Mimicry On Identity

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The effect of mimicry on our identity How are our identities created? Is it an constant fact or a continuously changing and progressing production influenced by our cultural environment? How are we identified? Why is the West conceived as superior? When talking about identity many take it as a completed act and to a certain extend this may be true. When we are born we have already fixed stereotypes and perceptions about our identity depending on the country we are born in, we are described by our skin colour, common features, possessions, history, etc. The source of the perception of western countries being superior to any other in the world lies in the historical interaction between the West and the East. Multiple postcolonial studies give …show more content…

From the moment we enter this world we acquire certain characteristics, given to us by the place we find ourselves in. These are the concepts that are permanent and fixed that have been assigned to us from the day we are born, that we cannot change or eliminate. The simplest example is our gender. We are born identified as either male or female. With gender come socially recognised standardized character traits. Males are perceived as the powerful, stronger sex and female as the weaker, the subordinate. The concept of gender and their definitions created long in the past, of man being superior to female still plays a role in today’s society, where women are still considered inferior and often receive lower salaries than males for the same work. Apart from the gender, another thing that is attached to us and is a constructed part in our identity since our first day on Earth is our country of origin. When we say where we are from the person we are talking to can get an instant subjective idea about us, that has been imposed by the society, by the media, by the culture of our country, etc. Although gender types are fixed and unchangeable all around the world, their definitions and common traits associated with them vary very much depending on the place the person is born at. This introduces the idea of the surroundings influencing gretaly the detailed description of one identity.
The role …show more content…

There are always cultural and racial differences which prevent one’s complete transformation into something new. The goal of the colonized for an absolute conversion into the less inferior role and to have the power of the colonizers is never accomplished. Bhabba says “the menace of mimicry is the double vision which in disclosing the ambivalence of colonial discourse also disturpts its authority” (Bhabba, 88) When the Other tries to mirror back the image of the West, this does not produce identity, only a sort of representation. Mimicry can be seen as a destructive tool, not only for the colonized people who can never achieve their goal and who’s identity is suppressed, but also for the colonizers, which imperfections are being reflected and

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