Identification In common sense language: recognition of common origin or shared characteristics with another person or group, or with an ideal

natural closure of solidarity and allegiance Discursive approach: identification as a construction, a process never completed - always 'in process' Identification is a process of articulation, a suturing, an over-determination not a subsumption. symbolic boundaries, production of 'frontiereffects' what is left outside is required to produce identity
In common sense language, identification is constructed on the back of a recognition of some common origin or shared characteristics with another person or group, or with an ideal, and with the natural closure of solidarity and allegiance established on this foundation. In contrast with the 'naturalism' of this definition, the discursive approach sees identification as a construction, a process never completed - always 'in process'. It is not determined in the sense that it can always be 'won' or 'lost', sustained or abandoned. Though not without its determinate conditions of existence, including the material and symbolic resources required to sustain it, identification is in the end conditional, lodged in contingency. Once secured, it does not obliterate difference. The total merging it suggests is, in fact, a fantasy of incorporation. (Freud always spoke of it in relation to 'consuming the other' as we shall see in a moment.) Identification is, then, a process of articulation, a suturing, an over-determination not a subsumption. There is always 'too much' or 'too little' - an over-determination or a lack, but never a proper fit, a totality. Like all signifying practices, it is subject to the 'play', of differance. It obeys the logic of more-than-one. And since as a process it operates across difference, it entails discursive work, the binding and marking of symbolic boundaries, the production of 'frontiereffects'. It requires what is left outside, its constitutive outside, to consolidate the process. (Stuart Hall, Introduction: Who needs Identity?)

Stereotypes
readily available image of a given social group can be inhuman and destructive (e.g. racist stereotypes) but also socially and psychologically useful provide people with security and stability and with means of orientation stereotypes about other nations often presented as jokes or anecdotes kind of language which enables people to think and speak about their own national identity (by way of a detour) such stereotypes and jokes often function as a carrier of folk wisdom contain collective experiences which carry a kind of truth that cannot be reached or touched by empirical facts of science most stereotypes cannot be debunked scientifically operate on a different level of discourse serves as a reference when assigning significance to observations and experiences in social interactions mental structures, which simplify the complex stimuli from one's environment and facilitate their comprehension use of existing knowledge to reduce the uncertainty in a situation the less one knows about the object, the more one uses stereotypical generalizations

in-groups / out-groups
in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member out-group is a social group to which an individual does not identify people may find it psychologically meaningful to view themselves according to their race, culture, gender or religion
terminology made popular by Henri Tajfel and colleagues. They found that people can form self preferencing ingroups within a matter of minutes and that such groups can form even on the basis of seemingly trivial characteristics, such as preferences for certain paintings.

Cultural stereotypes
idiosyncratic stereotypes if only an individual uses them social or collective stereotypes widely shared by a group of people

Othering
Other or Constitutive Other (also the verb othering) is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is other than the initial concept being considered. The Constitutive Other often denotes a person Other than one's self; hence, the Other is identified as "different".

auto-stereotype stereotypes that concern one's own group hetero-stereotype about group of the other
members of a given group may also share common conceptions about the other party's stereotypical assumptions about themselves, or about the respective 'other' party Due to the fact that the person, in this case, is projecting their own prejudices onto the group of others, this type of stereotyping could be called a projected stereotype Simple auto-stereotype: In our opinion we are . . . Projected auto-stereotype: We think that they consider us to be . . . Projected hetero-stereotype: We feel that they think that they are . . . Simple hetero-stereotype: We think that they are . . .

Stereotypes, as such, are cognitive schemata, typical of the human cognitive system assigns a set of characteristics to all members of a given social group

auto-images and hetero-images

self- or auto-image: the attitudes one has towards own cultural values hetero-image: the attitudes towards the other There is always a degree of subjectivity (auto-image) involved in the representation of another culture. This unavoidable degree of subjectivity is one of the main differences between an "image" and objective information Observers tend to favour information that is consistent with the stereotypes and hypotheses based on stereotypes even when they have reason to suspect the validity experiences at variance with the stereotype usually do not change the stereotype but are interpreted as exceptions Cultural / National stereotypes are both descriptive and prescriptive they are the perceivers' shared beliefs about the characteristics of the target group and at the same time they also function as social expectations in intercultural contacts people's national or cultural stereotypes may be used as a source of expectation about the other party, and as a reference applied to the judgement of the other party's behaviour Stereotypical notions about the character of the members of the other party determine a person's
emotional reactions to the other group

