Unpicking Passing: A Postcolonial Perspective

The introduction to this chapter starts by examining the historical foundations of passing in the US context, discussing the concept’s race-related origins and its extension to other categories such as gender and class. Following this introduction, the chapter engages in a theoretical discussion of passing, showing how it raises fundamental questions about identity, performance, and authenticity. The chapter then discusses postcolonial passing more specifically. First of all, it examines passing in relation to postcolonial theoretical concepts such as mimicry and hybridity so as to identify overlaps and specificities. Second, it builds on the understanding of passing thus outlined to show the relevance of passing to the study of postcolonial literatures. Finally, it ends with a short outline of individual chapters and how they help to examine the theme at the heart of the book.