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Psychology erikson stages development
Erik erikson essay psychosocial stages of development
How culture influences identity development
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The topic of belonging and identity has become very topical especially with recent increases in migration and debates on cultural identity (Guibernau,2013 ; Adams,2009; Ahmed,1999). It has been noted by writers like Erikson (1968) that through different stages of an individual’s life they experience the forming and the reformation of their identities which become more complex as an individual develops from childhood to adulthood. However, the process of identity formation is generally complex and difficult when it comes to second generation West African immigrants in the United Kingdom. Thus, this process can often be especially difficult, resulting in struggles to identify a clear sense of belonging and identity.
Identity is commonly, understood
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There has been arguments outlined by the likes of Heath and Roberts (2008) on the loss of identity amongst children of West African immigrants; but one could question how can an individual lose an identity that they never knew or do not recognise? Fanon argued that migrants and those living under colonisation try to fit into the norms of the hegemonic group by putting on their “white masks” failing to fit in. If they fail at putting on their white mask and yet cannot recognise and relate to the identity that they were deemed to have lost how do children of West African immigrants see their sense of belonging if they cannot successfully wear either of these identities?
This dissertation will endeavour to explore the multiple identities of second generation West African immigrants. It argues a case for the redefinition of the concept “mask” into an identity that can be described more as “carved” a word which will metaphorically be used in reference to the common act of chipping and cutting out of solid material to form an object rather similar to the process that occurs when second generational African immigrants attempt to create for themselves an identity that better suits the diverse cultural influences that they experience on a daily
The concept of belonging and how it’s conveyed is through the connections to people, places, groups, communities and the wider world. For someone to feel that they belong, they must feel the support of friends and family. Barriers also exist for people not to belong to a group or society and can lead to negative repercussions. This is explored both in Jane Harrison play “Rainbows End” and “The Little Refugee” by Anh Do and Suzanne Do. Both texts explore the stages of a physical connection to a place, while being alienated, from the desire of not being accepted for being different of unalike.
Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a culture that was not inherited, thus putting behind the unique and significant characteristics of their own inherited culture. Therefore, in an African American society, a search for self identity is a pervasive theme.
Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative provides insight into cultural assimilation and the difficulties such assimilation. The writer embraces several Western traits and ideals yet guards his African virtues jealously. In doing so however, he finds himself somewhere in between a full European and a displaced African. This problem of cultural identity Equiano struggled with is still present in modern American society. The modern day African-American appears to also be in the process of deciding the between two competing cultures and often being left somewhere in middle becoming a victim of cultural identity just like Olaudah Equiano some 250 years ago.
Identity is 'how you view yourself and your life.'; (p. 12 Knots in a String.) Your identity helps you determine where you think you fit in, in your life. It is 'a rich complexity of images, ideas and associations.';(p. 12 Knots in a String.) It is given that as we go through our lives and encounter different experiences our identity of yourselves and where we belong may change. As this happens we may gain or relinquish new values and from this identity and image our influenced. 'A bad self-image and low self-esteem may form part of identity?but often the cause is not a loss of identity itself so much as a loss of belonging.'; Social psychologists suggest that identity is closely related to our culture. Native people today have been faced with this challenge against their identity as they are increasingly faced with a non-native society. I will prove that the play The Rez Sisters showed this loss of identity and loss of belonging. When a native person leaves the reservation to go and start a new life in a city they are forced to adapt to a lifestyle they are not accustomed to. They do not feel as though they fit in or belong to any particular culture. They are faced with extreme racism and stereotypes from other people in the nonreservational society.
Seeing through a multicultural perspective. Identities, 19(4), 398. doi:10.1080/1070289X.2012.718714. Steven, D. K. (2014). The 'Secondary'.
This essay will focus on how the novel Passing by Nella Larsen engages with the theme identity. Before proceeding, it is worth defining identity in order to understand how that definition does and does not work in the analysis of Passing. According to the Oxford dictionary, identity means ‘the fact of being who or what a person or thing is’, it is ‘the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is’. A person retains a sense of self identity, or a sense that they belong in a culture or people. The characters in Passing do not adhere to this definition. Larsen explores the complex issue of racial identity and identification in her novel Passing. The novel not only refers to the sociological occurrence of blacks passing as white peoples, but it signifies the loss of racial identity. Even though they are trying to tolerate identities appointed to them by society, they have lost a sense of belonging; they are detached and isolated from their race. With the abrupt ending of the two protagonists failing, Larsen illustrates that ‘passing’, while useful in order to gain acceptance, ultimately limits a person’s independence to the extent of death.
