Identity formation and differences

Ali Rezaei
 -He is an essentialist
-Identity gives us an idea of who we are and how we relate to others
-Identity gives us a location in the world
-Views identity in relation to differences Identity is constructed through differences.
-One identity needs other identity to rely on
As individuals are
-Identity is subject to being constructed within relations . positioned in multiple
-Views national identity as unchanging ‘oneness’ relationships, exposed to
-Identity rooted in kinship and the truth of shared history numerous social situations
and experience changes in
life, their identities
Woodward are subject to being
constructed within
relations.
 -He is an essentialist
-When we define others, we indirectly define ourselves.
Hall -There is always a politics of identity, a politics of position which has no absolute guarantee in an
unproblematic ‘law of origin’.
-Meaning: meanings are socially constructed, multiple and subject to change.
-Each word is associated with both situated meanings and a cultural model. Situated meaning and
cultural model were
suggested by Gee
(1999) , go to slide
16.
 -Differences are also constructed, produced and reproduced.
-Dolby and Corbleth we see or define ourselves in relation to various individuals
and groups, specific life situations and particular contexts.

Situations
change over
time
Dolby

So identity also
is subject to
change.
 -Movement in space and exposure to new place influence identity so Identity and identity formation are
relational in the sense of geographic apace as well.
-Reed suggests Identity fastening It is referred to as ‘the work that individuals do to claim
insider status for themselves and for others’.
It is progressive and not fix.

Identity unfastening Unfastening often happens when individuals move from

one cultural context into another where the norms and
rules for membership are different’.
Reed
refastening is not simply remaking a new identity
Identity refastening after unfastening and fastening identities. Instead, it
should be seen as part of ‘the ongoing identity
formation process’ , which takes into account a sense
of belonging and a sense of continuity, maintained by
a fluid process, despite fragmentation and/or
Notes contradiction in the course of identity formation.

-identities are fastened by the categories that we have available and by the ways that we submit to
those categories and subject others to them.
-individuals sometimes fasten identity so as to build a way to belong. Immigrants adopting a new identity
e.g. often unfasten and refasten their
-Identity fastening, unfastening and refastening are done to us and by us. identities
 Offer five-basis assumption about national identity

Non-essentialists Decillia et al. Offer ways for constructing national identity

Offer 4 strategies used by individuals in Austria to

construct their national identity

-views national identity as imagined, since each individual

can be seen through other multiple identities.
White
-he states that to focus on national identity is not simply to
National send an underlying message that It is the only significant
identity identity, or that the many other individual identities
constructed by people for themselves are irrelevant.

Turner The definitions of national identity are never static or fixed

Non-essentialists
 Nations are understood as being
Decillia Andersons’ definition of nation ‘imagined political communities’
et al.
National identities are discursively produced, reproduced, transformed and destructed.
Offer five-basis National identity can be seen as ‘a sort of habitus’, ‘a complex of common ideas, [and] concepts or
about national identity perception schemes’.
‘The discursive construction of nations and national identities always runs hand in hand with the construction
of difference/distinctiveness and uniqueness.’
‘There is no such thing as the one and only national identity in an essentialising sense, but rather that
different identities are discursively constructed according to context’
National identities are constructed on the basis of ‘a common history, and
Offer ways for Common history history has always to do with remembrance and memory.
constructing national
identity Role of Culture The construction of national identities is closely related to the role of culture.

national identities have much to do with ‘internalized structuring impetus which more or less
strongly influences social practices.
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1 Constructive strategies
Offer 4 strategies used
Next slide
by individuals in Austria 2 Perpetuation strategies
to construct their
Next slide
national identity 3 Transformation strategies
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4 Dismantling and destructive strategies
 Constructive strategies aim at building and establishing a particular national identity,
1 Constructive strategies
using linguistic acts such as ‘we-group’ in statements like ‘we Austrians’ or ‘Austrians’.

2 Perpetuation strategies Perpetuation and justification strategies ‘attempt to maintain, support and
reproduce national identity’.

3 Transformation strategies Transformation strategies involve transforming ‘the meaning of a relatively well-
established aspect of national identity into another’.

