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Mert Güçlü

Conceptions of Identity

Prof. Dr. Baise Şebnem TOPLU

Summaries of The Articles from Identity: A Reader

Who Needs Identity

by Stuart Hall

In his article Hall analyses different definitions of identity from various disciplines to portray the
perception of the term identity. The main point for Hall in his discussion of identity is a
deconstructive critique. Because the concept of identity is similar to the process of deconstruction
which puts certain terms under erasure and then reaches out different meanings without destroying
the starting concept. Thus, when it comes to the critique of identity one cannot simply put away the
precedent perceptions however the newly generated ideas are not to be discussed in the “old
ways”. For Stuart Hall, identity is a fragmented and fractured and has been formed in various
discourses each introduced their relevant understanding. The concept of identity is always changing
providing us with a temporary attachment to the positions generated by discourses that are
conducted through shifting the focus on the idea of otherness and difference leaving the concept
under the influence of ideology. Hall believes that a suturing point is needed in order to reach an
ideal meaning for Identity that connects the intersecting parts of different disciplines and he
acknowledges that this is most plausible with psychoanalysis and discursive analysis.

Ideology Interpellates Individuals as Subjects

by Louis Althusser

Extrapolating on Marx and Engels’ notion of ideology, Louis Althusser posits this concept with a
better definition. For Althusser ideology is not a veil before a true knowledge it always exists, and we
are bound to it as subjects and no outside of it is reachable via overthrowing the governing forces. In
the article, Althusser claims that ideology has no history, and it is for the subject constituted by the
subjects. In our daily lives surrounded by ideology, we recognise our subject positions and act under
ideology and the ideological structure. In every sphere of our lives, we are constantly in the process
of recognition of our identity as a subject of ideology because of our actions within ideology.
Ideology, according to Althusser, recruits individuals as subjects while functioning as an
encompassing discourse even before they are born. This is conducted via “interpellation” or
“hailing”. Interpellated individuals become subjects of ideology assuming the identity offered by
ideology.

Subjectivity in Language
by Emile Benveniste

Language is an instrument for communication employed by people since there is no better device
that is suitable for that aspect. Language transmits what is entrusted to it and each time it departs it
acquires a behaviour. Furthermore, language has always been in existence, it is in the nature of
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human. Therefore, language precedes the subject, speech comes later. In this language, man can
form itself as a subject, without the language man cannot maintain his subjectivity. According to him
the possibility of language resides in the fact that each speaker position himself as a subject with the
pronoun “I” concerning the other person that can be defined by other subject pronouns as well.
Through this reciprocal conversation experienced by contrast in which each subject define himself as
“I” within their discourse, it is possible to have a conscious self. Communication is carried out
through polarities between the subjects and personal pronouns are the first step in the sense of
bringing out subjectivity in language.

The Mirror Stage

by Jacques Lacan

The concept of mirror stage plays an important part in the formation of identity in an individual. In
this concept, human infants experience a confrontation before a mirror on which they see
themselves as a separate form detached from their mother with whom they had thought they were
unified. This confrontation disrupts this perception and prompts the formation of imago. This
reflection on the mirror is an ideal “I” for the infant perceived at first sight. This is in a way a
misrecognition on the infant’s part since he idealises himself according to his perception on the
mirror and this creates the condition of fragmentariness and the lack for there is no way to attain
that ideal image in the mirror. In addition to this, with the image on the mirror, the baby realises
that there are others and in relation to “other” an individual defines and places himself/herself.
Through this mirror image starts the formation of ego for the baby. When the baby enters in the
symbolic order that is the language, mirror stage ends and ideal “I” becomes social “I”.

Suture: The Cinematic Model

by Kaja Silverman

The suture is a cinematic experience, but it can also be regarded as syntax as in the language.
Utilizing suture, moment or subject inserts itself into the symbolic register in the guise of a signifier.
Employing shooting techniques different perspectives are introduced to the eyes of the audience.
Shot/reverse shot, for instance, records the scene without giving the realisation of its being recorded
by the cameras. Thus, through this technique audience is brought into the position of the subject
tricked to think that they are the characters looking in the same direction. The audience thinks that
they see it thoroughly however there is always a lack which slips out of their perception all the time.
It is impossible to reach the state of completely perceiving the scene. Furthermore, with each shift in
camera angle identities acquired as parallel to the latter’s position in filming is shifted. Identity
positions are thus changed just as it happens in the language in the sense of using different
pronouns to address. These different identity positions delivered via camera plays are stitched
together and through this suture, a movie comes into existence with all these identities inserted into
the symbolic register as in the example of a sentence or a discourse in a broader sense.

Différance
by Jacques Derrida

Derrida claims that writing precedes speech having a more important role in comparison to the
speech. Différance means to differ or to postpone the meaning, and according to Derrida this is how
people construct meanings via language. In order to convey a properly comprehendible meaning
speaker must point out certain differences or draw a context for it to be understood in a desired or
intended way. Through these differences signified acquires required meanings and this is always
bound to be changed. Words may remain the same, but meanings differ concerning the context in
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which they are embedded. In other words, there is no fixed meaning for words, the meaning is
changing constantly; it is postponed, delayed, differed. Also, when presence cannot be presented
temporisation occurs creating a space between the signifier and the signified. In this sense, identities
change in the same manner. With each signified in relation to our subjectivity, we acquire a different
identity. There is no point of reaching a complete form of identity as it does not exist in the world of
meaning. Each time a word, an idea, or an identity is signified the intended meaning takes a form
concerning the present context only to depart from it anew.

Interrogating Identity: The Post-Colonial Prerogative

by Homi K. Bhabha

The inability to find an aspect to identify himself/herself with or in contrast to it creates a problem of
identification. Because for one to have an understanding of himself in terms of the concept of
identity he or she has to compare himself/herself with another equivalent. In this sense, the
colonised person cannot find a signifier in the white person. The comparison is needed to be
identified with an image or an idea which are not present in the presence of the white person. For
this reason, blacks are invisible in their confrontation with white people. The same issue is valid for
white people as well. When they look at the black people, they see no familiarity, no whiteness in
them to regard as a reflection to identify themselves in accordance with. Thus, black people become
invisible to their perception as an identity. Without an acceptable presence, there is no meaning to
derive from. Therefore, as the ideology is western centred, all the subsequent discourses of identity
emerge from this incomplete perception of the different other.