Identity

Identity is complicated. There are so many things that go into making us who we are. There are things in our control and those which we have absolutely no authority over. Similarly, I believe there are both internal and external aspects.

In Eguchi’s ethnography they described their experience as a gay Japanese American. They wrote about how the colonial views on Japanese men feminizing them shaped their identity, however, they also explain how they chose to challenge those stereotypes through their “exaggerated performance of femininity”. Looking at Eguchi’s experience it is hard to tease apart which parts of their identity may be endogenous or exogenous, though only they could truly say.

When reflecting on my own identity I still find it challenging to distinguish what parts have been shaped by internal vs external factors. The community I grew up in has certainly molded my identity. Being a part of a small, mostly white, religious community shaped who I am, but so have my responses to living in such a community. Growing up with the same 30ish classmates for 13 years made me a very community-based person, but also taught me how to be independent. In response to interacting with the same people for over a decade, I learned the best way for me to deal with emotion is by being direct. While being community-based is a direct result of an endogenous factor, being direct was an internal response to growing up with the same small group of peers.

In trying to answer the prompt, whether identity is endogenous or exogenous, I think I’ve ended up less sure in my answer than when I began. However, I don’t think there is truly an answer to this question. Rather, I believe everyone’s identity has been shaped by an inordinate number of things, events,  circumstances, decisions, and so forth and that the line between external and internal can be rather blurred.

2 Comments

  1. Nedra Sandiford

    “In trying to answer the prompt, whether identity is endogenous or exogenous, I think I’ve ended up less sure in my answer than when I began. However, I don’t think there is truly an answer to this question. Rather, I believe everyone’s identity has been shaped by an inordinate number of things, events, circumstances, decisions, and so forth and that the line between external and internal can be rather blurred”

    This is an excellent sum up of what we were trying to get at with the question!

  2. Lindsey Lyons

    Hi Clara- you state: ” I believe everyone’s identity has been shaped…”

    Just something to think about: Does it ever stop being shaped? Is my identity formed (I’m 40) or still evolving? You looked at it across the endogenous or exogenous spectrum, but what about the time continuum? Just another layer of complexity in the path to find ourselves.

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