Hybridity in Postmodern Literature and Architecture DOC

Title	Hybridity in Postmodern Literature and Architecture
Author	Cecilia Acquarone
Pages	11
File Size	50.5 KB
File Type	DOC
Total Downloads	338
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Hybridity in Postmodern Literature and Architecture Licenciada Cecilia Acquarone UCEL The present paper refers to the ideological concept of hybridity and applies it to the analysis of the novel White Noise by Don Delillo and to chosen examples of U.S.A. architectonical design by the artists Frank Gehry and Michael Graves. Although the idea of hybridity originated in 19th century science, it was soon applied to the humanities in the frame of postmodern theory and proved very rich both in its ideological and aesthetic derivations. To understand its present-day applications, it is useful to trace its origins in the field of biology when it referred exclusively to "an offspring of two animals or plants of different races, breeds, varieties, species or genera". The extension of its meaning for use in the social field is found in the second entry listed in the Merriam Webster dictionary which reads: "a person produced by the blending of two diverse cultures or traditions". Although the mixing of peoples of different origins is as old as the history of humanity, the term acquired recent relevance in connection with the expansion of imperial policies after the Industrial Revolution. It is at this point that the mixing of peoples became very quick and widespread and that the issue of racism became critical. As Pieterse (2001:231) in "Theory, Culture and Society" says "… it is not mixing that is new but the scope and speed of mixing". Postmodern and postcolonial theorists, very critical of the imperial ways, question the racist assumptions which sustained the imperial ideology. In this context the term hybridity starts to acquire political significance. Although the word "race" may on a first uncritical approach refer to a way to identify physically different peoples, no scientific study has been able to ascertain the concept of different races. Rather than the actual existence of remarkable differences between peoples, what led to the idea of...