EWS2601: ENGAGING WITH SOCIETY
SUMMARY OF STUDY GUIDE
THEME 1 - 4
Coloured coded meanings:
Green: Definitions
Blue: Names
Purple: Examples
Pink: Important
, THEME 1: US AND THEM: IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE
Phenotype: observable physical characteristics of organism President of Maldives, Mohammad Naheed
● 2008 - announced intention to establish fund to go
● Humans = social creatures towards purchasing land for new Maldives state
● Humans form part of di erent social, cultural + ● Bc Maldives (1200 islands, 200 inhabited) face
political groups possibility of relocating all 300 000 members of its
● Basic categories of identity based upon physical population bc of rising sea levels caused by global
appearance warming
● Societies have basic divisions based on sex ● For Maldivians to preserve unique culture + way of
(biological di erence between men and women) life, need own sovereign territory (bc only migrated on
○ gender (social + cultural roles + identity large scale to Africa, Asia + Australia)
given to someone who manifests certain
biological sexual characteristics) Sovereignty: right to rule over themselves/ right to autonomy
● Gender roles influence all aspects of person's identity,
how behaves ect. ● Israel + Palestine - conflict about territory which
● Some identities born into, while others acquired along involve issues of rights of people who self-identify as
the way group of sovereignty
● Some fixed, some flexible ● Africa - people part of country bc of specific historical
● Culture transmitted within societies + individuals learn circumstances (colonisation, decolonisation, conquest
cultures by learning from + interacting with, other + incorporation)
people ● Nation-state use ceremonies, celebrations + acts to
○ This way shared belief, values + attributes promote allegiance to national identity
that make up di erent parts of our identity ○ Eg. Pledge of Allegiance recited by school
created children in US / singing of national anthem
● Individuals belong to more than 1 group + shaped by at international sporting events
multiple facets of identity
● Individual identities shaped in relation to group 2. Transnational Identities
identities ● Identity transcends national boundaries
● Group identities play important role in human culture ● International communities that form around specific
bc determine who is “us” (included) vs who is “them” commonalities eg. religion
(excluded) ● Members of subdivisions of Christian, Muslim, Hindu
● Categories change depending on context or Jewish faiths form part of respective global
religious communities
● Large-scale, secular organisations eg. Boy Scouts
STUDY UNIT 1: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ● Members participate in same activities
● Easily expanded bc rely on taught behaviour + active
IDENTITY promotion by existing members
Identities include: interactive, not additive
3. Subnational Identities
● Gender
● Within nation, are many layers
● Race
● Based on regionalist, language,class, politics, shared
● Ethnicity
history or religion
● Class
● Bound up in ethnicity
● Language
● Ethnic groups di erentiate themselves from one
● Occupation
another by using collective name, shared language,
● Age
belief in common descents + shared allegiance
● Will arrest right to maintain cultural traditions as way
What is identity? of preserving distinctive identity
Identity (Concise Oxford Dictionary): absolute sameness,
individuality, personality ; condition of being specific person Ethnicity: identity linked to ethnic group often characterised by
shared language + customs
● Identities are relational - you are x (women), bc you members di erentiate themselves from other groups on
are not y (man) basis of culture
● Identities are situational - show specific aspects of
our identity depending on where we are eg. At home Diasporas: large-scale movement of people with shared
(brother) /school (nerd) geographical origin to other parts of world
Categories of identity ● Groups choose to assert identity though specific
practises - not always accepted by outside groups
1. National Identities
○ Eg. Makkah people (Native American group
● Shaped by languages, institutions + cultural milieu
in US) maintain right to hunt whales des[ite
we’re surrounded by
international bans - view hunt as important
● Based on political/perceived emotional link to specific
to maintenance of spiritual + cultural
territory
identity
● Ethic di erences can cause idle ce
1
, THEME 1: US AND THEM: IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE
● result of primordial di erences (di erences existing unions (on flags, T-shirts, banners) + share certain
from beginning of time) language
● more likely bred from situations of ● Workers who don’t join unions marginalised in
perceived/actual socio-political + economic inequality workplace
● Ethnic groups = self-defined
4. Ethnocentrism STUDY UNIT 2: SIGNALLING IDENTITY AND
Ethnocentrism: belief own group is best
Racism: belief certain groups are inferior bc of set of physical ASSERTING DIFFERENCE
features the possess
● Instead of acknowledging values + beliefs held by
Marking Identity
others, judge them in terms of ur own ● Similarities + di erences marked through use of
● Contribute to feeling of group solidarity identity markers
● Lead to discrimination + intolerance ● Group members display same symbols to illustrate
their membership of the group
Ascribed & Achieved identity attributes
Symbol: Something verbal/non-verbal, that arbitrarily + by
Ascribed attributes: attributes determined at birth
convention stands for something else, with which is no
determined at birth by virtue of genetics +/ family
necessary/ natural connection.