Image studies Imagology

most foreign cultures (and much of our own culture) is known by reputation only "image" of the Scottish, Belgian or Spanish national character even though no personal contact, no way of assessing how "typical" these persons are as representatives of their nation recognition of certain temperamental attributes as being "typical" for certain nations: the Scottish reputation for stinginess, the Belgian reputation for stupidity, the Spanish reputation for pride, etc. are sufficiently well known to enjoy jokes or stories which invoke, and rely on a knowledge of, those attributes Imagology should be post-national or trans-national Guyard, in his essay L'tranger tel qu'on le voit (1951) study, not of nationality per se, but of nationality 'as seen', as a literary trope analysis of representation Imagology starts from the presupposition that the degree of truth of such commonplaces is not a necessary issue in their scholarly analysis
keeping distance interest not in "truthfulness" but in "recognizability"

Imagologists tend to be extremely sceptical concerning the objective information value of "images"
suffering that prejudices have caused opposed to their total lack of usefulness in concrete (political, economic or practical) terms

Even though a belief can be irrational, the impact of that belief is anything but unreal
Images are not studied as items of information about reality but as properties of their context If somewhere we read that the British are individualists, the first question we ask is not: "is that true?"; rather, the questions are all about the (con)text, e.g.: Who is saying this? What audience is the author addressing? Why is it important for the author to make this point? Political circumstances at the time this text was written? Attempts of author to convince the reader of the validity of his claim? How does this image of British individualism fit into the text as a whole -and what sort of text is it anyway: an essay, or a novel, or a poem?

Texts that say something on national character frequently rely, not on a first-hand observation of reality, but almost always on an existing reputation often, earlier authors are quoted or mentioned those earlier authors in turn depend on their source-texts In other words: the referential signification process in national stereotypes does not take place between text and reality, but between text and text National stereotypes are intertextual constructs: the conventions and commonplaces inherited from a pre-existing textual tradition fully overshadow the experience of reality means that the historical force of national stereotypes lies more in their recognition value than in their pretended truth value a commonplace (stupid Belgians, proud Spaniards) sounds familiar, and the audience confuses the sense of familiarity with a sense of validity

The representation of alleged national characters, as a textual tradition, obeys built-in rules, which are quite independent of the political and social reality of the moment. Structural similarities in the representation of different countries; structural constants: north of any given country is more down-to-earth, more businesslike, more prosaic, more individualist and more freedom-loving than the south of that country (which is more idyllic, more easy-going, but less reliable or businesslike) e.g. Holland, England, Germany, Italy, France etc. etc. South of Germany is "north" of the North of Italy short-circuit which disproves this assumption but has not effaced its existence can be mutually incompatible but nevertheless simultaneously existing periphery vs. centre either seen in positive or in a negative light Countries are always contradictory in a specific way: their most characteristic attribute always involves its own opposite. Thus Frenchmen are either formal, rational, cool, distanced
(type: Giscard d'Estaing) or else excitable, sanguine, passionate (type: Louis de Funs); the English are either tea-drinking, respectable and with a "stiff upper lip" (type: Miss Marple or Phileas Fogg) or else robust, no-nonsense, nonconformist and easily offended (type: Winston Churchill, John Bull);

an image can shift along with changing political circumstances

e.g. as Spain became a smaller power its image became more positive and exoticist conversely, when Germany developed in the 19th century into an industrial, imperialist power its image changed from romantic poets and musicians to Prussian officers and mad scientists

the image changes, not because the alleged national character changes, but because the attitude towards the nation changes and people accordingly note, emphasize and describe different aspects selected and presented as "typical" or "characteristic" important to analyse the mechanisms of representation of foreign nations: attitude of the author
A representation of Britain by a Frenchman or by a Dutchman or by a German may differ because of the nationality of the respective authors

nobody is in a position to describe a cultural identity what is described is always a cultural difference one nation is perceived to be "different from the rest" a nation is most itself in those aspects wherein it is most unlike the others

