Stuart Hall’s essay “Cultural Identity and Diaspora” analyzes the definition of cultural identity. He defines the term twice, the first being that culture is a collective experience where people share a sense of self and a common history. The second definition, he argues, that one should view cultural identity as a production that is constantly changing and never fully complete. He states, “It [cultural identity] has its histories - and histories have their real, material, and symbolic effects.” In this, he highlights that people’s cultural identity is rooted in and transformed by history, and one’s own sense of self is influenced by their people’s past. This concept reminded me of C. Wright Mill’s concept of the sociological imagination, where the author argues that there is a connection between one’s personal experience of the world and the rest of society. Hall goes on to write about how the specific history of colonization influences the identities of those living in the Black Carribean diaspora. This diasporic community shares a history of enslavement and forced migration, to which Hall argues that the constant changing and fluidity of cultural identities allows them to reinvent themselves and create hybrid cultures. My question is, how is one’s identity shaped if they are unaware of their community’s shared history?
Hall, Stuart. (1990). 'Cultural identity and diaspora' in Jonathan Rutherford (ed.) Identity: community, culture, difference, London: Lawrence & Wishart, pp. 222-37
Image by: The Stuart Hall Project IDFA
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