Interrogating Cultural Hybridity in “The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid”

Abstract

Cultural blends are usual phenomenon ever since globalization increased. This amalgam of cultures results
in linguistic, racial, and cultural hybridity. While cultural hybridity can be observed in various areas of this world at different levels. Hybridity, in every form can affect the humans psychologically and physically. This research explores this phenomenon of hybridity and cultural hybridity in the novel “The Last White Man” (2022) written by Mohsin Hamid through Homi Bhabha’s concept of colonial hybridity. Anders is an individual from a privileged community: ‘The Whites’. He is transformed from white to brown through an overnight transformation of skin color. This article studies his sufferings due to falling into another culture that comes of colonized commonality. The study concludes that Anders turns hybrid and loses his identity by finding and adopting the other culture. His sufferings are like the hardships of a colonial brown individual. Cultural hybridity turns him as marginalized and a man with lost identity due to being exposed to an inferior skin and culture.