Homi K. Bhabha

Homi K. Bhabha

Homi K. Bhabha (born May 6, 1949 in Mumbai ) is an Indian theorist of post-colonialism of Parsi descent. He teaches at Harvard University (as of 2020).

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In 2012 Homi K. Bhabha was awarded the Indian State Order Padma Bhushan . In the same year he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Free University of Berlin . Bhabha has been an Honorary Member of the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research Berlin since 2015 . In 2020 he was elected to the British Academy as an external member .

position

In the field of cultural studies, Homi Bhabha takes a critical look at Althusser's interpretation of Marx and Gramsci's concept of cultural hegemony with the category of the subaltern for socially marginalized and excluded groups. "These theories are read against the grain with the help of a Lacan- oriented psychoanalysis and the language and discourse analytical methods of Foucault and Derrida , with the concept of deconstruction developed by Derrida being of central importance for almost all postcolonial theorists." The racism-theoretical and revolution-theoretical works of Frantz Fanon such as black skin, white masks form a central basis here.

Most recently, Bhabha re-coined the concept of the third place or the intermediate space: He sees it as an unrecognized space of thought - or as a non-place - between the transitory (temporary) place of the subjective home and that of the historical place.

Criticism of the traditional understanding of culture

Bhabha criticizes the traditional understanding of culture today. Cultures are understood there as carriers of stable values, norms, rites and practices. The traditional understanding of culture also assumes that cultures are self-contained, homogeneous and stable over time. In addition, the traditional understanding of culture believes that different cultures can be clearly demarcated from one another and individual cultures can be clearly identified. The traditional understanding of culture also assumes that cultures really exist and are therefore really existing and stable entities . In science, such a concept of culture is called cultural essentialism . Bhabha vehemently criticizes the traditional understanding of culture just outlined and argues in his works that the concept of culture should be rethought.

Bhabha's understanding of culture: cultural difference and cultural hybridity

Bhabha's understanding of culture is characterized by the fact that it rejects most notions of cultural essentialism. For Bhabha, cultures are not stable, closed, pure entities, but the opposite. Above all, they are characterized by their constant change and their differences. One of the main characteristics of culture is the uninterrupted discussions, debates and discourses that take place in a society. In both public and private spheres, debates and discourses are the order of the day in every human community. According to Bhabha, culture is not a tacit consensus that is blindly nodded by the majority and remains stable for centuries. In cultures there is constant discussion and arguing about social realities. This constantly creates new meanings, interpretations, meaning, differences, and much more. This continuous creation of new meanings and contents is what Bhabha calls cultural difference . Cultural difference is one of the most important concepts in Bhabha's works and is a major characteristic of cultures.

Third room

Bhabha understands the third room as a venue and the possibility of bringing about cultural difference. The third room is not a physically real existing room. There is not just one third room, but countless. A third room can open up wherever people with the most varied of knowledge or from different cultures meet and discuss meanings and contents. The core property of a Third Room is that new content and cultural differences are constantly being created. These newly negotiated meanings in the third room are also not set in stone, but dynamic, performative and changeable and limited in time. According to Bhabha, the negotiations in the third room prove that one and the same symbol can be read, understood, interpreted, translated and rehistored in completely different ways:

“It is that Third Space, though unrepresentable in itself, which constitutes the discursive conditions of enunciation that ensure that the meaning and symbols of culture have no primordial unity or fixity; that even the same signs can be appropriated, translated, rehistoricized and read anew. "

The contents that are negotiated in a third room are not necessarily better , more correct or more consistent than others. They just represent alternative constructions and ways of thinking.

translation

The concept of translation describes a way in which cultural hybridity and differences are created. Translation must not be confused here with or reduced to a translation of languages. When translating, symbols or social constructions are reevaluated or renegotiated. This in turn creates cultural difference. Bhabha warns of a common misperception in the translation process. It is wrongly believed here that translation can reproduce an original idea one to one. After Bhabha this is by no means possible. In every translation there are slight changes, misinterpretations, errors, which is why a copy of the original is simply impossible. Going on, Bhabha criticizes the misconception of the originality of ideas and concepts, which then serve as the origin of the translation. Concepts, symbols and ideas are not stable entities either, but are subject to constant change.

