Subversive verses : the sublim(inial)ity of hybrid cultures and sexualities

Abstract

Cultural and sexual hybrids have been overlooked due to the reinforcing and simplifying ideologies of normative and binary thinking. This neglect has led to the marginalization and indivisibility of multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, and bisexual identities. In this thesis, narrative, verse, theory, and the stories of fifteen young Canadian women are used to illuminate the nature and complexities of hybrid identities. Theorizing about hybridity is important because it deepens analyses of identity while expanding political strategies in the struggle for social justice. In the context of identity politics, the recognition of hybridity can reinforce a commitment to coalitional politics and can encourage a valuation of narratives and stories. Drawing on feminist, postcolonial, queer, bisexual, and postmodern theories, I challenge some widely held assumptions of the normativity of monoracial, monoethnic, monocultural, and monosexual identities, in addition to pointing out the limitations of binary oppositional categorization. Examples of these assumptions and limitations are explored through a discussion of hybrid identity and community formation, and an analysis of the unique forms of oppression that affect hybrids such as monoracism, colourism, monosexism, and biphobia. I conclude by proposing ways in which hybridity can be rendered more intelligible in the context of mononormative binary oppositional categories, through storytelling, coalition building, continuums, fluidity, fragmentation, syncretism, and border-crossing.