Response to "Identities and Social Locations: Who Am I? Who Are My People?" Women's Lives, chapter 2

This chapter brought up some interesting questions that I think everyone should give some thought to. It deals with the concept of identity. This reading asks you to question your own sense of identity. Who are you? How do you identify yourself? Where is your home? Where is your community? I've always answered these questions with very shallow responses, yet I never truly thought about why I answer in these ways. 

Were I asked these questions, I would have simply stated: "I am Kaylee Hardman. I am an American, although my roots are Irish, Dutch, and French. My home is in North Bend, Washington. I consider myself a part of two communities, the WSU community and the community of Snoqualmie Valley."

We identify ourselves as so many different things, yet who decides the answers to these questions? And what are they based on? When people think of identity, I think it's most easy to identify the physical aspects. What do they look like? What is their race? I think in some ways, when you are asked to identify yourself, it's necessary to dehumanize the group of people that you most closely identify yourself with. When you say that you're Irish, you simply say that you're Irish; you don't go into detail about the struggles your people have overcome, or the beauty of the land your ancestors came from. Sometimes we distinguish ourselves as "white" and "non-white." Making this distinction suggests that minority groups that aren't white are a negative thing. How do we combat this? Should we stop considering ourselves white or non-white? Should we be content with stating our country of origin? I think this is a start, but not the only solution. In order to find a solution, I think we have to confront the presence of stereotypes, both negative and positive, in our society today. By making generalizations about different cultures, we cannot fully appreciate them. On the other hand, by romanticizing some of these cultures, we are essentially doing the same thing. Is it fair to express Asian women as part of "the mysterious orient?" Or calling Native American women "earth mothers?" Even positive stereotyping obscures the truth and many complexities of who these women really are. 

The chapter illustrates the concept of identity as "at the macro and global levels, identity is a matter of collective well-being and survival" (p. 67). Stereotyping these groups is a form of oppression; eliminating all oppression, racism, and bias is nearly impossible. This is why it's important for these different groups and cultures to identify themselves together and find strength and empowerment in each other. 

So then, what is my social identity? I don't think it's possible to truly express this in a few simple words. The truth is, everyone lives with multiple identities, with different cultures, heritage, and upbringings. These many different aspects of ourselves enhance us, cultivate us, and ameliorate us, while at the same time, they contradict us. 

In the portrait above titled "Rutu,' the artist portrays several different cultural and spiritual aspects of herself. She emphasizes European and Polynesian qualities of herself, as well as different Pacific and Christian symbols. Everything down to the fish around her neck and even the title of the portrait illustrate some aspect of the artist's identity. THe fish represent her astrological sign Pices, the name Rutu is a biblical word meaning 'compassion,' the lotus in her hand represents the concept of rebirth and regeneration in Chinese culture, and even the flat, bright colors and linear shapes reflect aspects of Japanese art. All of these different pieces come together in this painting to illuminate the artist's concept of social identity. 

Image from: http://arts.unitec.ac.nz/resources/units/visual_culture/cultural_identity_portrait/rutu.gif