How Narrative And Memory Influence Identity - 942 Words

Up to this point, I have used the terms â€Å"self† and â€Å"identity,† including various compound terms for or with them, without attempting to define or distinguish them. Before continuing, and prior to any further discussion of how narrative and memory influence identity, I wish to clarify these terms as best as I am able. As McAdams (2003) notes, both social scientists and laypersons use â€Å"self† and â€Å"identity† interchangeably in many circumstances. The increasing use of â€Å"identity† and explorations of the topic, particularly among anthropologists and sociologists, highlights and exacerbates the difficulty of pinning down a singular, clear, and concise meaning of the term. While endlessly debated, â€Å"identity† and â€Å"self† still remain useful concepts in the social sciences to talk about â€Å"key manifestations of our awareness of ourselves as persons† (Eakin 2008:xii). Perhaps the best way to root ou t the difference, and interdependence, of â€Å"self† and â€Å"identity: is to first examine how others have struggled with this topic. Handle (1994:28) notes the problems of definition stem from a â€Å"commonsense notion of identity which she paraphrases as â€Å"the identity of a person or group is what it really is, uniquely, in and of itself, in its inner being and without reference to externals.† This notion is further entrenched through the common use of identity in reference to identity theft, student ID numbers, and ID cards. In this sense, identity is used to highlight a unique set ofShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved920 Words   |  4 Pages(slaves) did not have a voice. How does Beloved compare to other slave narrative, and why is it important? How does memory involve itself within this concept? â€Å"A Different Remembering: Memory, History and Meaning in Beloved† is Marilyn Sanders Mobley’s attempt to distinguish the difference of Morrison’s novel from the established white literary tradition that critics were trying to place it in. Mobley argues that Morrison’s use of the trope of memory revises the slave narrative genre and makes the slaveRead MoreThe Tragedy And Horror Of The Joplin Tornado1627 Words   |  7 Pagesselect the features of the collective narrative shared with the nation through national news. The national attention to Joplin, spurred those wanting to help in the wake of such devastation and those in admiration of the community’s own resilience to volunteer time and resources to the recovery effort. Cast as an all-American city in the Heartland of the nation, the positive ethos and determination demonstrated by Joplin citizens transformed the community’s identity from a virtually-unknown place inRead MoreTajfel And Turner Social Identity Theory1462 Words   |  6 PagesTajfel Turner, (1979) the proponents of social identity theory helped in the understanding of intergroup relations. The emphasis the complex â€Å"interweaving of an individual or interpersonal behavior with contextual social processes of intergroup conflict† (p.276). Social identity theory, thus emphasizes intergroup relations (the relationship an individual has with his group and between an outgroup) and categorical distinction (what sets an individual apart from another outgroup). Korostelina describesRead MoreSpiegelman s Imaginary Homelands By Salman Rushdie1386 Words   |  6 Pagespast life has a vast influence on his or her writing and can be the foundation of their material. 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We shape our narratives of the past to represent who we feel we are, selecting aspects to highlight and others to forget based on how we wish to represent ourselves and the meaning we apply to particular events. Simultaneous to that process, the stories passed down through the generations, the stories that define a collective people, and repetition of the stories we each tell in our daily lives, shape individuals and their construction of self and createRead MoreBeloved : A Reconstruction Of Our Past1705 Words   |  7 Pagesof the characters lives and the memories they are trying to conceal. By looking at the suppression of memory from the members of 124, we can see Morrison creates a metaphor to the way America’s future is dependent on understanding the haunting of the past. Through an analysis of these memories and their consequences, we can comparatively relate it to our engrained past in slavery and how the former speaks for the ladder. Iyunolu Osagie discusses Morrison’s narrative as a product in â€Å"historical mythmaking†Read MoreExploring The Benefits And Difficulties Of Travel Accounts881 Words   |  4 Pagesworks that some may regard as genre in their own rights†¦ but it distinguishes these from other types of narrative in which travel ins narrated by a third party or is imagined.† Young’s description of travel narratives allows for accounts that were viewed as accurate in their time such as Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Young and Elizabeth Bohls demonstrate the ability for travel narratives to be a combination of several literature genres, and the focus is on the aspects of the traveler ratherRead MoreIntercultural Cultural Competence And Identity1335 Words   |  6 PagesPersonal identity narrative This paper is an exploration of what you yourself bring to the communication. Since the understanding of oneself is an essential part of understanding others, which altogether facilitate communication. a) Use the concepts about identity, values, norms, beliefs, cultural practices, cultural patterns and competence †¦ to reflect on your cultural experience. b) Be selective, choose some of the most influential elements only. c) Discuss how your cultural narrative influences and