Centre vs. periphery

The mystic Celtic Fringe is a place of stasis, a place where time moves slowly or stands still. It is also a place at the very edge of the real world, usually glimpsed dimly in the distance, a place with a somewhat ambiguous ontological status, liminal, half ghostly. [...] in the case of the Celtic Fringe, then, peripherality is an automatic concomitant to allochrony Compare Heimatfilms' themes stereotypes: rural tradition vs. urban innovation natural values vs. alienation of modern urbanity and technology country life: Gemeinschaft, portrayed as situated in a natural, idyllic environment, close social relations, tight-knit communities (little individual freedom, high degree of social control and solidarity), long-standing and time-hallowed role divisions, rustic purity, innocence, past Contrasting time-scales tradition vs. innovation central could be anything that is canonised in a system of moral values, social prestige, economic power, cultural fashionableness peripheral anything that fails to be so canonised, in either social, economic, cultural or other systems Re-Emergence of the Adventure Romance sub-genre of English fiction literature, fluorit between 1870 and 1914 e.g. maritime novels, ghost stories, swashbucklers, invasion novels and adventures of colonial exploration - provided the morale, mentality and vocabulary for the Boy Scout movement - situated at the outer edge of explored world, frontiers of colonies from where adventurers move onwards; undiscovered and unconquered new horizons exotic regions peripheries on the edge of British imperial world view not part of the Empire but can be glimpsed in the unknown, unexplored distances from the outermost colonial outposts colonial covetousness also lures adventurers; genre places British colonial greed into a prestigious tradtion ruthless, savage and cruel greed of the conquerors is replaced by more glamorous antecedents and thus glorified in the eyes of the reading public Representation of peripheries Allochrony and Timelessness as constant fixtures time-warp unexplored areas are essentially timeless and without history (barbarous, tribal, outside the historical timescale of civilization) sometimes not simply timeless, but rather othertimely, allochronic places where a living past is encountered; where time has moved more slowly or stood still, remnants of primeval history are to be observed in working condition, e.g. (magic) rituals underlying idea: journeys into unexplored global periphery of Empire take us out of bourne of time and space, different time-scale from that of metropolitan Europe modern society: Gesellschaft, technological progress, ruthless big-time business, loose, free and more anonymous city life (social control institutionalized to porfessional class of bureaucrats), lost rustic innocence, future

National Identity
constituted by invented tradition (Hobsbawm) imagined political community (B. Anderson) shared identities (Stuart Hall, E. Said) representation, symbols, history, national character, ethnicity

A national culture is not a folk-lore, nor an abstract populism that believes it can discover a people's true
nature. A national culture is the whole body of efforts made by a people in the sphere of thought to describe, justify and praise the action through which that people has created itself and keeps itself in existence. (Falon)

Hall: identity as a 'production', which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation at least two different ways of thinking about 'cultural identity': 1. 'cultural identity' in terms of one, shared culture, a sort of collective 'one true self', hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed 'selves', which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common cultural identities reflect the common historical experiences and shared cultural codes which provide us, as 'one people', with stable, unchanging and continuous frames of reference and meaning, beneath the changes of actual history identification can stabilize, fix or guarantee an unchanging 'oneness' or cultural belongingness underlying all the other superficial differences
Fanon: Colonisation is not satisfied merely with holding a people in its grip and emptying the native's brain of all form and content. By a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past of oppressed people, and distorts, disfigures and destroys it.

Cinematic representation unearthing that which the colonial experience buried and overlaid, bringing to light the hidden continuities it suppressed? Or quite different practice - not rediscovery but production of identity not an identity grounded in the archaeology, but in the re-telling of the past? importance of the act of imaginative rediscovery which this conception of a rediscovered, essential identity entails 'Hidden histories' have played a critical role in the emergence of many of the most important social movements of our time feminist, anti-colonial and antiracist 2. also critical points of deep and significant difference constitute 'what we really are' or 'what we have become' ruptures and discontinuities constitute uniqueness Otherness ( sometimes otherness is imposed by others, e.g. Slavery, Colonisation) Cultural identities made within discourses of history and culture Positioning Politics of Position / Politics of Identity Relation of the Subject to discursive formations (Positionings)?
what are the mechanisms by which individuals as subjects identify (or do not identify) with the 'positions' to which they are summoned how do they fashion, stylize, produce and 'perform' these positions? and why don't they ever do so completely, for once and all time, and some never do, or are in a constant, agonistic process of struggling with, resisting, negotiating and accomodating the normative or regulative rules, with which they confront and regulate themselves.

is as well an Articulation

Hobsbawm - Invented traditions

Traditions which appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin, and sometimes invented
e.g. British monarchy in public ceremonial manifestations pageantry in its modern form a product of the late 19th + 20th centuries

