hall.identidade.odt

8/11/2019 hall.Identidade.odt

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"crisis of identity" vista como parte de processo de transformacao que esta deslocando as

estruturas centrais e processos das sociedades modernas que davam aos individuos uma

ancora estavel no mundo social

Argumento central: nesse mundo dito pós moderno, tambem estamos "pós" uma identidade

fixa, essencialista, o que desde o iluminismo é visto como a essencia da nossa existencia como

sujeitos humanos

Sujeito luminista

conception of the human person as a fully centered, unified individual, endo!ed !ith the

capacities of reason, consciousness, and action, !hose "center" consisted of an inner core

!hich first emerged !hen the subject !as born, and unfolded !ith it, !hile remaining essentially

the same continuous or "identical" !ith itself throughout the individual#s existence$ %he

essential center of the self !as a person#s identity$ shall say more about this in a moment, but

you can see that this !as a very "individualist" conception of the subject and "his" &for'nlightenment subjects !ere usually described as male( identity$

Sujeito Sociologico

reflected the gro!ing complexity of the modern !orld and the a!areness that this inner core of

the subject !as not autonomous and selfsuffi$cient, but !as formed in relation to "significant

others," !ho mediated to the subject the values, meanings, and symbols the culture of the

!orlds he)she inhabited$ 'laborada pelo interacionismo simbolico &mead(

identity is formed in the "interaction" bet!een self and society, %he subject still has an inner core

or essence that is "the real me," but this is formed and modified in a continuous dialogue !ith

the cultural !orlds "outside" and the identities !hich they offer$

dentity, in this sociological conception, bridges the gap bet!een the "inside" and the "outside"$

t stabili*es both subjects and the cultural !orlds they inhabit, ma+ing both reciprocally more

unified and predictable$

Sujeito ós-oderno

%he subject, previously experienced as having a unified and stable identity, is becoming

fragmented. composed, not of a single, but of several, sometimes contradictory or unresolved,

identities$ /orrespondingly, the identities !hich composed the social landscapes "out there,"

and !hich ensured our subjective conformity !ith the objective "needs" of the culture, are

brea+ing up as a result of structural and institutional change$ %he very process of identification,



through !hich !e project ourselves into our cultural identities, has become more openended,

variable, and problematic$

postmodern subiect, conceptuali*ed as having no fixed, essential, or permanent identity$

dentity becomes a "moveable feast": formed and transformed continuously in relation to the

!ays u#e are represented or addressed in the cultural systems !hich surround u$ &0a1, 2g34($

t is historically, not biologically, defined$ %he subject assumes different identities at different

times, identities !hich are not unified around a coherent "self$" 5ithin us are contradictory

identities$ pulling in different directions, so that our identifications are continuously being shifted

about$ f !e feel !e have a unified identitv from birth to death, it is only because !e construct a

comforting story or "narrative of the self" about ourselves

as the systems of meaning and cultural representation multiply, !e are confronted by a

be!ildering, fleeting multiplicity of possible identities$ any one of !hich !e could identify !ith at

least temporarily$

-udan6a na modernidadetardia

A further aspect of the issue of identity relates to the character of change in latemodernity. in

particular, to that process of change +no!n as "globali*ation", and its impact on cultural identity

-odern societies are therefore by definition societies of constant,

rapid, and permanent change$ %his is the principal distinction bet!een "tiaditional" and "modern"

societies$ -odernity, by contrast, is not only defined as the experience of living !ith rapid,

extensive, and continuous change, but is a highly reflexive form of life in !hich "social practices

are constantly examined and reformed in the light of incoming information atout those very

practices, thus constitutively altering their character

pace of change and the scope of change "as different areas of the globe are dra!n into

interconnection !ith one another, !aves of social transformation crash acloss virtually the !hole

of the earth#s surface" and the nature of modern institutions

transformations of time and space, and !hat he calls the "disembedding of the social system" "the lifting out of social relations from ocal contexts of interaction and their restructuring across

indefinite spans of timespace"

Society is not, as sociologists often thought, a unified and !ellbounded !hole, a totality,

producing itself through evolutionary change from !ithin itself, i+e the unfolding of a daffodil

from its bulb$ t is constantly being "decentered" or dislocated by forces outside itself



7atemodern societies, he argues, are characteri*ed by "difference". they are cut through by

different social divisions and social antagonisms !hich produce a variety of different "subject

positions" i$e$ identities for individuals$ f such societies hold together at all, it is not because

they are unified, but because their different elements and identities can, under certain

circumstances, be articulated together$ 3ut this articulation is al!ays partial: the structure of

identity remains open$ 5ithout this, 7aclau argues, there !ould be no history$

8 que est9 em jogo na questo das identidades;

since identity shifts according to ho! the subject is addressed or represented# identification is

not automatic, but can be !on or lost$

t has become politici*ed$ %his is sometimes, described as a shift trom a politics of &class(

identity to a politics of difference

/ulturas nacionais como "comunidades imaginadas"

n the modern !orld, the national cultures into !hich !e are born are one of the principal

sources of cultural identity$ 5e thin+ of them as if they are part of our essential natures

