Cultural Studies paper by Dömötör, Teodóra
Cultural Hybridity; Can Transnational Identity Be De-territorialized? (Accepted)
Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentationAbstract (max. 250 words):
This paper investigates the interplay between transnationalism, identity, and space. Notwithstanding the processes of hybridization expected from a transnational theoretical frame, the vast majority of recent studies pertaining to transnationalism take the approach that migrants experience a duality between place of origin and place of residence. Literary texts written by or about expatriates often disclose the fact that the native component of one’s identity has a greater influence on how they perceive the world as they view it through the lens of their native bias. Consequently, cultural hybridity – which refers to the complete internalization of more than one culture, enabling people not to be stuck in only one way of thinking – comes across as a slightly problematic term. Transnational individuals may feel comfortable dealing with several cultures simultaneously, but the multiple and continuous linkages that they sustain across borders modify their sense of belonging to a place and influence their identity as well. The concepts of transnationalism and identity inherently call for juxtaposition, highlighting that the distinct space that transnational individuals occupy – neither here nor there or both here and there – represents a third, separate, unique sphere marked by a constant sense of in‐betweenness. The central questions of ‘where we are’ and ‘who we are’ are, therefore, intertwined with each other.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Teodora Domotor received her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Surrey, UK. She currently works as an Assistant Professor at Karoli Gaspar University in Budapest, Hungary. Her primary research goals are directed towards the study of twentieth-century transnational American literature with a strong emphasis on the narrative representation of national and gender identity, immigration, and trauma. She is committed to interdisciplinary research: psychoanalysis, gender studies, and social history form the basis of her arguments. Her articles, chapters, and book reviews have appeared (or are forthcoming) in American and European publications.