This is the question that John Valjean asks himself once he realizes that an innocent man has been mistaken for himself and is going to trial for his crimes. At this point in his life, Jean Valjean is the mayor and owner of a factory. He has to make the decision of either concealing himself as this character that he has become or reveal his identity to the courts and save an innocent man to likely lose his own. Jean Valjean decides that he cannot hide and that he must reveal his true identity to be at peace with himself.
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| Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development |
Not all identities are life or death situations, at least not in this day and age, and should be thought about more deeply in order to figure out one's true self. There are steps to make our way through life that were theorized by psychologist Erik Erikson. Erikson's theory of psychosocial development goes through eight stages from birth to preschool, child, adolescents and the stages of adulthood. The stage in which shows great interest for psychologists is stage five which corresponds to adolescents that are trying to figure out their identity and understand who they are. In this phase, there can be a number of categories in which one tries to determine their identity such as sexual orientation, ethnicity, relationships, religion, politics, and occupation. Within each of these categories are four phases in which one can be in that James Marcia created to extend off of Erikson's theory.
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| Marcia's phases of his Identity Status Theory |
There isn't an order in which these phases go in, but the idea is to try to reach the achievement stage as that is when one should be the most confident with what it is they are about such as a particular ethnicity. Ethnicity is a very interesting topic among the adolescent stage and even into young adulthood for some. Less than 40 years ago, very few people were concerned with their ethnicity shaping their identity if they were mixed, today it is a defining point for some to describe who they really are.
Ethnic identity has become a very interesting topic for many people in the United States. People from just about every background is here, with a little bit from another background, and possibly a third and fourth. The diversity of the country has led many to think more about what makes them who they are. When I think about my identity, I think of myself as everything I am: Italian, Irish, German, Swedish, and Native American. Some of these are very small bits, I believe I am roughly only about 1/32 Native American, but I still count it as what make up who I am. Depending on the situation, I may identify myself as a single ethnicity such as Italian when it come to food and reasons for me speaking loudly; when I have bright rosy cheeks even when it's not cold, I say its because I am Irish and Swedish.
Although most of what my identity consists of is European, there are others in which they have a wider backgrounds such as Asian-European or Latino-African. An article from Time magazine focuses on a group of college students in a biracial and multiracial club. There meeting starts with an icebreaker of "Who am I?" to figure out somone's ethnic background. What once would have been an insult is now a fun game for everyone to get to know each other. The group began in the early 2000s at the University of Maryland where interest was immediate and has only grown since its founding. The present advisor Dr. Warren Kelly is in awe of how the same campus in which he was educated at (and is now an educator) has changed so dramatically with ethnicity and the diversity of it. Dr. Kelly himself is a mix of Japanese and African American, but during his college years he only identified with apart of himself.
“I was black and proud to be black,” Dr. Kelley said. “There was no notion that I might be multiracial. Or that the public discourse on college campuses recognized the multiracial community.”
This idea of identifying as a single ethnicity likely comes from how the census once had to be filled out. Originally, you could only pick one Causcasian, African American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American to name a few. This limited someone that was African American and Native American for example to decide which one they identified with. Parents of mix children were angry about this and demanded a change. In the 2000 Census, the option went for "choose one" to "choose all that apply." This caused an increase in the known diversity of the U.S. once the data had been collected and analyzed.
Since the Census used to only allow on box to be checked for ethnic identity, some have wondered if President Obama is not the first 'black' president, but actually the first 'multiracial' president as both of his parents come from a different background and Obama has alway only been able to check on box and since checking mor than one is very new, he might have continued to check only the African American box for one reason or another. This caused a conflict with the Biracial and Multiracial Club and the school's N.A.A.C.P when they asked them their opinion. They said that they wanted the club to stop trying to take away 'their black president.' The multiracial group wanted clarity to support their cause, but the N.A.A.C.P wanted to have their cause to be shown as well which caused conflict between them.
On the other side, some African Americans actually try to decrease their amount of "blackness" in order to get jobs. In another Time article by Michael Luo, Luo describes the methods and reasonings behind people shifting their resumé around in order to make them seem "whiter." One example of this is a lady named Tahani Tompkins. Tompkins tried to get a job, her resumé was very good for the field that she was applying for, however, she wasn't getting hired. She decided, with a suggestion from a friend, to use her initials instead of her first name and have her resumé say T.S. Tompkins which ended up landing her job interviews. It seems a bit strange that something as simple as a name could increase the chances of a job interview. Sad, but true and Tompkins is not the only one. Other African Americans removing anything that outright says that they are African Americans the best they can in order to get jobs. Some go to lengths such as removing if their college was historically a black college, and any black non-profit organizations/support groups that they have been apart of, some go as far as rearranging their references from "whitest to blackest." All of this changing is done just to be noticed for a job interview to defend themselves in person. The lengths that some go to get a job is ridiculous as it is hiding their identity. With so many in the younger generations trying to display and show of their diversity, there are still many that are trying to hide because they feel that they have to.
Ethnicity is an important asset in one's life that can help to achieve identity status within themselves. Identity in general is something that one should be proud of and embrace. Embrace your differences whether you are African American, Asian-American, Bolivian-Asian, Hispanic-European, or a man hiding from the law behind another man, be who you are and show your true self.
I absolutely love your beginning take on this! Really draws you in!
ReplyDeleteAnother great post! It really helps put a lot of racially charged issues into perspective. Helps you understand how others may be feeling, when you otherwise wouldn't. Normally one would say, oh they are overreacting but this helps, it truly does. Thanks for all of your hard work! :)
ReplyDeleteI like your comments on having to check one box or being able to check more than one when you are asked to report your ethnicity. You may be lacking in your political knowledge (Obama is biracial) but I think you mistake is a common one. Why? 1. He looks Black, 2. When asked to report his race he checks the black box 3. He is referred to as the firs African American president. That being said I wonder if his biracial status helped him get elected. He was raised by a white mother and then by his white grandparents. I saw he speaking about race once and he mentioned his white grandparents. They loved him dearly but he recalls a time when they made a comment about there being so many black people around (as if he was himself white. Even more interesting is the fact that he went by the name "Barry" rather than "Barack" for his teenage years. He no doubt has struggled with his ethnic identity and his biracial heritage.
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