The Location of Culture

Bhabha’s Introduction to the text provides an overarching view of his argument, including the central claim that cultural identities are created in moments “in-between”—moments when colonial cultures and indigenous cultures intersect to create something blended and new. In other words, cultural identity is hybrid because it is created in, and defined by, these “in-between” moments when groups of people interact. Pure national identities, Bhabha argues, are a construction.

Bhabha also discusses the “borders” between past, present, and future and how those borders affect identity. “Post-” schools of criticism (i.e., post-colonialism, post-modernism, etc.) reference the “beyond,” or the future, but they are actually an interaction, in the present, between past and future.

Bhabha also addresses related concepts, including public versus private spheres and how they relate to his concept of “in-between” or interstitial spaces. He references post-modern works like Toni Morrison’s Beloved and art by Renee Green to explore how their works provide metaphors for the “in-between” and the passages between times and groups of people.

Bhabha also examines the concept of “unhomeliness,” which refers to how colonized subjects feel caught between two cultures: The colonial culture and their indigenous one. Discussing the concept of an “unhomely” moment, especially in post-colonial lives, Bhabha explores the borders between public and private spheres and how they develop an intimacy in their interstitial interactions.