Week 6 - Charles Miin

Cultural identity has forever been an important factor to all people. Identity of all kinds lay the foundation for how people live and see the world around them, so it's logical that people would aspire to a strong sense of it. However, Stuart Hall in his writing "Cultural Identity and Diaspora" argues that cultural identity is a fluid and ever evolving trait which undermines the empowerment that a strong sense of cultural identity begets. I think Hall's reference to Fanon's point of history and identity not being a matter of uncovering and finding but more of creating and refining what was already there and what is to come. This is especially true in considering the great struggles of different peoples to acquire a comfortable sense of self in the fact of imperialism and colonial distortion. Hall relates his second view which sums up cultural identity to be a sense of becoming just as much as being, of the past as much as the future. Each individual is unique and though cultural identities all have definitive roots in history, they are constantly being defined and written by the very people trying to look back. Identity is not so much discovering the past but rather finding your place in the lessons and stories of it. The African diaspora of the Caribbean is entirely reminiscent of the great continent from which practices were derived, but it is so distinct and complex that even residents find themselves surprised at all of the transformations undergone. There are many different linkages and paths from the individual to their understanding of self, and all of these factors along with those before come together to create a enigmatic, but somewhat tangible force of identity.
As we seek to study our history and discover our roots, how do we balance that desire with our sense of our position within it and our duty to move it forward?

Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. Jonathan Rutherford. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990. p. 222-237. Print.