Identity, Culture and Belonging

Educating Young Children for a Changing World

Tony Eaude

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781350097827
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Elementary Education

Tony Eaude argues that the foundations of a robust but flexible identity are formed in early childhood and that children live within many intersecting and sometimes conflicting cultures. He considers three meanings of culture, associated with (often implicit) values and beliefs; the arts; and spaces for growth. In exploring how young children's identities, as constructed and constantly changing narratives, are shaped, he discusses controversial, intersecting factors related to power in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, religion, class, physical ability and age. Eaude explores how young children learn, often tacitly, highlighting reciprocity, example, habituation and children's agency and voice. He emphasises the importance of a sense of belonging, created through trusting relationships, and inclusive environments, with adults drawing on and extending children's cultural capital and 'funds of knowledge.' Eaude shows how a holistic education requires a breadth of opportunities across and beyond the school curriculum, and highlights how play, the humanities and the arts enable children to explore how it is to be human, and to become more humane, broadening horizons and helping challenge preconceptions and stereotypes. This radical, inclusive and culturally sensitive vision, for an international audience, challenges many current assumptions about identity, culture, childhood and education.

Part I

Identity and Culture in a World of Uncertainty

1

Exploring identity and culture

People tell others who they are, but even more important they tell themselves and then try to act as though they are who they say they are. These self-understandings, especially those with strong emotional resonance for the teller, are what we refer to as identities.

Holland et al., 2003: 3

Unpicking the puzzle of identity and multiple identities

This chapter explores two complex concepts, identity and culture, which have no single, agreed meaning, and how they relate to a sense of belonging.

Identity is a construct which encapsulates all elements of who a person is, and feels that she or he is, in relation to aspects such as spiritual, moral, social, emotional, cultural, aesthetic, mental and physical development and factors such as gender, ethnicity, class, (dis)ability, religion and nationality. However, since identity deals with the whole person, separating these interlinked aspects is only a convenience, and they should be distinguished but not separated. As the quotation at the start of this chapter suggests, identities are self-understandings shaped by individuals, and are related to perceptions and feelings; but how these are constructed depends on other people and on the groups and cultures to which individuals belong.

Identity is loosely associated with concepts like personality, character and self. While personality and identity are similar, the former suggests something individual. In ‘Western’ countries, especially anglophone ones such as the United Kingdom and the United States, identity is usually understood mostly in individual terms and as a matter of choice. Other cultures and societies tend to see identity more collectively, emphasizing membership of, and conformity to, the norms of the nation, an ethnic group and/or a faith community.

As discussed in Eaude (2016: 109–11), I have reservations about the idea of character, if this is seen as just about grit and resilience in the face of adversity or involving the denial of one’s emotions. However, character is a useful term if this refers to

• the sort of person one is, and how one acts, when one’s inhibitions are down; and

• the behaviours and qualities one manifests when not observed by others or motivated mainly by tangible rewards and punishments

since, as Nagel (1986: 191) observes, ‘if we are required to do certain things, then we are required to be the kinds of people who will do these things.’ Such a view is the basis of virtue ethics, discussed in Chapter 3 and subsequently.

A person’s character is made evident in to what extent, and how, she or he manifests qualities and dispositions such as courage, generosity or independence. In other words, how brave or timid, how willing to share or keep things to herself or himself, how independent or conformist she or he is. But, although an individual may manifest such qualities in general, this changes according to the context, especially for young children. For instance, a toddler who is usually adventurous may be scared by the presence of a dog; and a five-year-old who is normally willing to share his toys may refuse to be separated from a particular item, if worried.

Bruner (1996: 35–6) argues that perhaps the single most universal thing about human experience is the phenomenon of ‘self’ and that two aspects of selfhood are regarded as universal. The first is agency, the sense that one can initiate and carry out activities oneself, though even the most cursory view of young children – and we all – indicates that agency does not mean acting entirely on one’s own. The second is that of evaluation, in that individuals evaluate their efficacy in what they hoped, or were asked, to do. Bruner calls the mix of these two ‘self-esteem’, combining a sense of what one believes, or hopes, oneself to be capable of and what one fears may be unachievable. But how self-esteem is experienced, and expressed, varies between cultures; and children’s self-esteem is strongly affected by other people’s perceptions, especially adults and, increasingly, members of the peer group. As we shall see, self-esteem can be too high and is fragile when based on external features such as possessions or looks, rather than intrinsic qualities.

Identity is closely related to questions such as Who am I? Where do I fit in? and Why am I here? which writers such as Eaude (2008) and Hyde (2008) associate with spirituality. While spirituality has a strong historic link with religion, such a search can be, to adopt McLaughlin’s term, ‘tethered’ to religion or otherwise (see Best, 2014: 12). In other words, such existential questions are universal but can be explored within a religious framework or outside one.

Identities are retrospective and prospective. They are like the story which someone tells (in words and other ways) to herself or himself and to others of who she or he has been, is and may become (see McAdams and McLean, 2013). In Taylor’s (1989: 47) words, ‘In order to have a sense of who we are, we have to have a notion of how we have become and of where we are going.’ And as Russell (2007: 54) indicates, ‘Our concept of selfhood is derived from the unity of a narrative which links us to those around us from birth.’ Narratives help to arrange and categorize disparate and often-confusing experiences, with identity best seen as a narrative created, and constantly shifting, over time, shaped and manifested within the context of culture.

