THE CONCEPT OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE

Abstract

The collapse of the colonial system in the second half of the XX century and the ensuing mass migration to the countries of Europe and the United States actualized a number of issues related to the need to rethink and demythologize the colonial past, as well as to describe a modern multicultural society and use a strategy of the further East and West. The need for a revision of key cultural, philosophical and social concepts associated with colonial discourse became apparent. One of the central issues was the question of the cultural identity. Within the framework of postcolonial theory, such researchers as Homi Bhabha, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall and others have developed concepts of hybridity, ambivalence, double consciousness, mimicry, third space, etc., which help to look at this phenomenon in a new way. Using the theoretical work of the mentioned researchers, this article examines how the basic concepts related to the concept of identity. The novels by S. Rushdie, H. Kureishi, V. Naipaul, H. Kunzru and other postcolonial writers were taken as a source.