What is the anti-essentialist view of IDENTITY?

1.       Analyse the concept of identities    OR What is the anti-essentialist view of identity?

What is the meaning of the term ‘social construction of identity’?

Identity is something that we are constantly building and planning throughout our lives through our interaction with others. Identity is neither fixed nor intrinsic. It is a socially constructed dynamic product of the social, political contexts of an individual’s livid experiences.  This is an anti-essentialist concept of identity. Our social identities are defined by our membership in various groups along with the values, beliefs and attitudes connected with them. There are four types of identities. (1) Master identities. These identities are relatively stable, unchanging. Eg., gender, ethnicity, national and regional origins.

(2) Interactional identities. Eg. I am a teacher to my students. While travelling I am a passenger, In my apartment, I am some one’s neighbor. If I am sick, I am a patient to a doctor and so on.

(3) Personal identities are relatively stable. Eg. Honest, reasonable, arrogant, but personal identities are frequently contested.  (4) Relational identities change from moment to moment. It refers to the kind of relationship that a person enacts with his/her partner in a situation such as conversation, way side talk etc.  Our identities are based on cultural contexts of gender, class, caste, age, religion, ethnicity, nationality and race. Thus subjectivity and identity are based on difference, cultural contexts and repetition is called ‘anti-essentialist’ because identities are always changing, constantly invented and reinvented based on cultural and social contexts.

2. Why should you consider mankind to be an insensitive word?

3. Is English a gendered language?

4. Comment on the influence of gender on the use of language

Yes, English is certainly a gendered language where we can find genderlect very clearly. There is utter discrimination against women. English speakers and writers tend to use masculine nouns and pronouns in situations where the gender of their subject is not mentioned and when they refer to a group which contains members of both sexes, the word ‘mankind’ was used. ‘mankind’ means only half of the population- male population.  Thus the preference goes to man. Similarly, chairman, police man, post man and certain professions such as doctor, sir, driver, engineer all give preference to man not woman. ‘man’ and words ending in ‘man’ are the most commonly used gendered nouns. When we say that all men are equal, we are certainly excluding woman. Another example of English as gendered language is the way the words ‘Mr’, ‘Miss’, and ‘Mrs.’ Are used. ‘Mr.’ can refer to any man married or unmarried. But women are different! Women are defined by their relationship to men. In modern time we use the title ‘Ms’ to woman whether married or not.  Another example to show English a gendered language is about professional names. People think doctors are men whereas nurses female!

5. Language is used to discriminate and abuse certain sections of people – comment

Yes, language has been misused to humiliate certain sections of people in world. Language is a social phenomenon and has political effects. The word ‘denigrate’ meant to ‘reduce to the level of a negro’

This usage shows that the blacks are the dirtiest form of humans and thus the blacks were cruelly humiliated by the white people.   The white people called the Africans and Asians as blacks and coloured people. The Africans were called ‘Negro’. Now with the development of education and culture, the blacks are called ‘Afro-Americans’. Similarly in India language was misused to humiliate the lower sections of people everywhere.  In Europe, the people who did not know Latin were called ‘barbarians. Similarly the people who could not quote from classical languages like Greek and Latin were called ‘uncouth’.

6. Language in relation to class and caste

Language organizes the lived experience and the social reality of people. Working classes develop their own language because the language of the upper class cannot explain the painful experience of the working class. The use of slang and the street, road side language reflect the sufferings of the working class. The novels of Charles Dickens such as ‘Hard Times’, Oliver Twist’, Pickwick Papers’ explain the lived experience and the day to day rustic language of the working class and the factory works.  But Jane Austen’s novels describe the rich land owning class and their language which contain the phrases of manners, property because the novelist was born and brought up as the daughter of a rich land lord! With the development of modern technology, transportation, travelling increased and languages have undergone great changes. The language of SMS which include abbreviations and emoticons and social networking emerged new type of languages and people are known as ‘netizens’. The meanings of words are being changed over times. ‘Fair’ meant justice in old days. But when Europeans travelled to Africa and Asia and met black skinned and semi skinned people, the word ‘fair’ means ‘complexion’ and Europeans are called ‘fair’ and others are called blacks. Caste names are used to discriminate and abuse people. For example ‘chamar’ is an abusive word refer to a particular caste even today although the traditional work was stopped by law long ago! Gandhiji coined a new term ‘Harijan’ (God’s people)  to describe the untouchables.

1.       What is language?

Language is defined as a system that uses sounds or written symbols to communicate. This is a system of communication used by human beings only. The study of language is called linguistics. Language is based upon words and combination of words into sentences. The smallest unit of language is ‘sign’ which is a combination of ‘the concept and the sound image. The concept is called the signified and the sound image the signifier.

2.       Define culture?

Culture is defined as the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings, transmitted from one generation to another. Food, clothing, celebrations, religion, and language, shared values, customs, histories, knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law and habits are included in the definition of culture. Above all, culture is a symbolic meaning system.

3.       Who wrote ‘ A Course in General Linguistics’ ?

‘A Course in General Linguistics’ was written by the great Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure.

4.       How can we define meaning?

In his famous book titled ‘A Course of General Linguistics’ Ferdinand de Saussure developed the theory of the ‘sign’ which is the combination of the concept and the sound image. The concept is the signified and the sound image is the signifier. The relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary. So meaning is defined as the relationship between words. In short language is a link between thought and sound.

5.       Distinguish between langue and parole

In his famous book title ‘A Course of General Linguistics’ Ferdinand de Saussure defines Langue and Parole. Langue is the actual language spoken by people, for example Malayalam, English Tamil etc.

Parole is the individual speech act.

