Cultural Hybridity and Its Complexity in Esmeralda Santiago’s Almost a Woman

Abstract

Abstrak. Tulisan ini mendiskusikan hibriditas dalam novel Almost A Woman karya Esmeralda Santiago. Novel ini menceritakan permasalahan kultural yang dialami Negi, tokoh utama, sebagai imigran Puerto Rico di New York, di mana ia harus mengapropriasi budaya Amerika agar bisa diterima oleh masyarakat induk. Untuk membahas permasalahan tersebut, kami akan menggunakan teori poskolonial Bhabha. Analisis tekstual digunakan untuk menjelaskan data terpilih dengan cara pandang poskolonial tanpa mengabaikan keterkaitan kontekstualnya dengan dinamika imigrasi dan diaspora. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahwa tokoh utama harus menjalankan strategi kultural berupa mimikri dan hibriditas agar bisa diterima di masyarakat induk dan bisa mendukung impian modernnya. Meskipun menikmati budaya Amerika secara apropriatif, ia masih berusaha untuk tidak melupakan budaya Puerto Rico. Dengan strategi ini subjek diasporik bisa menegosiasikan kepentingannya di tengah-tengah masyarakat induk dan kuasa budaya dominan, tanpa harus meninggalkan sepenuhnya budaya Puerto Rico. Abstract. This paper discusses hybridity in Esmeralda Santiago’s Almost A Woman. This novel tells about cultural problems experienced by Negi, the main character, as a Puerto Rican immigrant in New York, where she must appropriate American cultures in order to be accepted by the host community. To discuss this problem, we will apply Bhabha's postcolonial theory. Textual analysis is used to explain selected data from a postcolonial perspective without ignoring its contextual relationship with the dynamics of immigration and diaspora. The results of this study show that the main character must carry out a cultural strategy in the form of mimicry and hybridity in order to be accepted in the parent community and be able to support his modern dreams. Despite enjoying appropriately American culture, she still tries not to forget Puerto Rican cultures. With this strategy the diasporic subject can negotiate its interests in the midst of the host society and the dominant cultural power, without having to completely abandon Puerto Rican culture.