4 Dismantling and destructive strategies Dismantling or destructive strategies are used to de-mythologize or
demolish existing national identities or elements of them.
 -Their views are very much the same as essentialists’ perception of identity.
-their viewpoints are positioned within their personal and national discourse.
-their viewpoints are informed by sense of Vietnamese nationalism.
-Their personal discourse is not static and changes over time.
-Identity is about ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ It suggests stability within changes or
changes that take place along the lines
of continuity.

Vietnamese perception of The ‘being’ of identity is understood as the constituents of

identity Vietnamese national and cultural identity.

-Core identity : Vietnamese scholars strongly believe that there is a shared Vietnamese
identity, they tend to believe that every Vietnamese acts, behaves and thinks with
reference to this core identity. Because of this assumption, individual identities are often
either neglected or underestimated.
-National/cultural identity : It can be understood from the previous section that
Vietnamese scholars tend to address identity in light of the notions of ‘nation’ and
‘homeland’, which have been seen in close relation to culture.
 What he tries to suggest is that Vietnamese cultural identity is affected by its
structure and by the environment where its people have been living.

Vietnamese cultural In terms of natural conditions: high level of rain and humidity
constants

In terms of geographical location: Vietnam being at the crossroad

of civilizations
In terms of traditional economy: water-based rice crops

Tran Ngoc Them Nothing is absolutely immutable and nothing is absolutely moving either.

Cultural identity Defines cultural identity as everlasting permanence of culture.

Cultural identity is always only spiritual values formed in history. This
definition is just like the ‘becoming’ of Vietnamese national and cultu-
-ral identity.
A sense of
He himself strongly feels a Vietnamese national/cultural identity. belonging
 - looks at culture in terms of a series of human relations to explore his own inner life and what remains
of its unchanged needs.
- he argues that although human beings’ forms of desires change over time and are very diverse, our
e.g.
spiritual/mental life remains more or less unchanged. The image of a village in the mind of most
Vietnamese people has always been
attached to the love for the homeland.
- Cultural identity, similarly, refers to the unchanged part of culture in history. Culture is a system of
relations, and these relations may be portrayed in different forms depending on explanations given by
different times.
- Culture is a science , which has its own objects, methods and terminology.
- People should respect differences and live in harmony.
Phan Ngoc Them
- Culturology : Research into the relationship between what framework man has in mind and what
framework man has created is the job of culturology. The father land
Vietnamese family
- 3 dominant elements portraying Vietnamese: The issue of status and the issue of identity

- He shares a number of views about culture and identity with both essentialist and non essentialists.
- He believes that identity has been changing but within a degree of stability and continuity.
-In his views, identity contain ‘being’ and becoming but it contains ‘being’ dominantly.
-He strongly believes in the very ‘core’ cultural identity of his country despite his enriched education and
his mastery of various languages, it is important to note that he has a strong sense of belonging. He feels
that he belongs to Vietnam.
-The more the identity is liberated and contacts with the world, the stronger it attaches to the core
 He works his entire life to explore the Vietnamese culture

He looks at Vietnamese culture from the angle of life experiences , values and
traditions

He emphasizes the importance of exploring identity in relation

to differences.

Quoc Vuong

In his view , culture enjoys both ‘being’ and ‘becoming’

He suggests that cultural identity is continuous in the

context of historical changes.

He presents identity as the sense of belongings

 Identity is constructed, changing, hybrid and multiple
They do not agree on a ‘core’ and ‘fixed’ identity. Identity is rather transformed than unchanged.
Identity will be transformed, retransformed, negotiated and renegotiated to create new aspects of identit
Identity is more than just one thing.
They analyze the issue with a thorough look at every single component. In this case, they study
identities of individuals, who have multiple, ever-moving and changing identities.
Many Western theorists put an emphasis on the ‘becoming’ of identity.
Viewing identity formation and change in terms of fragmentation

Western-oriented Western theorists view identity in relation to difference.

identity
Western authors argue that national identity is constructed and is changing
over time but they think that the sense of belonging is fix so they believed in
construction of national identity

