1. Identity and Intersectionality
1. Identity and Intersectionality
Identity
Identity noun | Who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others - Cambridge Dictionary |
Identité nom - féminin | Caractère permanent et fondamental de quelqu'un, d'un groupe, qui fait son individualité, sa singularité - Larousse |
Who Are You?
Identity is a multifaceted concept that has been shaped through varying usage and evolved throughout the years to the point where existing dictionary definitions have failed to capture the intricate nuances of the complected sociopolitical, socioeconomic, sociocultural and biological components that structure the abstractness of who we are and consolidate the vantage points that we hold. Essentially, identity encompasses the spiritual notion of a soul, whilst concretizing reality.
To start, let us learn from Amin Maalouf’s work, Identités meurtrières, where he breaks identity into two large broad categories: your inherent identity, and your periphery identity.
Inherent Identity
When looking at this category of identity markers, we are speaking to components to one’s existence that are created through the history of their birth (you are born the way that you are born) and the decisions that their caretakers and they themselves have made throughout their lives. The use of the word “chosen” does not seek to minimize the importance of these identity markers but highlights the autonomy of the individual in being able to actively or passively decide on who they are. I want to take this moment to specify that this category refers to parts of your identity that are inherent and parts that are chosen.
Examples include:
Ethnicity/Cultural Background
Nationality
Religion
Sexual Orientation
Professional Background/Association
Political/Voting tendencies
Alma mater
etc.
These inherent/chosen identity components are such important parts of the identity that we build up and influence the ways in which we approach the world. We receive some of these components from our lineage and ancestors, whereas others are conscious, or sometimes subconscious decisions that we make that greatly influence who we become.
To give an example: imagine that you were born and raised in Cape Breton to an immigrant family from Poland. You will have grown up in a Polish household eating traditional foods, being raised by your parents in a manner that is likely similar to the way they were raised, with Polish mainstream ideals, listening to Polish music and consuming Polish media. Outside the home; however, you are surrounded by both mainstream Canadian culture and the unique nuances that come from being in Nova Scotia and in Cape Breton. This may mean that your current ethnicity becomes an amalgamation of your Polish heritage and your current reality as a Cape Breton resident, giving you a hyphenated Polish-Canadian ethnicity, or you may lean more heavily to one ethnicity than the other, thereby choosing to identify as Polish living in Canada, or Canadian of Polish descent. Maybe your Polish upbringing was traumatizing and so you associate a lot of pain with Poland, you thus claim only your Canadian ethnicity. Maybe you got bullied quite a bit as a child for some of the Polish habits and customs that were passed on to you, so you reject your Canadian identity, claiming only a Polish ethnicity.
Within this example you can see the ways in which choice weaves in and out with birthright and heritage and circumstances, but all are important factors in one's inherent/chosen identity.
Periphery Identity
Periphery identity, contrary to inherent/chosen identity, is not chosen by the person in question, but by the society they live in. What this effectively means is that the only way the periphery components of one’s identity change are in changing society, i.e., physically relocating to a new community, or through the collective evolution of thought of that society.
Some examples of periphery identity markers include:
Skin colour/race
Gender expression (not gender identity)
Socioeconomic class and status
(Dis)ability
etc.
When discussing one’s periphery identity, the historical and political context of their physical location becomes important to interrogate. Race, for example, is a social construct that has very real-world implications on people and can be a determining factor in health outcomes, housing options, work opportunities and more. One’s race, and the implications of one’s race, change depending on the society that they live in.
In essence, your racial identity is not of your choosing, but it is selected through the society you live in and their history with people who look like you.
Reflection questions to help you answer the question: Who are you?
What are the aspects of your identity that you are constantly aware of?
What aspects of your identity does society never let you forget? Whenever you leave your house, during numerous moments of interaction with other people, with your coworkers, etc., what are you constantly reminded about?
What are the aspects of your identity that are only sometimes relevant, but not always?
What are the components of your identity that are sometimes relevant, or that sometimes impact your life, but not always? For example, if you identify as a Canadian, while living in what is presently Canada, how often does your Canadian identity become visibly relevant?
What are the aspects of your identity that don’t really impact your life?
What are the components of your identity that you sometimes forget are a part of your identity because it doesn’t impact your life in a way that you notice on a regular basis? For example, if you are cisgender, do you often think about how that is a component of your identity?
What parts of your identity drive you towards a career in STEM?
What are the components of your identity that enable you to pursue STEM? Have you seen a lot of representation of people who look like you in STEM fields? Is one (or are both) of your parents engineers? Did you attend a school where you could identify with your STEM teachers?
What parts of your identity serve as obstacles in your pursuit of a STEM career?
What are the components of your identity that make you feel alienated or unwelcome in STEM spaces? Is it your gender? Is it your sexuality? Is it your race, or your cultural background?
As we delve into intimate discussions surrounding racism, discrimination and oppression, the notion of identity becomes key in interrogating the systems of power and oppression that lie at the heart of Canadian society.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality noun | The complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups - Kimberlé Crenshaw |
Oppression intersectionnelle phrase-féminin | Une oppression intersectionnelle issue de la combinaison de diverses oppressions qui, ensemble, produisent quelque chose d’unique et de différent de toute forme de discrimination individuelle - Commission ontarienne des droits de la personne |
Intersectionality is a relatively new term that speaks to the complexity of human identity and the manifestation of oppression in society. Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a Black American female sociologist, intersectionality speaks to the “intersectional oppression that arises out of the combination of various oppressions which, together, produce something unique and distinct from any one form of discrimination alone” (source).
In recognizing that identities overlap to form unique combinations that shape our experiences, and thus the privileges and oppressions that we deal with, we are constantly realizing just how much we have to take into consideration these unique experiences of discrimination that may be very niche to certain individuals.
For example: In many cases, racial minority women experience discrimination in a completely different way than racial minority men or even women as a gender. Similarly, racial minority men may experience discrimination that would not be faced by non-minority males or even women of the same background. This difference is because groups often experience distinctive forms of stereotyping or barriers based on a combination of race and gender. An intersectional approach recognizes this variance.
As with many other justice terms, intersectionality is sometimes watered down, especially in academic contexts. Anne Sisson Runyan talks about how “in this diminished vision of intersectionality, institutional approaches to diversity are reduced simply to increasing the numbers of “different” bodies on university campuses, resulting in policies and practices that fall short of what is needed.” She explains that university campuses will often provide services to “diverse” students, singling out unique components of everyone’s identity, rather than holistically creating services that recognize the nuances and complexities of identity.
Consider, for example, the separate offices and groups on campuses for women, racialized peoples, marginalized peoples, sexual and gender minorities, foreign nationals, the disabled, and so on. Which services do you use if you are a racialized foreign national who is disabled? Where do you go if you are a queer black woman?
Such practices are referred to as “ornamental intersectionality,” an approach that “allows institutions and individuals to accumulate value through good public relations and ‘rebranding’ without the need to actually address the underlying structures that produce and sustain injustice” (source). Although “accommodating” for identity by isolating salient components and providing services to those who identify most strongly with that component of their identity can reduce some barriers to teaching and learning, intersectional thought and analysis demands a far more transformative process in institutions and society as a whole.
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Click here to watch your first video where Chúk talks about his identity in relation to STEM, his thoughts on the importance of incorporating multiple identities into your understanding of STEM when teaching STEM, and who his favourite Avengers are!
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