Identity is one of the main questions throughout all of our readings, because it is hard for people to accept who they are in society. Accepting their identity as a minority with little if any freedoms sparks many of the social problems which I will show happening in all communities and cultures. The main issue we will discuss is how social environments effect the search for identity. The Mexicans in the U.S. module gives us examples how Mexicans try to keep their customs while living in a discriminated environment by the Whites. This module also gives us examples how people are searching for personal identity while struggling with cultural traditions. Finally, the African-American module gives us more examples to compare with the Mexicans in the U.S. module, because these readings deal with Blacks finding personal identity also through discrimination from the Whites. To properly understand the theme of identity, we must first look the factors influencing it.
Migrations have taken place by slaves and by free people of sub-Saharan Africa for over seventy thousand years, beginning with the tropical areas of the Old World and followed by Eurasia and the Americas. These migrations, or Diasporas, began with religious voyages and cultural exchanges and evolved to the slave trade and the deportation of black men, women and children to new colonies as workers and servants. Long before the Atlantic slave trade grew, merchants from Greece and the Roman Empire traveled to the East African coast. Patrick Manning points out in, African Diaspora: A History Through Culture, that migrants came from southern Arabia to Eretria and Ethiopia in the first millennium BCE (Manning 36). As time went on, contacts grew with other regions of Africa and trade developed with Asia and Europe. This resulted in further migrations of black Africans as both slaves and free men. The Africans brought with them customs, music food preparation techniques and minerals. For example, the discovery of copper in Central Africa brought about a substantial trans-Saharan trade and more exchange of culture and migrations. As more Africans migrated to various parts of the world, they carried with them their culture and learned new techniques and ways of life. Whether they migrated as slaves or as free men, the Africans influenced their new lands and African identity was influenced forever. This paper will look at the effects of these migrations on African identity throughout the Diaspora. It will examine migration patterns, issues of race, racial hierarchy and culture.
To begin with, culture is something that may change evolve within time but culture is something that come with your heritage or your ethnicity the traditions and things that happen that make up your culture like how your parents raised you are culture. In the informational text “ What is cultural identity” by Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco, and in the personal essay “Ethnic Hash” by Patricia Williams, there are similarities and differences in how each writer conveys their message about cultural identity. Based upon their research, Trumbull and Pacheco present the idea that culture changes and that it will never stay the same, while Williams uses her personal experience to develop the idea that many things influence cultural inheritage but
Modern identity often takes shape in the blending of lines that weren’t supposed to blend. No matter how coded or enforced, labels never hold all of one’s identity in place. The lines bounding the identity of the refugee are determined by the UN, and dictate a system of values foreign to many would-be refugees. For the Tamil mother from Sri Lanka, individual status as a refugee does not make sense; she is connected to the bones of her son and the soil in which they lie in Canada (Daniel 278). Terms of individuality are relative in the cultural understanding of many displaced peoples: collective identity in family structure supercedes that dictated by Western nation states, though the argument for asylum depends upon cognizance of Western value systems.
In Tayeb Salih’s, Season of Migration to the North, the reader encounters the story of one of the main characters, Mustafa Sa’eed. In Stuart Halls’, Cultural Identity and Diaspora, we get an insight on what forms an identity and what molds it to be the way it is. Throughout Season of Migration to the North, the narrator attempts to discover the true identity of Sa’eed, but instead, finds himself as well. Cultural differences help mold one’s identity into one’s being, versus what they become. Halls’ article about cultural identity can be correlated to the experience the narrator goes through in order to find out more about the mysterious Mustafa Sa’eed.
Bhabha, Homi K. Interview by J. Rutherford. Identity, Community, Culture, Difference. 1990. J. Rutherford. London, Lawrence and Wishart: 207-221
My culture identity, as I know it as is African American. My culture can be seen in food, literature, religion, language, the community, family structure, the individual, music, dance, art, and could be summed up as the symbolic level. Symbolic, because faith plays a major role in our daily lives through song, prayer, praise and worship. When I’m happy I rely on my faith, same as when I’m sad, for I know things will get better as they have before.
No human being is culture free. We are a product of the many different cultures which surround us. Our values, worldview and experiences are structured by the society and culture that exert influences on our lives each day.
Through the incessant occurrences of racism one can examine society’s perpetuation of the black individuals’ internal conflict with identity. For instance, at the very beginning of Adichie’s novel the reader can see the how Ifemelu, in white America, is unhappy and unfulfilled, smothered by the blanket of racial standards created by American society. Therefore, “when [one] makes a choice to come to America, [one] becomes black” and he or she will everlastingly hold that label which contributes to his or her loss of identity. Whether one is “Jamaican” or “Ghanaian,” “America does not care.” To white America, individuals like Ifemelu will always be described by one word: