Social and Political Resistance to Imposed Identity - Essay Example

Social and political resistance to imposed identity: with reference to Agamemnon and interpretations through Hall and Castells. In the words of Cristina Chimisso, “the totality of symbols and artifacts produced by human beings … Modes of thinking, feeling and behaving … values customs, traditions and norms’’(Chimisso, 2003, p. 14)*; varies the various aspects of inclusive and exclusive processes in the construction of identities related to European Culture. The fields as explored by Cristina Chimisso in her "Exploring European Identities” are the basis of understanding the creation and functional mechanism that gets structured within and outside the marginal representation of the country. The same context gets reflected when we go through the strategical structures of identity as constructed by Agamemnon. From a modern outlook, Greek kings were pretty egotistical; yet it was highly acceptable as they in themselves use to represent many of those characters of the society that are structures in that particular characteristic form. In a way Agamemnon, too represented the male chauvinistic approach of all time, whether be it the Greek society or the modern European Culture. Though Agamemnon was a little too arrogant for his own good, and gets in difficulty in the Iliad because of his hot annoyance and arrogance which provoke him to have a fight with Achilles. This pride is important in Aeschylus' Agamemnon too. The words of Philip Harsh** clear the picture more. For him, ‘He is ...too proud of his utter destruction…’. This refers both to the construction of the identity that makes the mark strong over the political and social format of the society. The actions as been describes in the play gets centered on an argument between Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra which displays Agamemnon's conceited pride and Clytemnestra's treachery. ‘She wants him to walk into the palace on a valuable blood-red tapestry; he objects that this would be an act of excessive pride. Their argument, which is the only time we see them together in the play, reveals each of their characters’. The theorizing of the interactivity between the author-text-audience relationships, is what the initiative been taken by both Hall and Castells in the postmodern identification of identity. Their dealings are with the political and social criteria under the reflections of historical and contemporary reconceptualization. The process of identifying oneself in the in light of recent understandings of interactivity is the demand of activating a kind of imposed identity, especially in Europe. Contributions made by Hall (1992, 1996), and Castells (1997), are significant as it explores the notions of hybridity in the context of the Latin American diaspora. It also gives the adequate effort by highlighting identity as transformative, and at the same time soothing that is subject to change under every developing phase of society and culture. This struggle takes place across the sites of technological developments of textual control versus full interactivity, and in the territories of both media theory and media law. It is a declaration made to define identity as a form of creative art that can very much adopt the adaptability features, constructed by the social elements around it. It has been discovered that to a large extent identities are imposed on the individual through social institutions, discourses and cultural practices that give meaning to ways in which individuals construe or confront these obligations. The affirmations are that within a socially constructed imposition, biological markers, such as appearance, skin colour and body shape are rigidly circumscribed. All these characteristical features of identity construction have the potential to summon various meanings and interpretations to the ways in which individuals negotiate identity. There is no doubt that the structuring process of identity gets mediated through discourses of language, history and culture constituted through collective memory. Under the predominance factor of fantasy, narrative, myths and religious revelations which are rearranged by individuals, groups and institutions, the identity of an individual gets structured. In case of structuring the European means of identity, it is the effort that was initiated by the Greek dramatists and is in the process got accepted as the basis of the growing European culture. It is argued that the control over the text and its narrative as mythically finished products is struggled over between authorial aspirations for finality. Its dependence is very clear as it gets into the social and political circumference. The importance of audience desire for control over the arrangement, (re)configuration and (re)distribution of the text is also equally made prevalent for the act of sustainability. The attempt made by Cristina Chimisso in ‘Exploring European Identities’ is to attribute towards the cartographic representation of European boundaries. The reflections of the mental position of Europe and the interdisciplinary perspective recognition have been done. Taking culture and its formation as the mean of her work, Cristina; interpreted Europe on the historical, political and social peripheries. The comprehensive elaborations are stated to make the culture more dominant in its own way. The study is based on the basic human instinct of thinking and behaving in accordance to the demand of the social construction. The finds are related to the human values, customs and the basic traditions that helped in moulding the rituals of every aspect. The construction of identity is thus a declaration of the self that gets moulded as the human being accepts the interactive introspections with the society. In case of Europe, the Polish and Russian influences too play a minimal role. Thus the European identity construction is under the subject to change as the interactivity with rest of the world by means of media grows. The postcolonial effects are the best example in its constructive process. The arrogance of Greek heroes is going under drastic changes to suit the world as a whole. The Greek interventions are highly accepted by Cristina; however there are derivations that she accepts about the European identity that is getting transformed very rapidly. The critical responses of the twenty first century are delivering higher impacts on the diasporic identity of the postcolonial migrated individuals. The inclusion and exclusion of the identity of European culture are getting shaped with their dominance over the historical and cultural forms. The totality of symbols and artifacts are the determining and resulting effects of the same. The culture which too like individual identity; is under the subject of regular changes gets structured under prolific and speculative dominance of the historical impacts of the society. The historical roots are the actual creator of a particular individual and this is the attempt that Cristina tries to highlight in her writings. There are the declarations made with proper analytical notions; that identity is something that moulds the culture of the society and at the same time gets knitted amidst the social and cultural constructions. The dominance of postcolonial effects is very much kept under consideration and the historical constructions are given equal importance. Conclusion The modern scenario, especially under the postmodern effects the intervention in modern European cultures has made new definitions of identity. Some picks it up as a kind of diasporic crisis, while other considers it as a means of construction under social, political and economic framework. It is very difficult to reveal, or even identify, in daily work practice. The construction of theatrical means makes the task of identity creation a smoother process, though there are liquid floors for its sustainability. To enact a theater of productivity to account for ones work; is the actual demand of interpreting the identity as acquired from the sustaining culture. the development is growing in various levels of understanding European culture and also in the construction of the basic European identity. Almost every individual is working to establish their social and political resistance towards the communities. The basic credentials are getting structured in the building of individual and social myths, enact rituals, and struggle to develop identities. This struggle formats the individual to communicate technical competence and inventiveness.  To agree with Norberg-Schulz*, the concept of imposed identity is highly dependable on ‘the identity of the settlement; relative to its surroundings depends on a certain density. Since identity is related to ‘character’ of an area, it is important to make a distinction between character and appearance because, character has more than a purely visual or spatial dimension, and it cannot be instantly achieved following the implementation of a new urban design scheme’. REFERENCES: 1. Derya Oktay; 2005, How can urban context maintain urban identity and sustainability?: Evaluations of Taormina (Sicily) and Kyrenia (North Cyprus); Interfaces between Local Urban Context, Identity and Sustainability: Analysis in Two Mediterranean Towns - Taormina and Kyrenia presented at the International Conference for Integrating Urban Knowledge and P actice, Gothenburg, Sweden, May 29 - June 3, 2005. 2. Castells, M. (1997) The power of identity. Massachusettrs: Blackwell Publishers Inc. 3. Hall, S. (1992) Cultural studies and its theoretical legacies, reprinted in Morely, D. & Cohen, K. (Eds.), Stuart Hall, critical dialogues. London: Routledge. 4. Hall, S. (1996) Who needs 'identity'? In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of Cultural identity (pp.1-17). London: Sage Publications. Read More