Cultural Hybridity

Cultural hybridity constitutes the effort to maintain a sense of balance among practices, values, and customs of two or more different cultures. In cultural hybridization, one constructs a new identity that reflects a dual sense of being, which resides both within and beyond the margins of nationality, race, ethnicity, class, and linguistic diversity. Many immigrants, for instance, face this process as they attempt to accommodate new environments and experiences, while holding on to their indigenous sociocultural principles or beliefs. An important resource is language, which may be used to construct an identity, to adapt to new cultural environments, and to make sense of new experiences or some combination of these features. The literature on cultural hybridity provides multidimensional understandings of how the construction of new identities is a complex process. This entry examines the origin and related advances of cultural hybridity. It also provides examples of the role of the learning environment in the shifting of identities for a variety of students with implications for addressing diversity in schools.