Hybrid Identities A mixture of two or more

Hybrid Identities

A mixture of two or more influences • A hybrid identity means that someone’s sense of who they are is a mixture of two or more influences. This can be seen most clearly within ethnicity, nationality and identity. An individual may have an identity as a British person, but also a Muslim and a Pakistani. So their ethnicity is a hybrid of both British and Asian ethnicity. This is very common for second and third generation immigrants who grew up in one culture but retain influences from their culture of origin

Resistance • However, the experience of racism in the UK, may lead some young people from ethnic minorities to “turn inwards” and seek support only from members of their own community. Therefore religion and culture may be strengthened as they become key sources of identity and support.

The effect of racism • Winston James (1993) argues that the experience of racism unified the culture and identity of African Caribbeans in the UK. Black people from the Caribbean had cultural differences based on their island of origin, and may also have been divided based on the darkness of skin – which had been a hierarchy of colour imposed by the experience of colonialism However, in the UK, the shared experience of racism had the effect of drawing Africans and Caribbeans together. A shared oppositional culture grew, organised around the label “black” as a resistance to racism

Young British Muslims • Jacobson (1997) argued that young Pakistanis are adopting a strong Islamic identity as a response to social exclusion from white British society Adopting a more conservative Muslim identity brings stability and security in the face of increasing discrimination

Personal Choice? • It has been argued that in the age we live in today- global culture has meant that identity is much more about personal choice, and we can actively choose to construct our own hybrid identities. However, some (Marxists and Feminists) argue that this is not the case, and actually many aspects of identity are imposed on us through power relations in society

Individualism • Is this obsession with promotion of the self and personal identity positive? Our liberal society focuses on the idea of the individual as being all important – the true expression of personal freedom – but what does that mean for society? Are we all so obsessed with ourselves and self-promotion, living in our own little bubbles, worried about what others are going to think of us, that we forget about the community and the planet?