Research and Such

Hello Team!

Thank you Ally for setting up the blog so promptly. I love the photos :)

Hybridity:

Hybridity commonly refers to the creation of new transcultural forms within the contact zone produced by colonization. In horticulture, the term refers to the cross-breeding of two species by grafting or cross-pollination to form a third, 'hybrid' species. Hybridization takes many forms: linguistic, cultural, political, racial. etc.
- Class Text: Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts

Homi K. Bhabha's hybridity:

The term 'hybridity' has been most recently associated with the work of Bhabha, whose analysis of colonizer/colonized relations stresses their interdependence and the mutual construction of their subjectivities.
- Class Text: . . . The Key Concepts

 Presentation Focus: An analysis of hybridity in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. More specifically, examining the hybridity of characters and setting within the novel and the effect of hybridity on these people/places. Hybridity is the product of intertwining the cultures of the colonizer and the colonized. It creates people (and potentially places) that are in-between the two cultures. Since the hybrids are neither one culture nor the other, they become marginalized and excluded. They are a danger to the integrity of either culture and thus remain isolated and 'othered'.

Let us focus a lot of effort on Antoinette, since she is the epitome of hybridity and the main character of the novel. I have found a very helpful Essay on Antoinette's hybridity (which leads to her isolation):

http://hig.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:218975

I included that brief excerpt about Bhabha because it talks about a relationship of interdependence between the Colonizer and the Colonized. A similar interdependence is seen in Wide Sargasso Sea between Antoinette and the servants. Since this directly correlates with Bhabha's ideas on hybridity we should incorporate it when discussing Antoinette 

A few words about the organization of our presentation:

1) Itinerary
             Where we can introduce ourselves, and the layout of our presentation. Almost like a "index". 

2) Introduction - Khalid
             The introduction of our presentation should include a contextualization of the novel, a brief few words about the author, and our "focus" as outlined above. I no longer think we should have Bhabha's and Said's laid out in the introduction. I think this would be appropriate if we were doing a complete reading of the novel from these perspectives; however, since we're only focusing on small parts of the critics' doctrines I think we should bring these ideas up in the body of the presentation. What do you guys think? That being said, Khalid can still prepare a break down of each critic (the parts that are relevant, since we will only be using fragments from each doctrine) to make it easier on those writing the body of the presentation

3) The body: Discussing hybridity as seen in characters/setting and the reactions of these characters/setting to their in-between state.

4) The conclusion
             This is pretty straight forward....

Other elements:
         We will have the skits (introducing new ideas), key note for visual appeal, a handout for clarity, and a large elephant in the corner ....


I have to run as I'm working at 6:00 tonight. I plan on working on further research ASAP.

- Martyna G.