Immigrants and Cultural Identity:
 What
is identity?
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To talk about our identity, we try to answer the question, "Who am I?"
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We have different kinds of identity: national identity, social identity,
cultural/racial identity, class identity, familial identity, gender identity,
sexual identity, etc. All these identities are formed beyond our
control (at least partly). (This explains why some contemporary
theories say that we have multiple identity
and that our identity is split.)
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Out of all of these inter-related kinds of identity we form our personal
(sense of) identity. "Usually" we loudly pronounce (articulate
and/or defend) a certain kind of identity unless it is strongly related
to our beliefs or unless it is threatened.
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Possible
Choices of Immigrants' Cultural Identity:
A Simplified Chart
| Possible Choices |
Conditions and Consequences
of "the choices"--
Do they really have a choice? |
| Assimilation |
-- the myth of melting pot;
self-hatred |
| Separation/isolation |
--Discrimination, Exclusion |
Hyphenation (In-Between position)
There is a spectrum of choices here of different kinds of combination
of the two cultures and different degrees of participation/integration
in the host-society. These in-between positions can be a dilemma
or a space of resistance.
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--Multiculturalism =
Ghettoization
¡@ |
"Security" (outline) -- complete isolation |
One
Look at the Multiple Influences on Identity
Another
Look at the Multiple Influences on Identity
(as in the circuit of culture)
"circuit of culture" from Culture, Media, Identities
Series
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For an explanation of this chart, please go to
Circuit
of Culture--the five interacting loci of cultural practices ¡@
(external)
Literary Criticism Databank: Postcolonialism;
Cultural Studies
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