race + gender
● Group members use makers/symbols to di erentiate
Achieved attributes: attributes acquired over time
themselves from other groups to draw boundaries
occupation, membership of certain group/association
between themselves + others
● Meaning ascribed to symbols are culturally +
1. Ascribed attributes: race / gender
contextually determined (same symbol mean di erent
● Race is social construct - definition + delineation of
things in di erent context)
di erent races di er from society to society
● Use of symbols = uniquely human trait
depending on social + cultural factors
● Symbols = signs that have no self-evident connection
● Scientifically no such things as race - little genetic
to things for which they stand
variation
● Is variation in human phenotype (physical
2 Categories of Identity Markers:
appearance) bc of combo of genetics + environmental
Tangible:
factors
● can be seen + remain behind when individual is gone
● Physical di erences categorised as product of society
rather than biology
Intangible:
● 2 Biological sexes (male/female)
● Identity embodied in set of intangible practices
● There are many genders bc gender refers to roles +
● eg. In preparation + consumption of foods, speaking
identity attached to specific physical appearance
certain language, observation of certain customs
● Native America - Two-spirit person (male who takes
● Most visible in religious communities where groups of
on certain social characteristics of woman - aspects
people come to worship
of dress + work)
● Naming
● September 2008 - Nepal lesbian women given identity
card as neither male/female - belonged to third
gender
Tangible Markers of Identity
● Nepal transgender male issued identity card with 1. Clothing:
both male and female ● Dress = important form of non-verbal communication,
allowing to distinguish who shares similar interests +
2. Achieved attributes: membership of associations beliefs signify cultural, ethnic, religious / subcultural
● Membership of groups often voluntary + associations identities
based on common interests outside those determined ● Individuals use clothing as powerful tool to ally
by sex, age, kinship, intermarriage /occupation of themselves with broader group identities
specific territory ● Legal prohibit actions placed on dress items bc of
● common interests +goals this
● include participation in sport, professional ● In nation-states that maintain strict division between
associations /hobbies state + church, there is ban of wearing overt religious
● Work-related association is trade union symbols in state schools
● Trade unions exists to capitalise on collective ● Eg. In France ban on Muslim headscarves + other
bargaining power of workforce conspicuous religious symbols
● By withholding labour of their members, unions ● Clothing has 2 levels:
invoke powerful tool to negotiate better terms for ○ Meaning to those inside group
their members ○ Meaning to those outside group
● Unions function as social groupings
● Membership bestows certain status, members hold 2. Body Modification:
group gatherings at which they display symbols of
2
, THEME 1: US AND THEM: IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE
● Tattooing - practise of inscribing inked patterns on ● National identities supported by creation + promotion
body of specific sets of symbols
● one of oldest of body modification + ornamentation ● National anthem, national bird, national tree, national
practises linked to assertion of either individual / emblems (flag, coat of arms), language
group identity
● Piercings, branding, cutting, binding, scarification,
teeth filing, circumcision, insertion of implants, STUDY UNIT 3: “TO BE OR NOT TO BE..”:
shaving, bodybuilding, anorexia + fasting
● alter appearance + form of body PERSPECTIVES ON IDENTITIES IN MOTION
● Used in initiation rites, to indicate statues/social
group, for beautification or to illustrate membership f
Case Study: Retraditionaisation of Maputaland
subgroup (prison/gang tattoos)
Institution in 1994 of democratic
● Practices adopted for ostensibly practical reasons can
government in SA, changes:
come to be symbolic/highly indicative of group
identity Positive -Transition to democracy
changes -Establishment of 1 of most
3. Body Modification and past group identity: progressive constitutions in
● 1950s - shallow mass grave of 31 individuals world.
uncovered during building excavations on Cape Town -Rapid growth in black middle
class
foreshore
-= optimism
● Shipwreck o Cape of Storms
● Researchers used combo of scientific techniques to
see where originated from Negative -deindustrialisation
● Teeth of large number of skeletons were chipped +/ changes Job losses (½ million)
filed into decorative shapes -Deindustrialisation
● Individuals originated further north in Africa accompanied by
● Probably enslaved Africans transported from retraditionalisation
central/south-eastern Friday to Americas
● Tooth modification practice among Central Africans Retraditionalisation: upsurge of cultural identities/ culturally
until early years of 2000s + performed on males + constituted groups like traditional chiefdom, in which identity is
females as part of puberty rites, to mark individual’s circumscribed in terms of shared knowledge, meanings, values,
ethnicity / for aesthetic reasons behaviour + characteristic why of life unique to each group
● By examining patterns of decoration researchers
concluded that individuals members of Manual, Unravelling Retraditionalisation (3 Factors)
Maravi and Yao groups in Mozambique
1. Realisation by marginalised groups + minorities that
● Victims of wreck of Pacquet Real - ship foundered o
claimes for access + rights had better chance of
Cape coast on 1818 while transporting 171 slaves from
success if framed in terms of culture + di erence
Mozambique to St Salvador
than in language of equal rights in political, juridical +
● Conclusion supported by dietary analysis of bones
social terms
● Eg. 1990’s Makhuleke Tribal Authority in
4. Body-modification practices as cultural property
Limpopo lodged land claim using language
● Practised by specific group for specific purposes -
of culture + regained land in Kruger National
regarded as form of cultural and intellectual property
Park (were evicted in 1969)
(like clothing brands)
● Land struggles of Namaqualand coloured
● Ta Moko (traditional art of Māori tattooing
communities reasserted historical Khoisan
● observed by early European explorers + several
identities in claims for cultural + political
European sailors
rights
● Individuals captured/adopted into Māori society in
2. Culture + cultural identities gained significance bc
18th + 19th century tattooed to illustrate new group
racial + cultural di erences used during SA’s colonial
membership
past as bases for social + political discrimination +
● Moko functioned as system of communication:
oppression
○ Tattoo marks on face + body of Māori men +
● In past racial di erences used as
women worked to signify rank, status + clan
overachieving rationale for discrimination,
membership
while cultural di erences used during
○ Bc of importance to Māori identity, it was
apartheid as rationale for dividing country
targeted by colonial government + outlawed
into separate + distinct homelands where
in early 20th century by Tohunga
indigenous people own political rights,
Suppression Act
languages + cultural practices
● Ta Moko made reappearance in 1970s + 1980s tattoos
● Colonial notion that indigenous groups
regarded as sacred + embodiment of set of cultural +
“civilised” premised on idea of di erence as
symbolic practices that relate directly to Maori
categorical distinction making
discrimination valid
National Symbols
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