identity as contested space

http://fap.sagepub.comFeminism & Psychology

DOI: 10.1177/0959353506067852 2006; 16; 345 Feminism Psychology

Alisha Ali Challenge

Identity as Contested Space: A Canadian Vantage on an Epistemological

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COMMENTARY

Identity as Contested Space: A Canadian Vantage on anEpistemological Challenge

Alisha ALI

Feminist psychology faces many obstacles in forging innovative paths in the scientific study of human behavior while contending with the need to engage ourmore traditionally oriented colleagues in our work. Due to the disciplines under-pinnings in philosophy, psychology is a suitable testing-ground for philosophicalapproaches that claim to meaningfully inform scientific endeavors. For feministpsychologists, the question of how best to integrate philosophical and practicalconsiderations is a particularly vital one, given feminisms predominant concernwith political action and social change. The topic of identity is one area in whichthe points of connection between philosophical and methodological concerns areespecially evident. Research on this topic has typically derived from notions of astatic and non-mediated self that is consistent across contexts and conditions.However, recent work on identity reflects a growing interest in the dialogical construction of self. In particular, feminist scholars have begun to examine thecomplexities of multiple co-existing identities in womens lives, and havedemonstrated the need for an epistemological stance that captures the dynamicand changing quality of identity (Bettie, 2000; Frable, 1997; Poindexter-Cameronand Robinson, 1997). This need ostensibly amounts to a call for new approachesto meaning-making around issues of identity that can provide direction for pro-gressive and emancipatory inquiry in this domain.

This direction can be found in numerous sites and contexts, including the writings of feminist philosophers dealing with issues of individualism and self-hood (e.g. Butler, 1990; Pilardi, 1989) and the exploration of cultural environ-ments that support an expanded experience of identity. I believe that the Canadiancultural context is one such environment. Having worked as a feminist researcherin Canada as well as in other countries in North America, Asia, and theCaribbean, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the unique contribution that

Feminism & Psychology 2006 SAGE (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi)http://fap.sagepub.com, Vol. 16(3): 345349; 0959-3535DOI: 10.1177/0959353506067852


Canadian feminist psychology can bring to the discipline. By exploring these differences, it is possible to outline some key facets of a Canadian vantage onnotions of identity that can inform feminist psychological research on this topic.

DUALISMS OF IDENTITY

I will outline two key aspects of feminist psychological research in Canada, bothof which reflect the rejection of binary divisions inherent in traditional repre-sentations of identity. My observation of this rejection is based on close collabo-ration with feminist psychologists doing research and advocacy work in academicsettings, community agencies, and hospital environments in Canada and else-where. I also draw upon my experience researching psychosocial factors in immigration and in the lives of immigrant women. I have found the study ofimmigration to be a useful area in informing my understanding of cross-nationaldifferences in the construal of identity.

The first relevant division is a self/other distinction wherein the self impliesa belongingness that does not extend to the foreign other. Those who are subjugated into the category of otherness are marginalized away from certainprivileges by virtue of their visible or invisible foreign-ness. Being deemed foreign appears to be based on such qualities as ones spoken accent, ones physical appearance (such as through skin color or manner of dress) and moresubtly ones lack of familiarity with a host countrys customs and habits. I havefound that women of color who have immigrated to Canada report that their senseof feeling foreign is less than they had expected. Many such women were alsosurprised to find large non-white populations in major cities in Canada. In con-trast, my interviews with women of color who have immigrated to the US moreoften report perceiving a primacy placed on an envisioned American self suchthat a foreign other (e.g. an immigrant woman) encounters daily life through alens of indirect experience.

This form of indirect experience is aptly captured by Jacks (1991) notion ofexternalized self-perception, which represents the gradual loss of self that canoccur through viewing oneself not through ones own eyes but through the eyesof a judgmental dominant group. Externalized self-perception has been docu-mented to correlate with symptoms of depression (Jack and Dill, 1992) and isposited to foster the internalization of a disempowering gaze (Jack, 1991). Suchdisempowerment can function to neutralize the agentic self and thereby immobi-lize efforts directed at social action on the part of women who do not conform todominant norms. This immobilization can affect feminist psychologists as well asthe women we work with in grassroots and community-based settings by dimin-ishing attempts to create transformative and emancipatory change at systemic andindividual levels.

The other division related to notions of identity is a distinction of individual/collective. This dualism represents identity formation as an individual process

346 Feminism & Psychology 16(3)


rather than as a socially mediated process; collective is assumed to apply onlyto events outside of the individual. This distinction therefore poses a challenge tothose who arrive at self-knowledge through connection to others. The implicitdevaluation of the collective also serves to diminish the possibilities of collectiveaction which is necessary to achieve widespread social change. Particularly rele-vant to womens well-being is the additional implication of self-blame that isconferred on those who rely on others when coping with disempowering life circumstances. Self-blame has been found to impact womens physical and mental health (Ali et al., 2000; Moscarello, 1992). Therefore, for feminist psy-chologists, there is a need to advance the notion that the outer realities ofwomens lives shape our inner experience.

In interviewing women who have immigrated to Canada, I have found thattheir primary source of social support is from other members of their immigrantcommunity. One of the interviewees described her experience as follows:

You get here and you dont know anyone. But then you go to your church whereits people like those you left back home and they know some of your friendsand family back home. That helps you feel that youre part of a larger group ofpeople, and that all of you belong here as much as anyone who was born heredoes.

