Esteemed, dismissed and everyday hybridity: Operationalising theory for Hong Kong’s Muslim youth

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to respond to the circumstances that have made hybridity both a popular term in cultural analysis and a contested, problematic concept. It promotes the need to look at what has been dismissed in discussions of hybridity, namely, mundane and un-exotic examples of cultural mix.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a conceptual and interpretive approach to theoretical and empirical work that engages with the theme of hybridity.

Findings

The findings highlight how a celebration of hybridity has limited the ways in which the concept can be used for empirical work. It proposes the paradigm of everyday hybridity to work with practical examples of cultural hybridity.

Research limitations/implications

The implications are to decentre the Western bias that has theorised hybridity without exploring how the concept is relevant to other regions, such as East Asia.

Originality/value

The value of this work is in providing an audit of the concept of hybridity and a working paradigm for future qualitative research.

Citation

O’Connor, P. (2018), "Esteemed, dismissed and everyday hybridity: Operationalising theory for Hong Kong’s Muslim youth", Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 2-16. https://doi.org/10.1108/STICS-06-2017-0012