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We are getting into some good stuff
here.
In terms of discussing identity politics more
generally, there are a number of imporant distinctions worthy of
making:
1) self-identity and the consequences for
individual practice. There are multiple identities that people can choose
between, such as various forms of European identity, depending upon the policy
issue in question and the incentives for expressing a particular identity.
This is a more instrumental notion of identity, and not the deep seated notion
that anthropologists have tried to get at. I think of my own identity in this
regard as a german jew. As a second generation german jew i could get a
german passport and thus qualify for EU research support. I thought this
was instrumentally attractive. My father, who had to leave Germany
becausee of his [deep identity] found this concept apalling. Surely there
is a deep difference in terms of identity here that needs to be further
addressed.
2) ascriptive identity, that is identity that is
projected onto people by others. Gay politics may involve this, to a large
extent, as well as Rwandan identity.
These thoughts are somewhat unrelated to the
thread here relating to national environmental identity. I suppose
one could claim that national policies are the sum of individual green
identities, but I find this pretty hard to accept. Similarly, we can talk
about national environmental styles as being identities, becuse they are
expressed as uniform patterns of behavior, but they are often due to
institutionalized political factors ratheer than widespread internalized
individual beliefs.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 4:16
PM
Subject: RE: Green "identity" of
states?
Neil,
Identity, as I understand much of the literature
on it from multiple fields, is constucted and often ascriptive. If I
identify as a muslim, I do not need to be constantly "acting like one" in
order to have a muslim identity. Likewise, if I am a gay man, I need not
be "acting gay" in order to sustain the identity. Others may say I am
not "religious enough" or "gay enough," but I may still identify as
such. If I do identify as such, it certainly might be very interesting
to know how that identify effects some of my choices, actions and other
aspects of my identity. This is a different set of questions than are invloved
by a researcher or student measuring my identity against a set standard for
"gayness."
Back to Costa Rica and Beth's student: I fail
to see the utility in attempting to 'assess' whether or not costa rica is
'green enough' to meet the standards of environmental professors and
researchers like many of the folks on this list. I do think there are a host
of other useful and interesting questions. There is a literature on
"national identity" (related to the literature on political culture), as I
recall from the distant time of my comparative politics comp exams. The
approaches in that more general literature might be a nice place for Beth's
student to begin.
BETH: you might send the student to the "annual
reviews" of anthropology, sociology, psych and polisci. I don't have
specific citations in from of me, but I know these publications have published
reviews of the literature and research on various aspects of identity in
recent years.
--Stacy
At 09:53 AM 3/12/2005 -0700, Neil E
Harrison wrote:
Adil:
Despite your "venting", you make a good point and a useful
distinction. If Costa Rica looks green to the world and yet much less so
from inside (on the ground and in the eyes of its ordinary citizens), there
would seem to be a disconnect between image and identity. However, if
identity is what drives actions, should it (identity) be measured (assessed)
at the level of government, by the beliefs of the citizenry or by their
actions, or at the ecological level in terms of deforestation rates,
monoculture activity, and herbicide use? Is your identity what you say, what
you believe, or how you act?
Cheers,
Neil
- -----Original Message-----
- From: Adil Najam [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
- Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 4:25 PM
- To: Leonard Hirsch; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
gep-ed@listserve1.allegheny.edu
- Subject: Re: Green "identity" of states?
- Dear all
- This is fascinating stuff. I do not have an answer to the
original question (on literature) but it does strike me that at some point
we might want to distinguish between image and identity .
- My sense is that image is what you project (or seek to project),
identity is what drives your actions irrespective of whether you seek to
project that identity or not.
- From a non-environmental realm that covers some of my recent research,
it seems to me (totally loud thinking here) that a country like the US has
a very strong Christian (maybe, Judeo Christian) identity in how it
operates and is organized, however it does not have (or seek to project a
strong Christian identity). On the other hand, Turkey is actually a
MUCH more secular place than America but has a strong Islamic image (at
least in Europe and despite its efforts to proclaim otherwise) but not a
strong Islamic identity... Interestingly, Malaysia has a rather strong
Islamic identity, but NOT a strong Islamic image in the outside
world. (One could actually conceive of a neat 2x2 matrix analysis of
the two, since both of them can operate together, or
independently).
- This might help us unlock the questions about Costa Rica discussed
here. Any country where ecotourism is a major economic sector WILL
ALWAYS seek a strong green image, whether its part of its identity or
not. In Costa Rica s case, I think it IS actually also identity, but
in the case of a number of Caribbean islands it may be image and not
identity. Take Germany, then, seems to be (my view, non-empirical)
that it has a very decent green identity, but a less strong green image
(and mild desire to project that image). Many Scandinavian countries
seem to have very strong green identities and not always strong green
images.
- I know this is all horribly opinionated and very broad (would never
let a student get away with this).... But maybe we can begin unlocking the
puzzle with such a framework.... How would one measure identity and
image.... Identity is probably function of the structures, policies,
politics (maybe even Krasner s norms, principles, rules, decision-making
structures) that a country puts in place. Image, is about how it
talks about itself and how others talk about it....
- Anyhow... Enough venting, now back to grading!
- Adil
- -------------------------
- ADIL NAJAM
- Associate Professor of
- International Negotiation & Diplomacy
- The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy
- Tufts University
- 160 Packard Avenue
- Medford, MA 02155, USA
- Phone: 617 627 2706
- Fax: 617 627 3005
- Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Stacy D. VanDeveer
2003-06 Ronald H. O'Neal Professor
Department of Political Science
University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH 03824
T: 603-862-0167
F: 603-862-0178 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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