Identity and exclusion - Self and Other Flashcards
1
Q
Identifying identity:
A
- ‘essentialised identity’ - an innate part of who we are, a core to our being. Affects who we are.
- identity as performed/socially constructed - produced by our actions and evolves over time.
- not a determining factor - created and performed instead.
- identity: ‘a person’s sense of self and how it shaped an individual’s interactions with others in the social world’ (Ho, 2017).
- geographers argue identity is spatially situated.
- identifying in one way may make you feel isolated or included within a certain space.
- identities are intersectional - all combine together and interact.
2
Q
Exclusion through identity:
A
- not just an abstract theoretical thing - distinction between inclusion and exclusion.
- four main categories to exclusion taking shape (adapted from Pain et al, 2001).
3
Q
What are the four categories?
A
- exclusion through legal mechanism - e.g., right to access jobs, right to vote (may be based on things such as migration status).
- Exclusion through the ideologies of ‘Othering’ - ‘everyday’ attitudes of majority groups discriminated against minority groups.
- Exclusion through denial or social capital – refusal to acknowledge needs to reduce inequalities. E.g., school trip without any vegan meals.
- Exclusion through poverty and economic marginalisation – where patterns of economic disadvantaged and exclusion are perpetuated from one generation to the next - some communities are forced to sit outside standard economic system (cyclical process).
4
Q
Introducing ‘the Self’:
A
- who you are, but isn’t one thing - constellation of different things.
*may depend on the context which we are displaying ourselves. - our conceptualisation of the Self is complex and contested - unique to us and allows us to relate to similar people.
- Kenny and West: ‘the self is often viewed as fundamentally interpersonal, composed of a repertoire of relational selves’
5
Q
Geography and ‘the Other’:
A
- we treat ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ as binary opposites.
- sense of ‘the Other’ is constructed - constructed sense of difference.
- the concept of ‘the Other’ is tied to power relations and exclusion.
- ‘Other’ - usually anyone not in the dominant group.
- problematic as it flattens difference to this kind of binary - e.g., you’re either in a group or outside. Becomes a mechanism for exclusion.
- e.g., university - domestic and international students.
- othering puts less attention toothers needs and through that exclusion occurs.
- disability is another example - being able bodied is normalised.
6
Q
‘Othering’:
A
- idea gained prominence through the work of Edward Said (1978).
- explored depictions of Eastern culture as inferior, undeveloped, exotic and irrational.
- mostly during 18/19th century but process of Orientalism still occurs today - representations of TV.
- representation - creates a full sense of difference - prejudices or processes of exclusion.
- remind us thar exclusion isn’t necessarily something as tangible as access to space or resources but can be about voice, etc.
7
Q
Theorising identity:
A
- objectivity - ‘the god trick of seeing everything from nowhere’ (Haraway 1998).
- research claims to be objective and ignores the social identity elements of how research is created.
8
Q
Situated knowledge:
A
- our perspective is always partial and subjective - we cannot present objective truths free of politics or history.
- what we experience is partial - part of the bigger picture.
- ‘We must recognise and take account of own position, as well as that of our research participants, and write this into our research practice’ (McDowell, 1992)
- All literature is written from a perspective which isn’t necessarily what is the identity of the author – think about literature critically.
*E.g., an austerity report written by a feminist geographer is going to be different from one by a Marxist geographer – neither is wrong, just different.
9
Q
Situated knowledge - Gillian Rose:
A
- two aspects to situated knowledge in research:
*participants are speaking from a specific position and therefore information is partial and representative of their personal experiences (partial answers). - That of ourselves, who interpret these answers (and shape our questions) through specific frameworks shaped by others’ opinions.
- she does debate the plausibility and limitations on reflexivity as a method of understanding situation of knowledge.
10
Q
Situation knowledge and reflexivity:
A
- Rose argues reflexivity of recognising our subjectivity is impossible as we don’t know everything that determines our identity.
- ‘We cannot know everything … inscribe into our research practices some absences and fallibilities while recognizing that the significance of this does not rest entirely in our own hands’.
- recognise that not everything is perfect.
11
Q
Writing the self into research:
A
- Work reflects on how experiences and knowledge is constructed.
- Critiques historical narrative and Western academic tradition of excluding the researcher from the research.
- Mol critiques prevailing philosophical traditions for failing to account for the presence of the researcher:
- “The Western philosophical tradition favours the fantasy that this author, the subject of theory, is located outside the object of reflection’
12
Q
Subjectivity and knowledge claims:
A
- Sokal Affair 1996:
- hoax article claiming quantum gravity was a social construct was published.
- revealed to be a hoax aimed at undermining social science theory.
- subjectivity can make it difficult to speak across boundaries (e.g., between disciplines, between quantitative/qualitative approaches) - what knowledge is considered correct, valuable or valid?
- claims about what is true are always going to be contentious - different truths for different people.
13
Q
Methods of the Self:
A
- Despite limitations, reflexive approaches (where we examine our own feelings, actions and motives) are important.
- Gillian Rose – there are spaces some researchers may not be able to access or may be unable to blend into.
- Reflexivity isn’t just about getting good data – it’s about ethics, professionalism, developing trust and understanding the field.
- Thinking about why these interactions are taking shape, whether they are causing harm/could cause harm.
14
Q
Theorising the other:
A
- “Otherness is a fundamental category of human thought (Simone de Beauvoir, 1953).
- The process of othering is determined by the group classifying themselves as the self.
*To be othered is to have someone else define who you are, what you stand for, and the limits to what you can do.
15
Q
Decolonising the curriculum:
A
- If we as an institution that’s predominantly white, less predominantly male as it used to be, if we are accessing the narrative of not just what is correct but what is discussed in the first place, that’s a problem.
- Breaking the cycle – rooting out kinds of inherent power structures to recognise knowledge isn’t universal.
*Not universal – multiple accounts and voices need to be present.
