All these categories are artificial. However secure those may feel, everything is what we were brought up to believe important by society and media. So what is identity? Identity is a concept open for interpretation and therefore, depends on the individual. Many people may try to decipher ‘who you are’ by asking the question “where are you from?” This simple question has become the means for many to categorize and identify someone.
Issue of identity is the most discussed issue of today’s world because of globalization process. In the world of literature identity has a great importance, it is literature which made it a very important theme for its reader. It helps it readers in constructing identities because works of literature encourage its reader to see things/issues from their own perspectives (Jonathan Culler 2005: 112). Identity is basically what we call ourselves. Identity always need continual transformation and maintenance (Hegel).
Identity tells people who they are and who they should be. Many people in individualistic societies, such as the United States of America, believe that citizens choose their identities. This is only partially true. If humans are truly honest with themselves they would see that this idea of personal choice and identity selection is fractionally significant. Humans are social creatures and the only way humans learn about the world is from the education of other humans.
There are many articles, which talk about identity, and many researchers have their own unique thoughts. In academic article “Who Am I” by Beverly Daniel Tatum; she talks about the complexity of identity, which defined as a person. She describes the multiple identities of different kinds of people and their significance in the community. She illustrate the how person past, historical event, family background, experiences, and thought of person has impact on the personal identification. The concept of past, present, and future, those characterize the person identity.
Identity is social construct that many have mistaken for something an individual is born with. There are many aspects of identity that one can inherit like genes that can drive a certain type of character and certain aspects of identity a person can adopt and build for themselves. However the most part of one’s identity is consistent of what the person wants and adopts for themselves and what the society/the people around him/her choose to give him/her. Identity is a said to not remain unchanged once established. It is a fluid concept and is constantly changing.
Introduction One of the most important aspect of the development of an individual is the development of the individual’s identity. Identity refers to “a definition placed on self” which has two simultaneous characteristics. The first is a sense of sameness or continuity across various situations and over a period of time and the second is a difference that makes an individual distinct from others. The formation of an identity is imperative to ensure an individual’s psychological and social well-being and must always be considered within the socio-cultural context which the individual exists in. Durkheim in the year 1895 paved the way towards acknowledging the importance n individual’s culture has on his or her definition of themselves (Usborne
Although identities can be beneficial, group member’s often look for negative parts of an out-group in order to make themselves look better. Identities can also create issues such as prejudice and racism. By looking at it from an anthropological viewpoint, we can see how when a person comes into a place where they do not share the same identity it can cause an uproar and judgement. People from the majority identity will look for reasons and force the outcast to be looked down upon. Having an identity can help in a child’s well-being, it can allow them to feel as though they belong.
Looking up these terms in dictionaries, identity is defined as “who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others” (“Cambridge Dictionary”). In comparison, individuality seems to be almost the same, according to the Online Cambridge Dictionary as it says “[Individuality is] the qualities that make a person or thing different from others” (“Cambridge Dictionary”). Those are indeed vague definitions and they give the impression that every individual has to define them themselves. What if we lived in a country where our rights are restricted to an extent where the individual does not matter and the government
Etymologically the word ‘identity’ is derived from the Latin word ‘idem’, meaning the ‘sameness and continuity’. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives two meanings of ‘identity’ – 1. The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration, absolute or essential sameness; 2. The condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else. The person recognises himself as the same and not someone else across time and place.
It is not entirely possible to give a sufficient answer to the question ‘what is identity’. The term identity is surprisingly difficult to define adequately in the sense that it is a contradictive phrase expressing both sameness and uniqueness. Many theorists such as Erickson have attempted to answer this difficult question but rather define the process and identify influences as there is no exact definition for this complex process. The word itself derives from Latin ‘Idem’ which means identical supporting the fact that people often express common identities with others such as women, men and like ourselves teachers. However in contradictory sense people also achieve a sense of uniqueness on not being something else and this combination ultimately represents a balance between self and other.