Cultural identity

Cultural identity can be expressed through certain styles of clothing or other aesthetic markers

Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics.

Child with flag

Description

Various modern cultural studies and social theories have investigated cultural identity. In recent decades, a new form of identification has emerged which breaks down the understanding of the individual as a coherent whole subject into a collection of various cultural identifiers. These cultural identifiers may be the result of various conditions including: location, gender, race, history, nationality, language, sexuality, religious beliefs, ethnicity and aesthetics. The divisions between cultures can be very fine in some parts of the world, especially places such as Canada or the United States, where the population is ethnically diverse and social unity is based primarily on common social values and beliefs.

As a "historical reservoir", culture is an important factor in shaping identity. Some critics of cultural identity argue that the preservation of cultural identity, being based upon difference, is a divisive force in society, and that cosmopolitanism gives individuals a greater sense of shared citizenship. When considering practical association in international society, states may share an inherent part of their 'make up' that gives common ground, and alternate means of identifying with each other.

Also of interest is the interplay between cultural identity and new media.

In the current era, cultural identity does not necessarily mean an individual's interaction within a certain group but a social network of people imitating and following the social norms presented by the media.Instead of learning behaviour and knowledge from cultural/religious groups, individuals from the present era are learning these social norms from the media to build on their cultural identity.

See also

General

• Self-concept
• Self-determination
• Globalization
• Cosmopolitanism
• New media

Identity

• Social identity
• Collective identity
• Identity (social science)
• Multiple identity
• Gender identity

Culture

• Cultural diversity
• Intercultural competence
• Cultural conservatism
• Transculturation

Politics

• Identity politics
• Diaspora politics
• Nationalism
• Pan-nationalism
• Survival of the fittest

References

• Gad Barzilai, Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities University of Michigan Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-472-03079-8
• Tan, S.-h. (2005). Challenging citizenship: group membership and cultural identity in a global age. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate. ISBN 0-7546-4367-0
• Bunschoten, R., Binet, H., & Hoshino, T. (2001). Urban flotsam: stirring the city : Chora. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers. ISBN 90-6450-387-7
• Mandelbaum, M. (2000). The new European diasporas: national minorities and conflict in Eastern Europe. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press
• Houtman, G. (1999). Mental culture in Burmese crisis politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. (library.cornell.edu). ISBN 4-87297-748-3
• Sagasti, F. R., & Alcalde, G. (1999). Development cooperation in a fractured global order: an arduous transition. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre. ISBN 0-88936-889-9
• Crahan, M. E., & Vourvoulias-Bush, A. (1997). The city and the world: New York's global future. New York: Council on Foreign relations. ISBN 0-87609-208-3
• Hall, S., & Du Gay, P. (1996). Questions of cultural identity. London: Sage. ISBN 0-8039-7883-9
• Cable, V. (1994). The world's new fissures: identities in crisis. London: Demos. ISBN 1-898309-35-3
• Berkson, I. B. (1920).Theories of Americanization a critical study, with special reference to the Jewish group. New York City: Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Mora, Necha. (2008). [1]

Further reading

• Robyns, Clem (1995). "Defending the national identity". In Andreas Poltermann (Ed.), Literaturkanon, Medienereignis, Kultureller Text. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag ISBN 3-503-03727-6.
• Robyns, Clem (1994). "Translation and discursive identity". In Poetics Today 15 (3), 405–428. http://kuleuven.academia.edu/ClemRobyns/Papers/692295/Translation_and_discursive_identity
• Anderson, Benedict (1991). Imagined Communities. London: Verso.
• Gellner, Ernest (1983). Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Bourdieu, Pierre (1980). "L'identité et la représentation". Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 35: 63–70. doi:10.3406/arss.1980.2100. 
• Gordon, David C. (1978). The French Language and National Identity (1930-1975). The Hague: Mouton.
• de Certeau, Michel; Julia, Dominique; & Revel, Jacques (1975). Une politique de la langue: La Révolution française et les patois. Paris: Gallimard.
• Balibar, Renée & Laporte, Dominique (1974). Le français national: Politique et pratique de la langue nationale sous la Révolution. Paris: Hachette.
• Fishman, Joshua A. (1973). Language and Nationalism: Two Integrative Essays. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
• (full-text IDENTITIES: how Governed, Who Pays?)
• Woolf, Stuart. "Europe and the Nation-State". EUI Working Papers in History 91/11. Florence: European University Institute.
• Stewart, Edward C.; Bennet, Milton J. (1991). American Cultural Patterns. Intercultural Press, Boston, MA.
• Evangelista, M. (2003). "Culture, Identity, and Conflict: The Influence of Gender," in Conflict and Reconstruction in Multiethnic Societies, Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press [2]
• Güney, Ü. (2010). "We see our people suffering: the war, the mass media and the reproduction of Muslim identity among youth". Media, War & Conflict 3 (2): 1–14.