An Exploration of Identity and Hybridity in Postcolonial Fiction: A Textual Analysis of Reyna Grande’s The Distance between Us

Abstract

This qualitative research analyzes Reyna Grande’s memoir The Distance between Us (2012) through the lens of postcolonial theory, using Stuart Hall’s (1990) theoretical framework of cultural identity and hybridity. The study explores how Grande, a Mexican American writer, negotiates the conflict of split cultural identities and the ongoing process of identity formation while living in host land. Through theoretical framework of Stuart Hall (1990), the research reveals how the memoir reflects the fluid, fragmented, and evolving nature of identity shaped by cultural traditions, historical context, and societal expectations. However, the cultural identity findings underscore that identity is not a fixed essence but a continuous process of becoming, shaped by migration, memory, resistance, and adaptation in diasporic context and thus, it tends to shape into a new hybrid identity when characters navigate and interact with another culture. To conclude, hybrid identity challenges the traditional notion of identity by claiming that there is no such thing as superior or inferior culture as endorsed by colonial discourse and practices.