ps 2a03 (2010) lecture 11: identity and conflict

8/8/2019 PS 2A03 (2010) Lecture 11: Identity and Conflict

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Monday November 15 2010Lecture 11: Identity and Conflict

PS 2A03: Conflict Transformation

Dr Colin Salter, Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

Critical IssuesIdentity and conflict

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Outline

Identity

Stereotypes

Gender



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Few of us recognise our own prejudices, and normallywe deny them, giving them what we deem valid reasons

for our feelings and behaviour.

Fisher et al(2000)



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In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for anyspecific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics orproperties all of which any entity of that kind must

possess.

Therefore all things can be precisely defined ordescribed. In this view, it follows that terms or words

should have a single definition and meaning.

Essentialism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentialism



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For every us there is a them.

The question is, in what shape will we imagine ourdefinitional others in the process of imagining our owncommunity?

Nancy Cockburn (1999)

Identity



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...an individuals sense of self [is] a production, which isnever complete, always in process... The way they takeshape and change is relational.

Nancy Cockburn (1999) on Hall (1990)

Identity



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...because a social formation has so many structured

differentiations, potential categories of exclusion,belonging and alienation, the self is seen as verycomplex, shaped through many attachments.


Identity



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Precious

Lee Daniels (2009)

Sapphire (1996)

Many challenging themes

and issues portrayed



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Identity

Various forms

A source of conflict

A source of

empowerment



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What do you see as an issue with the second image?

the kangaroo? the child drinkingalcohol

Stereotypes



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Stereotypes

Social construction An imposition



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...because a social formation has so many structureddifferentiations, potential categories of exclusion,

belonging and alienation, the self is seen as verycomplex, shaped through many attachments.




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Gender

A social construction, not determined by biology/physiology.

We can see it as directly linked to performativity

Masculine v feminism



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People are born female or male, but learn to be girlsand boys who grow into men and women. They aretaught what the appropriate behaviour and attitudes,roles and activities are for them, and how they shouldrelate to other people. This learned behaviour is whatmakes up gender identity and determines gender roles.

Suzanne Williams, Jan Seed & Adelina Mwau (1994)



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Intersex

Intersex is a general term used for a variety of

conditions in which a person is born with areproductive or sexual anatomy that doesnt seem to fitthe typical definitions of female or male.

http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex



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Summary

Identity

Stereotypes

Gender



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Citations & further reading

Nancy Cockburn (1999) The Space Between Us: Negotiating Gender and National

Identities in Conflict, Zed Books. pp. 211-230 (Chapter 8: Identity and Democracy).

Simon Fisher, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, Jawed Ludin, Richard Smith, Steve Williams and

Sue Williams (2000) Working With Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action, New York:Zed Books

Hall, Stuart (1990), Cultural Identity and Diaspora in Jonathan Rutherford (ed),

Identity, Community, Culture, Difference, Lawrence & Wishart Limited, London

Donna Haraway (1991) A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-

Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century, in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The

Reinvention of Nature, New York: Routledge, pp.149-181. Available online at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html



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Citations & further reading

Donna Haraway (1990) Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World ofModern Science, Routledge.

Suzanne Williams, Jan Seed & Adelina Mwau (1994) The Oxfam gender training manual,

UK and Ireland: Oxfam



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Image sources

Dave Boldingers Cartoons & Stuff

http://www.dbaldinger.com/opinion_cartoons/second_page/dear_world.html

ames Garvin Ellis. Rodney Powell (standing) talks with other sit-in participants at Walgreens drugstore in Nashville,Tennessee, Friday March 25, 1960 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_sit-ins

Marc Riboud.Jan Rose Kasmir, protest against the Vietnam War outside the Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, Saturday,21 October 21, 1967 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Rose_Kasmir

Shaney Komulainen. Canadian soldier Patrick Cloutier and Saskatchewan Native Brad Laroque alias 'Freddy Kruger'come face to face in a tense standoff at the Kahnesatake reserve in Oka, Quebec, Saturday September 1, 1990 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oka_Crisis

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire [DVD cover image] http://www.movienewz.com/precious/



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Image sources

The Body Shop, There are 3 billion women who dont look like supermodels and only 8 who do, March 9

2009,Jahsonic 2006 -2009 A vocabulary of culture, or wanting connections, we found connections http://jahsonic.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/barbie-50/

The Body Shop, There are 3 billion women who dont look like supermodels and only 8 who do [no date],

More than just Dolls http://www.johnriviello.com/bodyimage/ruby.html. Howard Miller, We Can Do It, Westinghouse, 1942 http://archive.ccm.edu/rosie/index.htm

Tim & Tegan, Council Of Australians For Uneducated Americans, The Two of Us [no date] http://

www.johnsons.id.au/?p=54



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Video sources

Sut Jhally (2010) Killing us softly 4: advertisings image of women http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=241

Lee Daniels (2009) Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire [trailer] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5FYahzVU44

Lee Daniels (2009) Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire http://www.weareallprecious.com/

25Monday 15 November 2010

ps 2a03 (2010) lecture 11: identity and conflict

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