The ambivalence of Performing Post-colonial Identity in Everyday Life- Studying Derek alcott's Pantomime Through the Lens of Performance Studies and Post-colonial theory

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to reach at an understanding of the complexities of 'performing' one's identity as a postcolonial being in everyday life. As such, synthesizing the concept of performance as it is seen through the lens of Performance studies with the theoretical formulations developed by the postcolonial thinkers, the paper attempts to explore how the question of ambivalence becomes crucial in terms of performing one's identity as a postcolonial being in a postcolonial 'hybrid' world where the binaries of the colonizer/colonized, master/slave, white/black has seemingly dissolved to give way to an altogether different, deterritorialized world of globalization. The paper therefore attempts analyzes Derek Walcott's Pantomime as an example to reflect upon a condition whereby not only the question of performing one's identity as a postcolonial being but also the question of representation becomes immensely problematic.