Introduction

This paper will attempt to explore the idea that an individual's multiple identities are
often made irrelevant by the state or special interest groups to bring out a singular
identity that aids in creating a national identity or a distinct group identity. Amartya Sen's
conception of Identity will be used as the theoretical framework. Historical evidence of
the use of language and religion to create a distinct identity will be explored through this
paper. This will be done by first looking at the usage of Irish and French language to
create national identities and the use of cassette tape sermons for the Islamic Revival
Movement. Said's 'Orientalism' will be briefly studied to also think of the possibility of an
outsider party imposing an identity on a group in various ways.

There exists plurality of identities and individuals employ choice to determine the
varying relevance of their particular identities. Sen points out that however the existence
of this choice is not without constraints. I wish to unravel the idea of such constraints
laid by a state or an interest group on a body of people. A possible application of
constraint could be in the form of imposition of a language or simply the promotion of a
language in a given space. Traversing the latter first, we move to the Irish landscape. In
a matter of a decade, the three thousand year language previously spoken only be
peasants in the Western province was revived by the Gaelic league. Soon every
newspaper of the region had at least one edition in the language. It was taught in
primary and secondary schools and even in universities it was placed against other
modern European languages in importance. The language permeated into the cityscape
of Dublin with street names being additionally written in Irish. It even went beyond mere

promotion of the language with instances like The League organizes festivals,
concerts, debates and social gatherings at which the speaker of Beurla (that is, English)
feels like a fish out of the water, lost in the midst of a crowd chatting away in a harsh
guttural tongue being recorded. This then becomes an example for the demonstration
of what Sen calls conformist behavior. Social pressure is effectively used by the Gaelic
League to make individuals conform to the language they now perceive to be
fashionable. Philologists have identified the Irish language to be eastern in origin and
related to the ancient language of the Phoenicians who are argued to be the
discoverers of communication and navigation. Language was thus used as a tool by an
ancient nation to renew in a modern form the glories of the past and to invoke
nationalist sentiments in the citizens.
Across the Celtic sea and the English channel is a geographical space where the state
resorted to harsher tactics for the creation of a distinct national identity. There was a
need to persuade the people that the fatherland extended beyond their immediate
environment to something intangible called France. French language was used to
create a distinct French identity. It becomes even more interesting against the fact that
in 1863, a fifth of the population did not know the language, a proportion that becomes
larger if we include those whose notion of the language was vague. Language
education in a free and compulsory education framework then becomes the instrument
for coercion to ensure a fully French speaking population within a few decades. The
forms used by school inspectors in the 1870s had the instruction Need to teach
exclusively in French. Regulations to be reviewed in pays where Basque, Breton,
Flemish and German patois etc. are spoken. There were other instances like the

prohibition and fines collected when children were caught using these indigenous
languages in schools. The imposition of a common language in this manner wipes out
the numerous languages previously coexisting in the space and subsequently
obliterates the identities attached by the speakers of these languages. One is then left
with a homogenous community speaking a single language occupying a common
geographic space, thus making it easier to implant a love for the fatherland and
establishing a strong national identity.
Religion becomes another tool for creating a singular overarching identity that covers
many individuals. Anderson in his paper Imagined Communities borrows from history
to detail how religion created imagined communities bringing together groups which
were otherwise scattered with no common ground. He recognizes that the importance of
some religion based communities, say Christianity, have since then declined with the
breakdown of sacred language, Latin as a spoken language. This idea however makes
one wonder about another sacred language, Arabic which continues to be spoken
widely. I would like to argue, that religious communities do continue to thrive, often
blurring the multiple identities that individuals have to bring forth only the identity that
makes them part of a distinct religious community.
Of the many religious movements in history that have strived to create distinct religious
community, I will delve into a particular instance of the Islamic Revival Movement. This
story takes us to the streets of Cairo. Hirschkind in his book The Ethical Soundscape
weaves a tale of the many personal narratives that is touched by cassette tape sermons
that permeates the citys soundscape. He reasons how this form of Islamic media has
had a profound effect on the configuration of religion, politics and community in the

Middle East. I chose to extend and explain the thread of how it has helped in creating a
strong community identity grounded on religion. For one, Cairo is a large city with
existence of other minorities including Coptic Christians and Jews. In such a setting, an
all pervasive media of this sort in a way strips the city of it minority identities to leave
bare a heavily Islamic identity. The sermons also have political undertones in a way that
exposes the overlapping and merging of national and religion identities in the middle
East. They often critique the lack of democracy and accountability of the ruling elites of
the Muslim world. This is best showcased by the question, Is the Islamic Revival
Movement compatible with democracy?
Going back to the Irish landscape, I briefly untwine the role of religion in creating a
distinct national identity. Joyce traces back the history of the Irish church to the first
century of Christianity. It is with the English invasion that you see the strands of religion
coming together to create a national identity. Joyce details that The ancient enemies
made a common cause against the aggression of the English. It was the Protestants
who became more Irish than the Irish themselves, they were inciting the Irish Catholics
to oppose the Calvinist and Lutheran fanatics from across the waters. Three interesting
points can be gathered from this extract. One is by saying that the Protestants became
more Irish than the Irish themselves, it strongly suggests a past where the Irish identity
was solidly tied with that of Catholicism. This makes a case for my argument that
religion is often a cohesive for creating a distinct identity. There is also a hint of the
strong collective national identity that gets created in the light of oppression from
outsiders. It must also be noted that identity is a dynamic concept. Sen brings out this
dynamic shifts and changes in identity in a different context when he speaks of the

Rwandan genocide settings where individuals who previously saw themselves as simply
Rwandans where now forced to acknowledge and act on their identities as Tutsis and
Hutus. In the Irish case above we see a situation in the opposite end of the same
spectrum, a situation where the previously closely held religious differences become
irrelevant or at least avoidable and a singular Irish identity formed primarily on a
common language comes forth in the face of the invader.
Finally I would like to bring in the idea of an outsider party lending an identity of sort on
a community. This might even be when we perceive ourselves through certain identities.
Sen highlights this idea with the statement However even when we are clear about how
we want to see ourselves we may have difficulty in persuading others to see us in just
that way. Said in Orientalism uses the speeches by Arthur Balfour and Lord Cromer to
surface the views of the West towards the East. Cromer speaks of Orientals as what he
had ruled or had to deal with in India and Egypt. The sweeping term Oriental gives to
very diverse communities a singular blanket identity that veils the plurality of identities
that they possess. By attributing words like savage, gullible, lethargic and suspicious
to the Orientals, the English community and the European community at large gives
them an almost subhuman status and a distorted identity that is far from what the
community perceives itself to be.
Conclusion
To conclude, I would like to state that historical evidence points to a macro narrative of
individual plural identities being suppressed for the creation of a singular identity. The
restriction on choice inflicted on the individuals in choosing their identity could be either
for the purpose of invoking nationalist feelings or even simply to be a member of a

religious community. A vein for further exploration could be to study the other sort of
group identities that are created when the multiple identities are made irrelevant. It
would also be interesting to look into the degree of coercion involved while creating this
singular identity, or is that such an endeavor is possible only with the willingness of the
individuals involved.