%he argument !e !ill be considering here is that, in fact, national identities ate not things !e are

born !ith, but are formed and

transformed !ithin and in relation o representation$ 5e only +no! !hat it is to be "'nglish"

because of the !ay "'nglishness" has come to be represented, as a set of meanings, by

'nglish national culture$ t follo!s that a nation is not only a political entity but something !hich

produces meanings a system of cultural representation$ nation is a symbolic community and it

is this !hich accounts for its "po!er to generate a sense of identity and allegiance"

<ational cultures are a distinctly modern form$ %he allegiance and identifi$cation !hich, in a pre

moderir age or in more traditional societies, !ere given to tribe, people, religion, and region,

came gradually in !eitern societies to be transferred to l=ne national culture$ >$egionai and

ethnic differences !ere gradually subsumed beneath !har ?e"llner calls the "political roof" of

the nationstate, !hich thus became a po!erful source of meanings for modern cultural

identities#

/omunidade imaginada



A national culture is a discourse a !ay of constructing meanings !hich influences and

organi*es both our actions and our conceptions of ourselves

0o! is the narrative of the national culture told;

2( narrative of the nation, as it is told and retold in national histories, iteratures, the media, and

popular culture

lends significance and importance to our humdrum existence, connecting our everyday lives

!ith a national destiny that preexisted us and !ill outday us

@( emphasis on origins, continuity# traditiot# and timelessness$ <ational identity is represented as

primordial "there, in the very nature of things," sometimes slumbering, but er##$ ready to be

"a!o+en" from its "long, persistent and mysterious somnolence" to resume its unbro+en

existence

( invention of tradition: "%raditions !hich appear or claim to be old as often quite recent in

origin and sometimes invented# $ $ , #nvented tradition# lmeans= a set of practices, $ # # of a ritual

or symbolic nature !hich see+ to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviours by repetition

!hich automatically implies continuity !ith a suitable historical past"

B( foundational myth: a story !hich locates the origin of the nation, the people, and their national

character so early that they are lost in the misis of, not "real," but "mythic" time$ nvented

traditions ma+e the confusions and disasters of history intelligible, converting disarray into

"community" and disasters into triumphs$

C( often symbolically grounded on the idea of a pure, original people or "fol+$" 3ut, in the

realities of national development, it is rarely this primordial fol+ !ho persist or exercise po!er

%he discourse of national culture is thus not as modern as it appears to be$ t constructs

identities !hich are ambiguously placed bet!een past and future$ t straddles the temptation to

return to former glories and the drive to go for!ards ever deeper into modernity$ Sometimes

national cultures are tempted to turn the cloc+ bac+, to retreat defensively to that "lost time"

!hen the nation !as "great," and to restore past identities$ %his is the regressive, the

anachronistic, element in the national cultural story$ 3ut often this very return to the past

conceals a struggle to mobili*e "the people" to purify their ran+s, to expel the "others" !hothreaten their identity, and to gird their loins for a ne! march for!ards$

Desconstruindo a identidade nacional: identidade e diferen6a



'rnest Eenan said that three things constitute the spiritual principle of the unity of a nation: "$ $ $

the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories, $ $ $ the desire to live together, Fand= the

!ill to perpetuate the heritage that one has received in an undivided form"

<ational identities represented precisely the result of bringing these t!o halves of the national

equation together offering both membership of the political nationstate and identificatio:$ !ith

the national culture: "to ma+e culture and polity congruent" and to endo! "reasonably

homogeneous cultures, each !ith its o!n political roof"

%o put it crudely, ho!ever different its members may be in terms of class, gender, or race, a

national culture see+s to unify them into one cultural identity, to represent them all as belonging

to the same great national family$ 3ut is national identity a unifying identity of this +ind !hich

cancels or subsumes cultural difference;

national culture has never been simply a point of allegiance, bonding and symbolic

identification$ t is also a structure of cultural po!er$

nstead of thin+ing of national cultures as unified, !e should thin+ of them as constituting a

discursive device !hich represents difference as unity or identity$ %hey are crosscut by deep

internal divisions and differences, and "unified" only through the exercise of different forms of

cultural po!er$ Get as in the fantasies of the "!hole" self of !hich 7acanian psychoanalysis

spea+s national identities continue to be represented as unified$

8ne !ay of unifying them has been to represent them as the expression of the underlyingculture of "one people$" 'thnicity is the term !e give to cultural features language, religion,

custom, traditions, feeling for "place" !hich are shared by a people$ t is therefore tempting to

try to use ethnicity in this "foundational" !ay$ 3ut this belief turns out, in the modern !orld, to be

a myth$ 5estern 'urope has no nations !hich are composed of only one people, one culture or

ethnicity$ -odern nations are all cultural hybfids

?lobali*a6o

globali*ation" refers to those processes, operating on a global scale, !hich cut actoss national

boundaries, integrating and connecting communities and organi*ations in ne! spacetime

combinations, ma+ing the !orld in reality and in experience more interconnected$ ?lobaf*ation

implies a movement a!ay from the classical sociological idea of a "society" as a !ellbounded

system, and its replacement by a perspective !hich concentrates on "ho! social life is ordered

across time and space"$ %hese ne! temporal and spatial features, reiulting in the compression



of distances and timescales, are among the most significant aspects of globali*ation affecting

cultural identities$

hall.identidade.odt

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