Week 6- Elaine Hong

In Stuart Hall's "Cultural Identity and Diaspora," Hall discusses two ways to define cultural identity in the context of the African diaspora in the Caribbean. The first way to define cultural identity is the shared commonality that underlies all the external influences that a community has. This seems like a stagnant way to define an identity because it ignores environmental affects the world has on the developing of an identity. As we discussed in class, with the theory of the Black Atlantic, cultural identities come from web networks of influences. It is always constantly shifting, changing, and developing. The Black Atlantic theory ties in with Hall's second definition of cultural identity. Cultural identity is the recognition of points of similarity as well as critical points of difference. This definition allows for identities to continually develop because it recognizes differences within each individual. As Hall says," cultural identity...is a matter of becoming as well as of being" (Hall 225). This means that not only does cultural identity take into considering the future but also the present. Who you are today does not mean you will be the same in a couple weeks, months, or years.

Question: What makes up your cultural identity?