Another form of translation is the deliberate reinterpretation of symbols and ideas that, for example, do not come from the translator's culture. Bhabha cites the example of the western novel The Satanic Verses , which, in addition to its main story, also addresses Islam in its time of origin and the prophet Mohammed. Mohammed and the Koran are presented in a very different way than is the case in religious-Islamic practice. Bhabha sees a classic case of translation here: the author looks at the prophet from an alternative perspective, creates new meanings, readings, differences and much more that deviate greatly from traditional readings. It must be reiterated that one perspective is no better or more correct than the other. Bhabha only wants to point out how different translations can take place and how cultural differences are created.

Borders and borders

The borders and margins of societies play an important role in post-colonialism itself.

1. Bhabha's theory and works largely focus on the phenomena, discourses and negotiations at the edges and boundaries of a society. A lively exchange of ideas and a constant production of new meanings and interpretations can be seen especially at the edges and borders (see cultural difference and third space). Bhabha sees himself here in the tradition of postcolonialism , which tries to deconstruct differences and social realities from the edges and boundaries of society . Deconstruction describes a method of the philosopher Jacques Derrida . The process of deconstruction is intended to question things that are taken for granted (such as language, social ideas, etc.). In doing so, new differences and differences are consciously created in order to show possible alternatives to the social mainstream. The deconstruction thus shows that most of the social things taken for granted are by no means natural , real or normal , but are socially constructed and thus variable. Deconstructions of social ideas do not only take place in science. They also take place (in a different way) on the fringes and borders of societies, where different issues are debated.
2. Bhaba's criticism of notions of borders: Borders are usually understood as clear dividing lines that separate one nation from the other. Bhabha challenges this traditional way of thinking about cultural and social boundaries. Borders are potential separations between two societies, but at the same time they are primarily a meeting place for two cultures. Bhabha also criticizes the common notion of so-called container societies : societies or cultures should not be presented as closed containers. A lively exchange takes place at the borders, on a material as well as an ideal basis. This exchange takes place in the third room.

Works

• Nation and Narration. 1990, ISBN 0-415-01483-2 .
• The location of culture. 1994
  • German edition: The localization of culture. Translated from English by M. Schiffmann and J. Freudl. Stauffenburg Verlag, Tübingen 2000, ISBN 3-86057-033-1 .
• About cultural hybridity: tradition and translation. Turia + Karl, Vienna / Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-85132-625-3 .

literature

• Alois Moosmüller: Cultural Difference: Discourses and Contexts . In: Alois Moosmüller (Hrsg.): Concepts cultural difference . pp.13-45. Münster 2009, pp. 33–34.
• María do Mar Castro Varela, Nikita Dhawan: Postcolonial Theory. A critical introduction . Bielefeld, transcript-Verlag 2005. ISBN 3-89942-337-2 .
• Karen Struve, Jochen Bonz: Homi K. Bhabha: On the inside of cultural difference: "in the middle of differences" . In: Stephan Moebius, Dirk Quadflieg (Ed.): Culture. Present theories . Pp. 132-145. 2nd Edition. Wiesbaden 2011.
• Karen Struve: On the topicality of Homi K. Bhabha. Introduction to his work . Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013. ISBN 978-3-531-16432-8 .
• Udo Wolter: The obscure subject of desire. Frantz Fanon and the pitfalls of the subject of liberation . ISBN 3-89771-005-6 .

Web links

Commons : Homi K. Bhabha  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Homi K. Bhabha in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Udo Wolter: The obscure subject of desire. Frantz Fanon and the pitfalls of the subject of liberation .
2. ^ Alois Moosmüller: Cultural Difference: Discourses and Contexts . In: Alois Moosmüller (Hrsg.): Concepts cultural difference . pp.13-45. Münster 2009, p. 33-34 .
3. ↑ Karen Struve: On the topicality of Homi K. Bhabha. Introduction to his work . Current and classical social and cultural scientists. Wiesbaden 2013, p. 43 .
4. ↑ Moosmüller (2009): p. 33.
5. ↑ Karen Struve, Jochen Bonz: Homi K. Bhabha: On the inside of cultural difference: "in the middle of differences". In: Stephan, Moebius, Stephan Quadflieg (Ed.): Culture. Present theories. pp.132-145. 2nd Edition. Wiesbaden 2011, p. 137-138 .
6. ↑ Struve / Bonz (2011): p. 38.
7. ↑ Homi K. Bhabha: The location of culture . London / New York 1994, p. 37 .
8. ↑ Struve (2013): p. 131.
9. ↑ Struve / Bonz (2011): p. 138.
10. ↑ Homi K. Bhabha: On Cultural Hybridity. Tradition and translation . Vienna / Berlin 2016, p. 80-81 .
11. ↑ Moosmüller (2009): p. 33.