Starter: Gender Key Terms

1. Starter: Gender Key Terms • 1. Gender • 2. Sex • 3. Hunter-gatherer • 4. Gendered division of labour • 5. Patriarchy

2. AS Anthropology ANTH2 Becoming a Person Lesson 18 What is identity?

3. By the end of the lesson YOU will: • Be able to explain what anthropologists mean by identity. • Be able to list some characteristics of identity and explain what these mean. • Have applied these ideas to your own experiences and knowledge.

4. THUNKS on Identity… YOUR TASK (1) In groups, discuss and note down some answers to the following THUNKS What do we mean by ‘identity’? Where do we get our identity from? 10 minutes

5. What is Identity? (1) In anthropology identity always refers to, more specifically, your social identity. This means it is to do with which groups a person belongs to, who he/she identifies with and how people establish and maintain boundaries between us and them. There are many social identifications which may give people a sense of belonging: language, locality, kinship and family, nationality, ethnic membership, age, education, political views, sexual orientation, class, religion, gender… YOUR TASK (2) In pairs, rank these in order of how important you think they are to people’s identity. 10 minutes

6. What is Identity? (2) • Before the 1960s, it was believe that ethnicity was a • clear-cut identity with obvious cultural differences • between different ethnic groups. • Barth et al (1969) were the first to consider how • ethnicity was complex with ambiguous and not so • easily observable boundaries between groups. There • was also, for instance, internal cultural variation • within ethnic groups themselves.

7. What is Identity? (3) • Barth et al (1969) concluded that identity wasn’t so • much about actual differences as it was about the • differences which become socially relevant because • people highlight them and act as if they’re real. • Perception of difference is important. For instance, • stereotypes could be said to be important. • “What matters in practice is not which objective cultural differences may exist between (or within) groups, but what kinds of relationships exist between the groups.”

8. What is Identity? (4) • This supports the idea that identity is relational. It • is based upon contrasts. Groups and communities are • not given by nature and it is only in relation to • others that it is possible to define who we are. • An example, women might understand their • identity as women through contrasting themselves • with men and what they are not.

9. What is Identity? (5) • Identity is also situational. It changes depending on • who you are currently having a relationship with and • the situation/context you are in. Individuals and • groups may choose which aspects of identity to • foreground, for instance, in any given social context. • In this sense we could say identities are made or • chosen rather than given/enforced (imperative).

10. Another THUNK… YOUR TASK (3) List identities you belong to e.g. student, (fe)male… Would you agree these are situational (chosen) rather than imperative (given)? Explain your answer. What about class? What about ethnicity?

11. What is Identity? (6) • We might say that identityis both situational • and imperative as it is difficult to draw a clear • boundary between the two. Even things considered • chosen may actually be enforced. It is often • assumed that things like age, gender, ethnicity and • our mother tongue are imperative rather than • situational but we could negotiate the situations we • enter into carefully so that our ethnic/gender/etc • identity becomes more or less irrelevant. This might • be limited though (e.g. in societies in which there are • stigmatised groups)

12. What is Identity? (7) • Because anthropologists have now concluded that • identities can be relational, situational and multiple, • Hall (1996) proposed it is more relevant to speak of • ‘identification’ than ‘identity’ to reflect how • identities is a never-ending process. YOUR TASK (4) Complete the work-sheet activity. 20 minutes