City Identity

7/30/2019 City Identity

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The Key IdeasTo use cities as sites of identity explorationTo consider ways in which the historicalenvironment of a city can be seen as amuseumTo develop and understanding of interpretations of a cityTo raise questions that enable a criticalreading of cities


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The City: the formation of

ourselvesThe city is not simply a passive backdrop againstwhich social and cultural processes are enacted but a

constitutive part of the cultural and social formation

of metropolitan modernity Mort, F. Nead,L. Introduction New Formations 37 (1999)

Identities do not just take place in the city; they areshaped and sustained by the physical and culturalforms of modern urban life just as they in turn shapethat life.

Houlbrook, M. Queer London Univ Chicago Press 2005 p4


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Identity and the city A way of being

A way of seeing

A way of telling

A way of doing


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Identity exploration in the city

and social justice

RaceGender

ClassDisabilitySexuality and sexual orientation


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Identity


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What is identity

(being and seeing)a fluid and complex phenomenon which can vary depending on the context inwhich it is explored. In this sense it may be akin to role.

Mono-identity Vs Multiple, composite and complex identities.

identity is closely linked to perception. Identity is not only concerned with howyou see and present yourself but is also about how others see and interpretyou. It is also, therefore, about how you see others.

Identities do not exist outside their making and are socially created in specifichistorical contexts

(Macdonald, S. Inside European Identities 1993)

identities are not legacies passively received but representations socially produced and -inthis sense- matters of social dispute

(Mato D On the making of transnational identities in the age of globalisation: The US Latina/o -Latin American case: Cultural Studies 12(4) pp598-620 1998)


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Influences on Identity

FormationThere are social, cultural and political pressures that may limitour choice, or subconsciously influence our espoused identityand the identities we ascribe to others.

Many of these influences on our identity formation are historical

A Metaphor: Identity is a narrative How I, as a finite, concrete, embodied individual, shape and

fashion the circumstances of my birth and family, linguistic,cultural and gender identity into a coherent narrative that

stands as my lifes story

(Benhabib,S The generalised and concrete other: the Kohlberg - Gilligancontroversy and feminist theory in Kittay, E.F and Meyers, D.T. edsWomen and Moral Theory, new Jersey, Rowman and Littlefield 1987 p 166)


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History and Identity


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Exploring Historical Influences

on Identity FormationLiving with the past

Developing a critical relationship with the pastthrough the historical environment History as TruthHistory as construction


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The construction of history

forms an identityThe history of my life does not exist. It

does not exist. There is never a center. Nopath, no line. There is a vast space whereone can pretend that there is someone, itis not true there is no one.Marguerite Duras: LAmant (p14 1984)


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History, Memory and IdentityLes Lieux de Memoire (Pierre Nora)

there is no such thing as spontaneous memory,hence we must create archives, mark anniveraires,organise celebrations, pronounce eulogies andauthenticate documents because such things nolonger happen as a matter of courseThese bastionsbuttress our identity, but if what they defended werenot threatened, there would be no need for them.

Nora, P. 1992/6 Les Lieux de Memoire , Editions Gallimard, Paris 1992. English Edition: Realms of Memory Kritzman, L.D. and Goldhammer, A. trans Columbia University Press 1996


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Identity Exploration in Cities


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Reading Cities as TextsComplex and multi-layered

artefacts, images, sounds, wordslinear, ordered or random

Who wrote the city? Who did they write it for? Why did they write it? Who reads it now?


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Three Basic QuestionsWho is here?Who is not here?Who should be here?

And WHY?

City Identity

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