dynamic process that enables the reconfiguration of identity in innovative and emancipatory ways.