International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

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Theories of hybridity entered international communication research at a time when the cultural imperialism thesis was ceding ground to the media globalization paradigm (→  Cultural Imperialism Theories ; Globalization Theories ). This has been controversial because “the idea of cultural hybridization is one of those deceptively simple-seeming notions which turns out … to have lots of tricky connotations and theoretical implications” ( Tomlinson 1999 , 141). Although usage of the term hybridity acquired critical momentum in Anglophone postcolonial studies – mostly focused on the British colonization of India and its politico-economic-cultural aftermath, especially in the work of literary critic Homi Bhabha (1994) – the notion itself has many historical and scholarly antecedents (→  Postcolonial Theory ). Historically, terms such as syncretism, creolization, mestizaje (Spanish), and métissage (French) have been used to describe various linguistic, racial, ethnic, and cultural mixtures in contexts as varied as ancient Egypt, post-independence Caribbean nation-states, and contemporary Latin America. Also, many scholars have used hybridity or variations on the term to explain artistic, cultural, and historical exchanges and mixtures in different parts of the world. These include the Argentinean-Mexican cultural theorist Néstor García Canclini (1995) , the Spanish-Colombian media ... log in or subscribe to read full text