Culture and Identity
What is identity
Territory and identity
History and identity
Community and identity
Cultural practices and identity
Identity Formations (region, nation, ethnicity, religion, class, gender)
Expressions of identity, identity politics
Required reading:
?Identity,? Cultural Theory: the Key Concepts, pp. 183-187.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, pp. 1-36.
Eric Hobsbawm, ?The Sense of the Past,? On History, pp. 10-23.
Stuart Hall, ?The Question of Cultural Identity,? The Polity Reader in Cultural Theory, pp. 119-125.
Adam Kuper, ?The Return of the Native,? Current Anthropology 44, no. 3 (2003).
Rogers Brubaker and Frederick Cooper, ?Beyond "Identity",? Theory and Society 29 (February 2000): 1-47.
Identity: a reader, ed. Paul du Gay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman (2000).
Helpful tips
Your essay should be constructed around a topic, whether it is pre-assigned or of your own choice. It is always a good sign when you have a clearly articulated title.
In researching for your essay, it is always helpful to come up with a question, or questions for which you seek answers.
Consider carefully what the question you choose to ask and answer only that.
Your answer should be developed in the form of an argument with clearly articulated premises and conclusions. Essays lacking in argument and a conclusion will be considered deficient.
There is no need to demonstrate that you have read the books listed in the bibliography by repeating what they say. Your teachers are not interested in what they say. They are, however, extremely interested in YOUR response to some of their arguments, where you agree and disagree with their theses, their formulation of the problem, why you think they are relevant or irrelevant to the question you are asking.
More importantly, you must be able to clearly state the reasons and argue for your response. Back up what you say with reasons and evidence (e.g., examples, or quotations from your sources)! When the evidence comes from an authority in the field, make a footnote or endnote and give him or her credit. Failure to do so will diminish the value or your essay and sometimes may cause the reader to suspect plagiarism.
Choose your words, especially terms, carefully, and consider the ideas and implications evoked by the words and terms you use. The word, ?religion?, and all terms used to designate religions (e.g., Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.), for example, can mean religious dogmas or cultural practices associated with a set of beliefs. If you use the word ?religion? in your essay, it may be helpful for you to clearly state what you mean by this word. In writing about culture or literature, it is always a good idea to consider what these words mean, as well as terms such as identity, representation, symbol, narrative, metaphor, parody, satire, tragedy and comedy, etc. If you do not know, then you must do some research to find and adequate definition. Usually this may be done by consulting a reference book or e-source in cultural and literary studies.
Titles on cover sheet should reflect the contents of the individual essay and be of the student?s own devising. For example, if you choose one of the topics suggested above, you may come up with your own title based on the question you want to examine and answer.
Each essay must have a bibliography at the end.
If you feel stuck, or have questions, seek your teacher out and solicit help, either during his/her office hours, or make an appointment for this specific purpose.
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