Customer Reviews

Nation and Narration

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If there's one thing that this book offers it is the articulation of gaps and fissures that have been long denied and silenced by the grand narratives of history operating in the hegemonic code of linear western imperialism. This book speaks to us in a special way by virtue of our colonial experience which allows us to question the very foundation of most historical discourses that have been in our curricula and educational system. Reading Bhabha's article DissemiNation, enlightens one in the boundaries and margins of the discourses together with their historical contingencies. Along with The Location of Culture one cannot truly understand postcolonial experience without referring to these books by Homi K. Bhabha.

How unfortunate that the previous reviewer had to resort to questioning a fellow reader's intellect and ability to read what is undoubtedly a complicately structured text. This type of comment epitimises the elitism that Bhabha is himself charged with. The inaccessability of this text to the wide majority of readers(and that is not due to a need for reading classes) has left Bhabha's 'liminal space' an area of discussion accessible only to a handful of individuals whose academic capital apparently surpasses that of their humility. There is no attempt made at any point in this book to explain what are undoubdtedly fascinating concepts in laymans terms, thereby excluding the vast majority of readers of all social strata for whom reading is a pleasure and not a struggle .

I don't like Homi Bhabha and I deeply dislike poscolonialist approaches. I think, as a passionate for literature that these theories have lead to forget the aesthetics of reading. I agree that Europe has crushed the periphery and all those ideas but I also don't believe that the solution is to create dangerous identities as totalizing as the European impositions. Nonetheless, I recognize that this book is very useful for anybody trying to understand the concept of nation. Bhabha articulates not very convincingly Fanon and Derrida, but the essays of Brennan and Sommer are excellent and the recovery of Renan's concept provides an excellent counterpoint. The book is a must for anybody interested in the topic, but still does not substite the reading of Said, Fanon and Benedict Anderson.

I was forced to read this book, not out of personal interest, but for the purpose of a graduate seminar on Canadian identity. In his prose (if you would like to call it that), Bhabha offers no conclusion, no criticism of other theory, no theory at all for that matter, and no agency. It is poetry- which is great if you like poetry- but not so great if you are expecting to learn anything at all about nationalism or identity. He is well known for being incomprehensible for a good reason and unless you have the time to read and re-read then I also have to agree that you choose another author. Best of luck either way.

Homi Bhabha is undoubtedly a smart man, with much to offer to the field of postcolonialism. If you read this book with no real timeline (or, rather, if you can re-read and re-read it), you will get a lot from it. BUT the man needs a composition course or two. He is very much of the school of 'if I have a great idea, I must make it look inaccessible for people to think it so' and in the process renders his book rather useless. A great pity, but all in all, you should just read him if your university course requires you to. Otherwise, read his fans, those who can summarize him in plain English

Great book! Very insightful concerning relationships with 'the other' (other cultures, other people, etc.).

Boring, hard to read, hard to understand. Don't read it unless you have to or you're really interested in this topic.

I was mystified by the ignorance of a previous reviewer whose implications that Bhabha could not write clearly showed not only his stupidity, but perhaps also a marked LACK of reading classes. could i perhaps suggest to this gentleman that he take a reading class so that he is better equipped to deal with the prose, poetry and magic that abounds within this most important and significant of post-colonial discourses.