6.       Define Genderlect

Genderlect is a product of social context. Deborah Tannen, a Harward Professor found out many differences in the masculine and feminine styles of discourse. There is a belief that women talk more than men. But in research it is found that men talk more than women in meetings, debates and on other occasions. Women’s speech style is always co-operative, whereas men are highly competitive. Similarly, women are always uncertain in their talk and they often use the words, ‘I think”, I’m sure”,  “you know”. Women always use more standard forms of English, whereas men use non standard forms frequently.

7.       Define Sociolect

People of different geographical areas who speak different languages will think and behave differently depending on the language they use.  Thus the sociological environment of a person determines the type of language he or she uses. These variations in a language are called a Sociolect.

8.       Distinguish between Pidgin and Creole

Pidgin is a term used to define the language that is born out of the regular contact of two linguistic groups that have no language in common. A Pidgin is a restricted language which arises for the purpose of communication between two social groups of one is in a more dominant position than the other. The less dominant group develops the Pidgin. Historically Pidgin is born in colonial situations. In India the people who are known as ‘Anglo-Indians speak Pidgin. There are Indian-English, Australian English, African English which are called Creoles.

In the course of several generations the Pidgin is developed into the mother-tongue of a group of speakers. Such languages are called Creoles.

9.       Define social constructionism

Social Construction of Reality is a term coined by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman in their book titled “The Social Construction of Reality”. It says that our reality is shaped by our life experiences and the way we interact with people around us. Our upbringing and our value systems have deep impact on how we present ourselves how we understand others. In a society, social interaction leads to the creation of knowledge. This knowledge includes, beliefs, superstitious ideas, folklores, proverbs, religious ideas, customs, traditional values which have become part of the social system, a process that is called institutionalization. This institutionalization leads to habitualization. This set of beliefs that emerge through practice and institutionalization is called symbolic universes.  Thus our reality is shaped by our beliefs and back grounds. Society exists both outside as well as inside our minds. Thus, we the humans are always making and remaking our society. This is called social constructionism.

10.   What is nativism?

Nativism is an argument that writing in English encourages the continuity of colonial oppression, and as long as we continue to write in English, we cannot be free from the colonial oppression.

Many writers like Balachandra Nemde argues that we should write in our mother tongues. But novelists like Salman Rushdie says that post colonial writers Indigenized and nativised English language through the device of ‘chutnification’ and mixing of regional languages with English. Thus there are Indian English, Hinglish, Mangleesh etc.

11. “The ‘real world’ is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group” – Comment –

 Language is defined as a system that uses sounds or written symbols to communicate. Only human beings use this symbolic system of communication. It is a system of communication based upon words or ‘signs’ . A sign is the combination of a signifier (sound image) and a concept (the signified). Language is used as a vehicle of thought and ideas.  Thus language has become an integral part of human life. As a result he lives in many worlds. First he lives in an objective (real) world and in the world of social activity which is the second world and finally he lives in the world of ideas and thoughts. Thus we are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. The ‘real world’ is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group. Every language shows quite different social reality. The worlds in which different societies who speak different languages live in very different worlds. So people of different geographical areas who speak different languages think and behave differently. English man thinks and behaves differently from a Malayalee. These variations in a language is called a sociolect.

12.   Why is culture called a symbolic meaning system?

Culture is defined as the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings, transmitted from one generation to another. Food, clothing, celebrations, religion, and language, shared values, customs, histories, knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law and habits are included in the definition of culture. Above all, culture is a symbolic meaning system. It is semiotic system in which symbols communicate. Culture is inherited socially and share by all community.

13.   Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

There is a strong relationship between culture and language. Meaning of words is shared between speakers of the same language. But there are some symbols which are similar the world over. Example traffic rules.  When we live in a certain way, we use the language in tune with our life style and status. The language of a teacher, a priest and collector, magistrate contains upper vocabulary.  The language and dialect of the upper class is different from that of the lower class.  In Malayalam, M.T.Vasudevan Nair and Kamala Surayya used the ‘Valluvanadan dialect, which is considered as an upper class one. The Eskimos have seven different words to denote ‘snow’ as it is an integral part of their life.  The Swiss linguist  Ferdinand de Saussure developed the “theory of sign” which is a combination of two elements namely the concept and the sound image (the signified and the signifier). This shows the progress of our culture.

14.   What is discourse? How is it connected to culture?

 Discourse is an integral aspect of agency in language. Discourse is defined as both written and spoken communication.  Discourse means specific choice of words or vocabulary used in various fields of social life such as legal discourse, medical discourse, teaching discourse, religious discourse and so on. These discourses show their belief systems, values and socio-cultural experiences over a period of time. The discourse reflects the rights and duties of an individual in a particular social position. For example the discourse of a class room positions the teacher as one who will impart knowledge and the students as willing to accept the knowledge. Here the teacher wields power over the students. Thus discourse is intimately connected to culture.

15.   The question of agency in language

Agency in language is essentially about discourse. Discourse is the context in which any speech or writing takes place.  There is the discourse of the law in the court room where only legal and logical arguments are acceptable. Superstitious beliefs have no place in the court room. Likewise the discourse of the class room is that the teacher considered to be wise and  a man of wisdom and knowledge and the students will receive his knowledge and obey him. In short discourse is the context in which a culture’s meaning production, communication and interpretation take place. Similarly there is the discourse of gender.  A girl is brought up in the discourse feminity and a boy is brought up in the discourse of masculinity. The girl is taught art of cooking, cleaning and caring for children while the boy is learning to do work outside. The agency of the girl child is located within the larger context of the patriarchal, male dominated discourse that always treats her as weak, gentle, soft and motherly nature.

Kjt/19-12-2016