The Process of Establishing Identity
- anndeek
- Nov 7, 2018
- 5 min read
The term Latinx is a sign of respect from the Latina/Latino community, giving regard to the LGBTQIA+ community. This culture strives to create an open environment, where one’s identity can be distinguished by what one chooses to call themselves. Because this gives regard to individuals who have not had the opportunity to openly express themselves before, we can deem this as a step of progression. This is in the sense where the term progression is defined as a collective group striving for inclusivity of all peoples, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, in terms of the Latina/Latino community. I define the term progression as a movement that advocates for a group to be seen as individuals—as equals, regardless of one’s age, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, race, and beyond. In this sense, it gives those who have not yet had an opportunity to speak up about defining themselves a chance to embrace themselves, and establish their own identity. This theme of identity can be tied back to issues relating to our Humanities Core course and beyond.
In order to do so, we must first ask what it means to establish an identity. In the simplest sense, establishing an identity is essentially establishing a logo unique to others that also encapsulates the values and practices of a certain individual or society. When we first hear the term logo, we tend to think of our modern trademark logos that we’re familiar with today, like the checkmark sign on our Nike Bags, the notorious apple on the back of our phones, and the calligraphy that wraps around our red Coca Cola cans. In retrospect, the elaborate columns sculpted around the magnificent marble statues of Ancient Greece, as well as the enormous—and precisely calculated—pyramids of Egypt serve as logos that we often associate these cultures with. Over time, the traditions and values that have been passed on will become associated with the society that adopted these practices. Many times, this incorporation of ideologies from other societies will create what is known as cultural diffusion, where a society’s influence from another nation leads to the adoption the values of that other society. In our Humanities Core lectures, we’ve learned that the Roman empire tended to incorporate what they’d seen to be strong points of other cultures. For example, the Romans were greatly influenced by the Greeks through their art and philosophy, and were also inspired by the brilliant war tactics of the Carthaginians (Zissos).
However, we must also ask how these identities are established. Throughout the course of history, peoples passed information onto their younger generations through art and literature. Through different art mediums such as painting and architecture, many societies have created lasting effects on the societies and empires that came after them. Even when much of Greek and Roman architecture lay in ruin, the European pioneers took it upon themselves to revive the styles and glorify these structures through the Italian Renaissance. During this time, talented artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci were able to capture what the Europeans at the time glorified and incorporated into their society. As for literature, the Epics of Gilgamesh, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, as well as Virgil’s The Aeneid serve as placeholders that defined the mindset of the people living in that region, in that era. These serve to distinguish the societies that upheld different values, as well as allows us insight to which countries influenced or were influenced by others. An example would be Virgil’s The Aeneid. While Virgil’s epic certainly glorifies the divine rise of Roman civilization, major parts of the book allude to Homer’s famous epics, as well. We can then interpret that Ancient Roman civilization was influenced by Ancient Grecian society. To contrast this from Europe, we can also take note how different Japanese and Chinese poems are from these Roman and Grecian epics. With the topic of Orientalism in mind, it is not very difficult to see the stark differences regarding the practices of these individual cultures; we must look to Said’s The Politics of Knowledge in hopes to get a better understanding of the world by viewing it in a perspective not limited to our own.
This leads us to our final question, where we must ask what influences the formation of a society. While there are many possible answers to this question, we will focus on the most prominent factors that influence the formation of identity—war, conquest, and disaster. An important note—while war and conquest could technically fall into the category of disaster depending on the context, we are viewing the category of disaster in the sense that all occurrences are natural, meaning that they are not man-made catastrophes. We speak of disaster in the sense of plague, or famine. When either of these atrocities occurs, it forces societies and peoples to change their ways—to adapt to one’s losses and to work with the materials present. In one perspective, one might see this as an opportunity to assimilate themselves into another culture, or identify themselves under a new religion. These changes are to provide comfort from the travesties that have occurred to those peoples. Then, there is the influence of the formation of identity through war and conquest—these two can technically be considered as the same, as many times, the conquered is often forced to assimilate to the values and traditions upheld by the winning side. This forced change leads to either rebellion—an act of which a group attempts to establish themselves and openly rebel from an established authority—or diffusion, which had been explained earlier in this blog. Because this is never permanent, and it is only inevitable that one day another stronger, faster power will one day overrule the deemed-superior society at the time, it is safe to assume that societies will forever be influenced by others, and change will come through in time.
To finally tie our blog post back to the Latinx Panel Discussion, we must ask our last pressing question—what is the significance of the X in Latinx? Latinx generates networks and relations. X is a possibility of exploring the unknown and is a point of orientation but also critically charges Latinx inquiry (Latinx Panel Discussion). In attempting to understand other cultures through understanding our own, we tend to overlook the factors that drive the mindsets and the ideologies of other cultures; however, if we look into other perspectives with an open mind, it is possible to grasp an understanding unfathomable to those unable to look beyond their own world.
Works Cited
“Culture Diffusion.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/culture-diffusion.
Crawford, Stuart. “100 Most Famous Logos of All-Time - Company Logo Design.” Inkbot Design, 8 Oct. 2018, inkbotdesign.com/100-famous-logos/.
Latinx Panel Discussion, 2018
Zissos, Lecture 2018.
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