precis-Bhabha

Homi Bhabha highlights a concept that we have come across before, only this time we are presented with the role of the performer in the context of colonialism. Bhabha understands that mimicry is an extension of oneself, it is not a process of becoming someone else. Bhabha distinguishes it by saying that it, "comes from the prodigious and strategic production of conflictual, fantastic, discriminatory, 'identity effects' in the play of a power that is elusive because it hides no essence, no 'itself" (90). Mimicry is an act, just like acting on stage, and its purpose is not create a didactic essence, but rather to hide its differences in the performance. Colonialism works great as a context to present this idea and Bhabha's interest in how the "splitting of the discourse" (91). is dealt with helps to explain this concept.