Clearly, the notion of a shared collective experience as a means of support andadjustment is crucial to our understanding of psychological aspects of immigra-tion. Such a notion necessitates a reformulated conceptualization of identity inwhich the social and interpersonal are construed as essential elements in psycho-logical growth and development.

These two divisions constitute major challenges for feminist psychology withrespect to both scholarly work and psychological practice that enhances womensmental health and well-being. To meet these challenges, feminist psychologistsneed to adopt an epistemological stance that rejects these dualisms and insteadpresents the possibility of socially mediated identities that are fostered by numer-ous contextual influences. This stance must also support theoretical models thatcan accommodate a multiplicity of identities such that the myriad of intersectionsof experience and context are accurately captured. A Canadian perspective onthese considerations can provide a valuable vantage, and can present some cru-cial possibilities for an emancipatory construal of identity.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Canada is often characterized by an acceptance of difference and an appreciationof the value of co-existing cultures. The presence of both Anglophone andFrancophone cultures and the strong cultural influence of numerous immigrantgroups are examples of such co-existence. The widespread acceptance of diver-sity encourages a vantage that allows for a multiplicity of identities, and it is in

ALI: Identity as Contested Space 347


this multiplicity that we can find implications for an emancipatory stance towardan understanding of identity. By embracing the notion of multiplicity, we canmeet some of the challenges faced by feminist psychology in scholarly work onidentity. The Canadian vantage allows for numerous ways of being and a pro-liferation of intersecting identities, thereby providing a liberatory direction forconstruing identity. For instance, the model of co-existing cultures renders thecategory of foreigner uninformative and irrelevant. Feminist psychologists canadopt a model of the proliferation of numerous co-existing identities as a viablealternative to the prevailing uni-dimensional model.

One useful avenue of inquiry for such work is the exploration of identityamong women who have lived in a range of different cultures and environments(Macklin, 1995; Mojab, 1999). Immigrant women are one such group. In Canada,feminist psychologists have the opportunity to engage in research exploring thepsychological sequelae of immigration among a broad range of groups and ethnicities. Examining the lived experience of women who are newcomers toCanada can expose some of the assumptions we hold about Canadian society andabout the meaning of identity during times of transition. Such research can alsoreveal gaps in service provision to at-risk groups and can therefore demonstratethe need for social action around issues of fundamental human rights. Advocacyfor increased access to the services necessary for basic human needs should be acentral component of the feminist agenda. As feminist psychologists, we shouldengage in such advocacy through our work with government agencies andthrough collaboration with community-based activists.

While the Canadian context supports a vision of an emancipatory model ofidentity, the Canadian example is less than ideal in its enactment of this vision.For instance, despite the espousal of equality, racism still exists in Canada andhas been documented in such areas as the legal system (Razack, 1998), the workplace (Henry, 1994), and the mental health system (Javed, 1995). Moreover,feminist psychologists in Canada face challenges in equalizing power relations inworkplace and domestic settings as well as in advocating for women who experi-ence violence in its many manifestations. Canadian feminists can strengthen liberatory efforts by strategizing and mobilizing collaboratively to create positivechange in womens lives locally and globally.

REFERENCES

Ali, A., Toner, B.B., Stuckless, N., Gallop, R., Diamant, N.E., Gould, M.I. and Vidins, E.I.(2000) Emotional Abuse, Self-Blame and Self-Silencing in Women with IrritableBowel Syndrome, Psychosomatic Medicine 62(1): 7682.

Bettie, J. (2000) Women without Class: Chicas, Cholas, Trash, and The Presence/Absence of Class Identity, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 26: 135.

Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York:Routledge.

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Frable, D.E.S. (1997) Gender, Racial, Ethnic, Sexual, and Class Identities, AnnualReview of Psychology 48: 13962.

Henry, F. (1994) The Caribbean Diaspora in Toronto: Learning to Live with Racism.Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Jack, D.C. (1991) Silencing the Self: Women and Depression. New York: HarperPerennial.

Jack, D.C. and Dill, D. (1992) The Silencing the Self Scale: Schemas of IntimacyAssociated With Depression In Women, Psychology of Women Quarterly 16: 97106.

Javed, N.S. (1995) Salience of Loss and Marginality: Life Themes of Immigrant Womenof Color in Canada, in J. Adleman and G. Enguidanos (eds) Racism in the Lives ofWomen: Testimony, Theory, and Guides to Anti-Racist Practice, pp. 1322. Binghamton,NY: Harrington Park Press.

Macklin, A. (1995) Refugee Women and the Imperative of Categories, Human RightsQuarterly 17: 21377.

Mojab, S. (1999) De-skilling Immigrant Women, Canadian Woman Studies 19(3): 1238.Moscarello, R. (1992) Victims of Violence: Aspects of the Victim-to-Patient Process in

Women, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 37: 497502.Pilardi, J. (1989) Female Eroticism in the Works of Simone de Beauvoir, in J. Allen and

I.M. Young (eds) The Thinking Muse: Feminism and Modern French Philosophy, pp. 1834. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Poindexter-Cameron, J.M. and Robinson, T.L. (1997) Relationships among RacialIdentity Attitudes, Womanist Identity Attitudes, and Self-Esteem in African AmericanCollege Women, Journal of College Student Development 38: 28896.

Razack, S. (1998) Looking White People in the Eye: Gender, Race and Culture inCourtrooms and Classrooms. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Alisha ALI is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Psychologyat New York University. Her research examines mental health issues amongimmigrant women, women of color, and individuals living in poverty.ADDRESS: Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, Room411 East Building, 239 Greene Street, New York, NY 10003, USA.[email: [email protected]]

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identity as contested space

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