Identity as a Relational and Incomplete Entity - Essay Example

Identity Hall views identity as a relational and incomplete entity, that is always in process, being shaped by the perceptions of others and relationships with them. He offers the view that identities are defined in relationships with others and the environment by marking the differences that exist. In his essay titled “Local/global” Les Back (1998) has pointed out how identity formation in the western cultures has been influenced by the policy of imperialism and how the legacy of imperialism has led to a tendency to ignore the ethnic elements of minority culture that have become so much a part of English identity. English culture, as embodied in the afternoon cup of tea or supper of fish and chips is an identity that has developed as a part of the “story of imperialism.”(Back, 1998: 69). Imperial expansion has also moved concomitantly with a historical denial of the role played by Africans and Asians into English culture, which have not gained importance because colonial history has downplayed this side of English culture. Hence English identity reflects its imperial past but its manifestation has been shaped by the imperial perceptions about other cultures as inferior, so that ethnic contributions to culture and identity have been ignored. Despite this prevalence of imperial perceptions in shaping identity, Back (1998) also points out how imperial expansion itself opened up the avenues for a transformation o the cultural legacy of the empire, by signaling the beginning of an intellectual movement that allowed authors such as Sancho to challenge the forms of knowledge produced in its institutions.(Back, 1998:70). This has produced shift and changes in identity in England, which lend credence to Hall’s contention that identify is relational and shifts constantly, because it is a representation arising out of relationships with others. Back (1998:72-3) also points out how the emergence of technology has changed the former peripheral relationship of the colonies. Identities of races that were former colonies increasingly reflect Western values and experts have argued that there is cultural homogenization taking place. With the onset of globalization and increasing integration that is taking place, spatial and temporal distances are being collapsed, so that people in remote localities can share a relationship without the need to move physically.(Back, 1998:72). As a result, relationships are changing and the perception of individuals about their identity also reflects a corresponding shift, especially in terms of the cultural values they may hold dear. It is no longer possible to understand cultural identity in the context of a centre-periphery model, where western cultural values are imposed on colonized nations and shapes their identity. Globalization has not produced a homogenization of culture; rather it has promoted the development of a multi cultural identity, because increasing global interconnection appears to have produced a fascination with the differences between people. With the corporate environment, this has manifested in the commercialization and marketing of ethnicity and otherness. Back(1998) has therefore highlighted how identity formation is influenced by the environment and relationships with others. In developing a sense of identity, the traditional imperial notions of the ethnic “other”, which accorded them an inferior identity are changing in a global environment to one where the ethnic elements are being commercialized and used to gain a profit. Similarly, Africans and Asians may be developing their own complex, multi cultural identities within a global framework where there is an effort to retain their own regional cultural elements while simultaneously using the tools of technology to assimilate global cultural elements. Popeau (1998) has highlighted how identities can be shaped by race and ethnicity, which has been viewed as a means to promote geographical cohesion, where identity is shaped by ethnicity and serves to differentiate an individual from other groups. Ethnic identity has even been stated to be a “basic biological tendency”(Popeau, 1998:170). While ethnicity is a relatively recent concept, it is derived from the concept of race, wherein the identity of individuals belonging to the western races is characterized by elements such as independence, freedom, aggressiveness, etc while the identify of races in African and Asian nations may be shaped by their colonial past and the perception of themselves as inferior. In countries like England, race and ethnicity have also become associated with political identities. Popeau (1998) points out how in the 1970s and 1980s, the notion of the black” identity was one conditioned by the political agenda to gain social justice and political representation. The move away from race as a defining feature of identify to the notion of ethnicity only demonstrates how the identity of the black race has shifted away from its earlier rigidity to a more all pervasive one, where the role of various social and political forces in the formulation of identity are recognized. This serves to further reinforce Hall’s proposition that identity is a relational entity (Hall, 1990), that changes in accordance with changing representations. During the era of the earlier imperial culture, cultural identity followed a centre-peripheral model and was strictly conditioned by race. With increasing globalization and the changing environment, the views offered by both Back and Popeau serve to illustrate how identify is becoming more diffused and disparate from traditional cultural boundaries. In a global environment, identity is becoming multi-cultural; it is being increasingly fashioned by a political agenda and reflecting a fascination with the differences between people from the perspective of how such differences can be commercially exploited. While globalization has reduced the geographical cohesion that originally existed among specific racial groups, it has produced other mean to reinforce native cultural identity within a globally integrated environment. Hall has suggested that identity is a form of representation; based upon the views of the two authors above, this appears to be borne out. From a historical perspective, the colonial perspective shaped identity in earlier decades, where race and ethnicity were emphasized in a negative manner for exploitative purposes. In the global arena on the other hand, such differences are being glorified, for commercial exploitation. Cultural identities are being constantly shifted and changed, to incorporate more global elements in a move towards homogenization while simultaneously demonstrating a greater fascination with ethnic differences. These differences are now being used to achieve a different purpose, i.e to further a political and social agenda, hence all this only reflects how identity keeps changing and reformulating as different representations based upon the changing environment and relationships which influence perception of one’s own identity on the basis of how others view it. Bibliography: Back, L, 1998. “Local/global” IN Jenks, C (edn) “Core Sociological dichotomies” at pp 63-73, London: Sage Hall, S, 1990. “Cultural identity and diaspora”, IN “Identity, culture, Community, Difference” (edn: Jonathan Rutherford), London: Lawrence and Wishart. Popeau, Jean, 1998. “Race/ethnicity” IN Jenks, C (edn) “Core Sociological dichotomies” at pp 166-177, London: Sage Read More