Critic speak is tough, but we've got you covered.
Quote :"Of Mimicry and Man" from The Location of Culture
The effect of mimicry on authority of colonial discourse is profound and disturbing. For in "'normalizing"' the colonial state or subject, the dream of post-Enlightenment civility alienates its own language of liberty and produces another knowledge of its norms [….] It is from this area between mimicry and mockery, where the reforming, civilizing mission is threatened by the displacing gaze of its disciplinary double, that my instances of colonial imitation come. What they all share is a discursive process by which the excess or slippage produced by the ambivalence of mimicry (almost the same, but not quite) does not merely "'rupture"' the discourse, but becomes transformed into an uncertainty which fixed the colonial subject as a "'partial"' presence. By "'partial"' I mean both "'incomplete"' and "'virtual"'. It is as if the very emergence of the "'colonial"' is dependent for its representation upon some strategic limitation or prohibition within the authoritative discourse itself. The success of colonial appropriation depends on a proliferation of inappropriate objects that ensure its strategic failure, so that mimicry is at once resemblance and menace.
Shaking in your shoes? Don't. This passage is a lot simpler than it seems. Bhabha is basically saying this: when a colonial state forces its subjects to adopt a new culture and way of life (new laws, new languages, cricket), the colonized person or "'subject"' imitates the colonizer in such a way as to be almost identical to the colonizer. That almost is extremely important because that's where Bhabha's whole theory of resistance lies.
Think of the colonizer kind of like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers; he thinks he's created a perfect "'Mini-me"' but, in reality, "'Mini-me's"' presence just makes Dr. Evil look silly. "'Mini-me"' is almost, but clearly not Dr. Evil (especially since "'Mini-me"' is literally a "'partial presence,"' being half of Dr. Evil's height) so everything he does just amplifies the already-ridiculous nature of Dr. Evil, thereby showing how Dr. Evil is the original "'partial presence"'—an incomplete guy who needs a "'Mini-me"' in order to appear dominant. Just like a colonizer.
The effect that "'Mini-me's"' imitation of Dr. Evil has on us is an example of that "'excess"' or "'slippage"' Bhabha mentions. Colonial domination no longer appears perfect or seamless because it's full of these unintended effects, like snorting milk out of your nose while laughing at "'Mini-me"' and Dr. Evil. And how effective is Dr. Evil in his quest for world domination? Yep. Not very. So that's why Bhabha sees mimicry as a potential form of political resistance.
So what's the big deal about all this mimicry stuff? This passage and the pages around it lay the foundation for Bhabha's theory of the hybrid subject: that person who can imitate the colonizer but in a way that can disrupt the colonizer's power rather than reinforce it.
Is it a 100-billion dollar theory? Probs not. If you're thinking "'Eh…not buying it,"' then you wouldn't be alone. Bhabha's theory is definitely controversial in some circles because it's not exactly the typical way political protests have been done (he's no Gandhi). But that doesn't mean that he's not onto something either.