Hyphenated Identities
Workshop tutor
Date
Text
Professor Cathia Jenainati
May 2nd 2014
Amin Maalouf, In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need
to Belong, 1996. Trans. Barbary Bray, 2000.
“ every individual is a meeting ground for many allegiances, and sometimes these
loyalties conflict with one another and confront the person who harbours them with
difficulties” (Maalouf, In the Name of Identity).
Amin Maalouf is a renowned novelist, essayist and cultural critic. His book In the
Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong has been hailed as “an eloquent
introductory exploration of why, in this age of globalization, we need to abandon
our historical idea of identity as a single religious or national alliance” (The New
Yorker). This text will form the starting point of our session on hyphenated, multiple
identities.
Maalouf writes expertly and emotionally about his sense of belonging to different
cultures, and we will spend the first part of the workshop exploring his argument, in
depth. The second part of the workshop invites you to take up Maalouf’s challenge
to abandon the “tribal concept of identity”, and to reflect on the spaces to which you
belong with a view of decoding their alienating, “othering”, “minoritising” aspects.
Note on the text:
Amin Maalouf’s text is available on Kindle, with a slightly different title, On Identity.
There are 2 editions of the paperback copy, they contain the same text, both are in
print and in stock in online bookshops.
If you have questions about this session, email me: C.Jenainati@warwick.ac.uk ;
I look forward to seeing you on May 2nd.
Preparation for the session (approximately 4 hours)
1. Read Amin Maalouf’s book, In the Name of Identity. Make notes that record
your position vis-á-vis his ideas.
2. Choose a classmate and agree on a 2 hour slot when you are both able to
meet and interview each other.
3. Conduct an interview (30-50 minutes) in which you gather information on
your classmate’s sense of their “identity”. (You may record the interview
provided you seek and obtain written consent)
4. Using the information you recorded at the interview, write up a short
presentation with the following headings
a. ID and Allegiances
b. Self and Others
c. Tribes
d. Symbols
5. Complete and email your presentation to C.Jenainati@warwick.ac.uk by May
1st 5:00pm (local time wherever you are). [I have posted a sample of what
this task might look like on the module’s webpage; feel free to be creative, do
your own thing!]
Additional references:
Amin Maalouf, Disordered World: A vision of the post-9/11 World. 2009. Trans.
George Miller. Bloomsbury, 2011.
Amartya Sen, Identity and Violence.
Suha Sabbagh, ed. Arab Women: Between Defiance and Restraint. Olive Branch
Press, 1996.
Samir Khalaf, ed. Arab Youth: Social Mobilisation in Times of Risk. Saqi, 2011. [see
especially Part 2, “Negotiating Identity in Times of Risk” and Part 3,
“Representation and Self-perception”.]
Fatima Mernissi, The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s
Rights in Islam.
What does it mean to be Australian
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MISM2funmAw)
Tolerant, freedom, taking people on their merit,
What does it mean to be Australian?
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OZZ3NiCtLE)
What does it mean to be British—and does it matter?
(http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/17/being-british-does-it-matter )
What does being British mean to Britain
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24304418 )