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Exploring Identity EN

Identity

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35 views3 pages

Exploring Identity EN

Identity

Uploaded by

samindoclasses
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Reading

Exploring the Concept of Identity


Directions: As you read, engage with the text by making the following annotations:
• A heart ( ) by ideas that make you think or that you can relate to

• A question mark (?) where you feel confused or want to pose a question

• An exclamation point (!) by “ah-ha” moments that teach you something about yourself, others,
or the world

Introducing the Complexity of Identity


Answering the question, “Who am I?” is an important part of growing up. While the question may appear
simple and straightforward, the concept of identity is complex and fluid. The answer to “Who am I?” depends
on a range of factors: how you define yourself, your membership in certain groups, and how other individuals
and society label you. Some parts of your identity may stay the same throughout your life. Other parts of your
identity are more fluid and change as you move from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood.
Psychologist and educator Beverly Daniel Tatum illustrates the complexity of identity by posing a series of
questions:
The concept of identity is a complex one, shaped by individual characteristics, family dynamics,
historical factors, and social and political contexts. Who am I? The answer depends in large part on
who the world around me says I am. Who do my parents say I am? Who do my peers say I am? What
message is reflected back to me in the faces and voices of my teachers, my neighbors, store clerks?
What do I learn from the media about myself? How am I represented in the cultural images around
me? Or am I missing from the picture altogether?1

Reflect and Respond: Choose one of Beverly Daniel Tatum’s questions to answer.

I am someone who is defined by myself,my close people and society

1 Beverly Daniel Tatum, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’,” in Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An Anthology on Racism, Sexism, Anti-semitism,
Heterosexism, Classism and Ableism, ed. Adams et al. (New York: Routledge, 2000), 9–14.

visit www.facinghistory.org 1
Exploring the Concept of Identity (continued)

Defining Identity
Identity refers to our sense of who we are as individuals and as members of social groups. It also refers to
our sense of how others may perceive and label us. We develop ideas about our identities and the identities
of others through our interactions with people close to us, like our family and friends, our schools and other
institutions, the mass media, and our encounters with other individuals. Sometimes we don’t even realize
that we have these ideas because we don’t remember learning them.
Our ideas about our identity are also influenced by the social groups to which we belong. This concept is
called social identity.
Social identity refers to your sense of who you are based on your membership in certain groups. While there
are many different social groups, some of the main ones include ability, age, economic class, ethnicity, gender,
nationality, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.
We are all born into social groups, and as we grow up, these social identities can stay the same or change.
Our membership in these social groups helps give meaning to our lives. Sometimes we have a choice about
which social groups we are associated with, and sometimes we get placed in groups we don’t identify with.
For example, someone might have to check a box on a form that says Asian, but they identify as Pacific
Islander. Or someone might get labeled by their teachers and peers as female, but they identify as gender
nonconforming.
While our membership in social groups is an important part of who we are, we still have agency over how we
define ourselves and what aspects of our identities we want to emphasize over others. This concept is called
individual or personal identity.
Personal identity refers to the unique ways that you define yourself. One person might choose to emphasize
their family, religion, and interests when describing their identity. A different person might emphasize their
race, neighborhood, and job as important parts of who they are. Your personal identity consists of all the
things that you believe make you, you.

Sketch to Stretch: Reread the definitions of personal identity and social identity and try to visualize the ideas (make a
picture) in your imagination. Then draw a quick sketch for each one that captures what it means to you.

Personal Identity Social Identity

visit www.facinghistory.org 2
Exploring the Concept of Identity (continued)

Considering Why Identity Matters


We all have many personal and social identities, some fixed and some fluid, that help us make sense of
ourselves and our experiences in the world. Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah explains why he believes
these identities matter:
An identity, at its simplest, is a label we apply to ourselves and to others. Your gender. Your sexuality.
Your class, nationality, ethnicity, region, religion, to start a list of categories. . . . When we apply a label
to ourselves, we’re accepting that we have some qualifying trait—say, Latin or African ancestry, male or
female sex organs, attractions to one gender or another, the right to a German passport.
These labels carry expectations from society about how we should act, think, look, and more. Sometimes we
accept those expectations, and other times we are able to challenge them. Dr. Appiah continues:
Identities, for the people who have them . . . are living guides. Women and men dress the way they do
in part because they’re women and men. Given that we connect these labels with our behaviour, it’s
natural to expect other people to do the same. . . . So identities don’t just affect our own behaviour;
they help determine how we treat other people.1
The identity labels we use come with norms and carry meaning; however, they are not all fixed. People can
negotiate to change their meaning. For example, they might challenge the idea of a male/female gender
binary. Or they might challenge gender expectations about work or parenting. A person’s individual
and social identities can influence how they understand and experience the world—for example, the
opportunities and challenges they face, how they view and treat other individuals, and how others treat
them.

TQE Time!2
Directions: Before discussing the reading with your peers, review your annotations and use them to help
you record your thoughts, questions, and epiphanies in the space provided.

What are your thoughts What questions (? annotations) does What epiphanies (! annotations)
( annotations) about what you read? this reading raise for you? does this reading raise for you?

There are different kinds of identification


What islike
theethnicity,gender,
need of identifying Doesetc.
nationality
myself? everyone has the right to define hi

1 Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Can we choose our own identity?,” The Guardian, August 31, 2018.
2 Strategy adapted from Jennifer Gonzalez, “Deeper Class Discussions with the TQE Method,” Cult of Pedagogy website, August 26, 2018.

visit www.facinghistory.org 3

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