Smith Week 10

Who Needs Identity addresses contradictory ideas I have had about identity for a while.

I think that the limited views that we have on who can do certain actions (i.e., be into nerdy things) is essentializing, but with that comes the thought that if anyone can be a nerd, then who is a nerd if there isn’t a true nerd identity? Where is the boundary drawn? And if there is a boundary, aren’t we returning to essentializing identities? What do we replace it with if we are to reject the idea of a one true nerd identity? I have yet to find a theory or reasoning that addresses this question, but I think Hall addresses it a bit. 

If I understand him correctly, he calls for us to shift our focus from identity to identification, as it can help us account for the different ways one can claim a certain identity. In other words, it can capture intersectionality within larger groups/identities. He also believes that identity needs to combine or suture our larger ideas about a certain identity (which can involve interpellation) with the discursive. 

He says that the construction of identity normally happens when one is trying to define not only who they are but what they are compared to what they aren’t. In the context of what I am currently studying, nerds label themselves based on what they aren’t and distance themselves from it: cool, popular (Bucholtz 2001- As a side note, I also want to understand if this is still the case given how our understanding of the nerd identity has shifted since this study).

I think this reading was super helpful for my dissertation! Finding a theory that could help me make sense of the Black nerd identity has been very difficult. I can now see why that is difficult. I’m still stuck on how one can create a theory that can do this suturing. How do you think this should work? Also, he emphasizes the role exclusion plays in the making of identity, but in the sociology of culture literature, scholars seem to focus exclusively on the role of exclusion in creating symbolic boundaries or identities (Pugh 2011). I think a lot can be gained from looking at how symbolic boundaries are also drawn to create identities. I believe that is the central process in creating the Black nerd identity, so I must understand it.

References

Bucholtz, Mary. 2001. “The Whiteness of Nerds: Superstandard English and Racial Markedness.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 11(1):84–100. doi: 10.1525/jlin.2001.11.1.84.

Pugh, Allison J. 2011. “Distinction, Boundaries or Bridges?: Children, Inequality and the Uses of Consumer Culture.” Poetics 39(1):1–18. doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2010.10.002.