There is no particular ‘overall’ identity that may always intervene in a

person’s behavior or activities. Instead, a person’s multiple identities will
determine these acts. At one stage, one identity will come to the fore, but at
another time other identities will be foregrounded while the previous one
stays back.
 Vietnamese perception of identity Western-oriented identity

This view is much similar to essentialists’ perception of identity This view is much similar to non-essentialists’ perception of identity

Their viewpoints are positioned within their personal and

national discourse
Their personal discourse is not static and changing over time Identity is constructed , changing, hybrid and multiple

Identity is about ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ Emphasis is on ‘becoming’ of identity

There is core identity No core identity

Believe in cultural/national identity Believe in cultural/national identity

View identity formation process more fluid Viewing identity formation in terms of fragmentation
Express their view implicitly Express their view explicitly
Believe in national identity Believe in national identity

An overall identity intervene in persons’ behavior and activities Multiple identity exists

View identity in relation to difference and relational View identity in relation to difference and relational

Identity contains both stability and changeability Identity transformed and create new aspects of identity
 Appropriation walks side by side with resistance and this
creates ‘reconstitution’ or may also include both resistance and
reconstitution.
Appropriation does not only refer to the process
of ‘making suitable’ or ‘taking possession of or
making use of exclusively for oneself, often
without permission’ (online dictionary) or
‘taking for one’s own use without permission’
(Collins Compact Australian Dictionary), but it
also carries sites of resistance and
Penny Cook Appropriation-resistance-negotiation reconstitution.

To simplify it, if viewing appropriation as a

ruler, then negotiation will take place at every
point of the ruler

Appropriation contains the possibility of change and opens

up spaces for the Other to develop positively and equally
compared to the Self.
 Discourse is a conceptual tool in our study
Language makes no sense out of Discourse
Gee definition of Discourse: Discourses are ways of being
each of us is a member of many Discourses, and each
Discourse represents one of our ever-multiple identities.
‘Discourses’ with a capital ‘D’, that
is, different ways in which we
humans integrate language with
non-language ‘stuff,’ such as
different ways of thinking, acting,
interacting, valuing, feeling,
believing, and using symbols, tools,
and objects in the right places and at
the right times so as to enact and
recognize different identities and
activities, give the material world
certain meanings, distribute social
goods in a certain way, make certain
sorts of meaningful connections in
our experience, and privilege certain
symbol systems and ways of
knowing over others. (Gee, 1999:
13)

Discourse
In understanding the relationship between identity and Discourses, it is important
to understand cultural models and situated meanings as tools of inquiry, since
‘both of these involve ways of looking at how speakers and writers give language
specific meanings within specific situations’

Discourses involve ‘situated identities’ and ‘ways of performing and recognizing

characteristic identities and activities’.
Our identities are accordingly shaped in and through multiple Discourses
to which we belong.
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Situated meaning
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Cultural model
 - Gee defines a ‘situated meaning’ as ‘an image or pattern that we assemble “on the spot” as we
communicate in a given context, based on our construal of that context and our past experiences’.
Situated meaning

- Situated meanings ‘don’t simply reside in individual minds; very often they are negotiated
between people in and through communicative social interaction’.

- Gee defines ‘cultural models’ as ‘“storylines,” families of connected images … or “theories”

shared by people belonging to specific social or cultural groups’
Cultural model
- Cultural models ‘explain,’ relative to the standards of the group, why words have the various
situated meanings they do and fuel their ability to grow more. Cultural models are usually not
completely stored in any one person’s head. Rather, they are distributed across the different sorts of
‘expertise’ and viewpoints found in the group,… much like a plot to a story or pieces of a puzzle that
different people have different bits of and which they can potentially share in order to
mutually develop the ‘big picture’.
 She discuss identity in connection with discourse.

She understands ‘discourse’ as ‘a socially recognized way of representing experience from a

Ferrell particular ideological point of view,…which implies certain values, beliefs and orientations,
certain identities’.

Identity and discourse are interrelated and one contains the other and vice versa.