1. traditions actually invented, constructed and formally instituted and 2. those emerging in a brief and dateable period (less easily traceable) establishing very fast set of practices which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature repetition automatically implies continuity with the past where possible, normally attempt to establish continuity with a suitable historic past
e.g. deliberate choice of a Gothic style for 19 th-century rebuilding of British parliament and deliberately rebuilding on exactly the same plan after WW II

new tradition inserted in historic past does not need to be lenghty revolutions and progressive movements break with past, but have their own relevant past if there is such a reference to historic past, continuity with it is largely factitious responses to novel situations which take the form of reference to old situations or which establish their own past by quasi-obligatory repetition contrast constant change and innovation of the modern world vs. the attempt to structure at least some parts of social life within it as unchanging and invariant tradition custom (which dominates so-called traditional societies) but intertwined object and characteristic of traditions (invented or not) invariance past (real or invented) imposes fixed practices, such as repetition custom in traditional societies has double function does not exclude innovation and change but have to appear compatible or even identical with precedent imposes limitations gives any desired change (or resistance to innovation) the sanction of precedent, social continuity and natural law as expressed in history custom what is actually done tradition equipment, ritualised practices surrounding the substantial action decline of custom changes tradition tradition convention or routine convention/routine has no significant ritual or symbolic function, but may incidentially acquire it any social practice that needs to be carried out repeatedly will develop a set of conventions and routines may be formalised to impart the practice to new practitioners since industrial revolution societies develop new networks of convention/routine more frequently networks of convention and routine invented traditions function rather technical than ideological (belong to 'base', not 'superstructure') designed to facilitate practical operations are modified or abandoned to meet changing practical needs same as 'rules' of games or patterns of social interaction pragmatically based norms Inventing traditions process of formalisation and ritualisation characterised by reference to the past, if only by imposing repetition has always happened more frequently when there are suffieciently large and rapid changes (on
demand or supply side) last 200 years had cluster of formalisations of new traditions when society changes social patterns change old traditions are no longer applicable or no longer prove adaptable and flexible

Use of ancient materials to construct invented traditions of a novel type for quite novel purposes material (in the past of a society) + elaborate language of symbolic practice = always available sometimes new traditions plugged on old ones sometimes made up by borrowing official rituals, symbolism and moral call-ups sometimes existing traditional practices were modified, ritualised and institutionalised for new purposes (folksong, physical contests, marksmanship)

Sometimes even historic continuity has to be invented by semi-fiction or forgery entirely new symbols and devices came into existence as part of national movements and states e.g. national anthems (British in 1740 seems to be earliest) national flags personification of 'the nation' in symbol or image (either official or unofficial) Breaks in continuity are even visible in movements deliberately describing themselves as 'traditionalist' the very appearance of 'traditionalist' movements indicates such a break Invented traditions of the period since the industrial revolution a) those establishing or symbolising social cohesion or the membership of goups, real or artificial communities b) those establishing or legitimising institutions, status or relations of authority c) those whose main purpose was socialisation, inculcation of beliefs, value systems and conventions of behaviours S.9

Shakespeare Henry V. Four Nations Theme characters represent large groups or cultures characters are often given the stereotypical traits thought to characterize each group in Shakespeares day King Henry V young, recently crowned king of England is brilliant, focused, fearless, committed to responsibilities of kingship, which often force him to place his personal feelings second to the needs of the crown brilliant orator who uses his skill to justify his claims and to motivate his troops once Henry has resolved to conquer France, he pursues his goal relentlessly to the end Fluellen Welsh most prominent of the three his wordiness provides comic relief, but he is an intelligent leader and strategist embodies many of comical stereotypes associated with Welsh in Shakespeares day: he is wordy, overly serious, and possessed of a ludicrous pseudo-Welsh accent that principally involves replacing the letter b with the letter p. but also well-defined and likable individual who tends to work against the limitations of his stereotype. Though clownish in early scenes, he is also extremely well informed and appears to be quite competent, especially compared to the cowardly lot of commoners from England whom he orders into battle at Harfleur. Fluellen tends to steal the scenes he is in and to win the affection of his audience. The fact that Shakespeare wrote such a role for a Welsh character is a strong sign that Fluellen is intended as far more than a comic compendium of ethnic stereotypes. Jamy Scottish MacMorris represents Irish fiery temper Pistol underclass; commoner from London speaks with blustery + melodramatic poetic diction

A counter-stereotype, reverse stereotype, or anti-stereotype is the reverse of a stereotype. Although counter-stereotypes arise in opposition to stereotypes, they may eventually become stereotypes themselves if they are too popular. Social psychologists have found that people tend to react more negatively to counterstereotypical people than to stereotypical people (e.g., Rubin, Paolini, & Crisp, in press). This may be because counterstereotypical people threaten the need to maintain stable and coherent stereotype systems.