ICC
Chapter 6
By SAJEDA AL -JAWHARY
Defining Identity
-Identity: is the fluid sense of how I represent myself to others around me. This
sense of identity over time through interaction, much like how we learn our
culture.
-What are the levels of identity?
1-Individual
2-Social
3- Cultural identity
• Individual actions and reactions influence one’s interaction with others,
creating different social and cultural groups, categories, and network.
• Reciprocally, society and culture also influence these individual actions
and reactions through their shared meanings, enabling individuals to
engage in social and cultural interactions by assuming certain roles in
society.
-How is the concept of identity shaped?
-Our identity takes shape as we place ourselves physically and mentally in
specific groups (in group) and remove ourselves from other groups (out group),
this meaning becomes even more complex when two out groups intermix,
forming and hybrid identity.
-As you can see, identity focuses on the following two sets of questions:
1-Who am I? What makes ME unique? How am I similar to YOU? And how do I
differ from YOU? (Through individualism)
2- Who are WE? What makes US unique? How are WE similar? And How do WE
differ from YOU? (Through collectivism)
- If someone were to ask you: Who are you? Your answer depends on :
1. The individual asking.
2. The context.
Individual identity:
-personal identity are what make us unique as individuals.
- Our individuality or personal identity is a concept similar to the
idea of our fingerprint.
-Your personal identity is shaped and influenced by different outside
factors, yet it continues to be unique and all yours.
-our identities continue to grow and change with us throughout our
lifetime.
-Our individual identity itself is flexible and ever-changing.
Social identity:
-The identity for one society.
-it means the sense of belonging and self-definition in connection
with to a group.
-it includes how we belong to social groups either by default or by
choice. The different social groups to which you belong may depend
on various factors such as your age group, social status, career
choices, educational level, cultural background, etc. Each group
has specific characteristics and common concerns that Impact us
individually. Each group influences us by valuing certain types of
behaviors and devaluing others. By the end, the cultures will be with
tow identities: 1- Collectivist cultures 2- Individualist cultures.
-In collectivist cultures, group membership or social identities carry
more weight than individual characteristics and behaviors.
-Individualist cultures perceive the individual as most important
and generally value self-reliance and independence highly.
Cultural identity:
- Is defined by our sense of belonging to a certain culture or
ethnic group.
- Cultural identity often determines our personal, social,
economic, and political connections to others.
- For example, being an Arab differs from being an Asian simply
because Arab cultures are different from Asian cultures.
- Culture shaped our identity.
Identity and Culture
- Hybrid identity: is an identity that is mixed due to procreation
among different races, ethnicities and cultures.
- Racial mixing: is the outcome of the globalized world we live in
and an outcome of increased intercultural communication
among people from different places, cultures and races.
- Liminality: a place where a person is in between two realities
or at the edge of a social structure. A liminal space is the
space in between tow cultures so that a person does not
clearly belong to either one. Accordingly, hybrid identities are
often positioned within such a space as they belong to two or
more cultures and races. Being in a third or liminal space also
requires mobility, as one keeps moving back and forth
between cultures, negotiating between the two. Mobility
between cultures and identities is not an easy task, requiring
strength, awareness as well as respect for oneself and others.
-Scholars have divided liminality into three phases:
1. Separation: is considered the pre-liminal phases that
puts an individual on the threshold of the third space as
an individual begins to separate from his/her original
society.
2. Transition: The real shift takes place within the transition
or the liminal phase itself as the person finds
him/herself in between two or more cultures and/or
races. A s part of the transitional stage, individuals face
some challenges and experience feeling of confusion
since they do not totally belong to the society that they
were previously part of and yet cannot totally assimilate
into the new society in which they find themselves.
3. Reincorporation: In the post-liminal phase, individuals
feel more at ease as they get used to their new societies
and environment and start to gradually belong and feel
part of the social and cultural structure.