In Jacober’s words (2014: 97), ‘Identity is what each of us discovers and creates in telling our story, both to ourselves and to others.’ Identity is linked to memory in that who we are and who we become depend on what we have experienced and how such experiences have been understood, represented and internalized, individually and as a group. In Macintyre’s (1999: 221) words,

The story of my life is always embedded in the story of those communities from which I derive my identity. I am born with a past; and to try to cut myself off from that past, in the individualistic mode, is to deform my present relationships. The possession of an historical identity and the possession of a social identity coincide.

We are not just individual persons, but interdependent ones.

Some people are described by, and describe themselves as, ‘hyphenated’ or ‘hybridized’ identities such as an African American or a British Sikh, but identity is multiple in more p rofound ways. We all have multiple identities in that our sense of self alters according to the context. A four-year-old who is a confident speaker or artist at home may be more shy or reserved if expected to perform in an unfamiliar situation; and a seven-year-old who is self-assured when reading a familiar book to her mother may be more tentative when asked to do so in a group.

Jenkins (2014: 51–2) makes the distinction between ‘self’ as how each person feels and understands him or herself privately and ‘person’ as how she or he is seen by others. How individuals are perceived and perceive themselves may not coincide; and the aspect which an individual regards as predominant may not be that which other people see as most significant. For instance, a seven-year-old boy may be proud of his prowess at sport or cooking, whereas other people may categorize him more on his behaviour or skin colour. Individual identities are created and negotiated taking account of expectations which vary between different cultures and parts of children’s lives, trying to create some coherence between those aspects of identity which one feels and those ascribed by others, with the latter influencing young children particularly strongly. Problems may arise if a child sees his or her identity in simple and unchanging terms, for instance mainly as a girl-who-can’t-walk or as a naughty boy, since such identities easily become self-fulfilling.

A useful distinction is that between substantive and situational identities (see Woods and Jeffery, 2002). The former are more enduring, not immutable but less open to change, and the latter more context-related, fluid and transient. Situational identities often strongly affect individuals’ sense of identity and actions, unless their substantial identity is firmly rooted. Each person is an individual, but his or her identities are influenced, though not determined, by a wide range of factors and, while identities are constantly changing, there is an underlying continuity, though one aspect of identity – as a girl, a Hindu, or a sports player – may be predominant in a particular context or time in a child’s life; and which aspects predominate may shift, sometimes rapidly, between contexts.

For a very young child, his or her name, gender and the language she or he speaks and where she or he lives are important markers of identity. For slightly older children, being able to ride one’s bike on one’s own, no-longer-a-bed-wetter or one-who-can-swim may signify overcoming difficult challenges, while for most children approaching adolescence, appearance and popularity become increasingly significant.

Before children go to school they develop, as a sibling or friend, aspects of their identities such as being, and being seen as, friendly, naughty or serious – and a combination of such qualities. As well as being based on temperament, these are influenced by the environment in which children grow up and the expectations related to factors such as gender and class, whether explicitly or not. Complications often arise when children move into group settings. Children acquire new categories of identity, as a reader or an artist, a mathematician or an athlete, a nerd or teacher’s pet, and some which may have mattered less previously, such as being sociable or quiet, eccentric or reclusive, come to matter more. How such identities are described changes over time and between cultures, but the underlying idea is similar. Such identities become, inevitably, more public, with some valued more than others. Recalling the situational aspect of identity, how a child is perceived and how she or he comes to see herself or himself matter more and frequently exacerbate low self-esteem. For instance, a six-year-old who wets the bed may feel ashamed about this, but much worse if this is known to his or her friends.

There is a hierarchy of identities, often implicit, where some aspects are seen, whether by oneself or by other people, to matter more than others. For instance, a child’s home language is one important element in how his or her identity is defined, by the child and by other people. However, some languages are valued more than others. For example, English tends to be valued worldwide, and European languages more than South Asian or African ones. This relates both to language as such, which may indicate ethnicity, and to how it is spoken in terms of accent and dialect, both strongly associated with class and status and, by extension, to whether the speaker is seen to belong. Young bilingual children may feel proud of the language they speak at home but find that this are not held in high regard outside the home and immediate community; and as a result may have conflicting views about their home language and how and when to speak it.

This discussion inevitably reflects, to some extent, my own ‘Western’ assumptions about identity. Those from different cultural backgrounds may present a more collective, less individualistic view. But every child has to try to create a coherent sense of herself or himself from many often-conflicting identities, in relation to other people and the world around and how she or he fits in. By coherent, I mean making sense of a range of different experiences to try and answer questions such as Who am I? and Where do I fit in? This involves understanding oneself increasingly as part of larger narratives than that of one’s immediate family and culture. Towards the end of Chapter 2, we return to what a coherent and robust identity entails, having discussed the factors which militate against that.

Probing into what culture means

This section explores another complex and slippery construct – culture – which refers to several different, overlapping concepts and reflects various historical and cultural assumptions. Its meaning is not fixed – and changes over time and between different societies.

Williams (1959) argued that the original meaning of culture moved from a process of tending natural growth and, by analogy, human training, to one of becoming more like a thing in itself, a way of life, particularly one implying familiarity with the arts and what came to be called high culture. This idea is implicit in Arnold’s view of culture as ‘the best that has been thought’ (1869), though, as Galton et al. (1999: 196) indicate, Arnold continues that culture is the medium through which to make sense of what it is to be human. Moreover, Arnold’s emphasis was on knowing rather than doing. The unspoken question is who should decide what is ‘the best that has been thought’ and on what criteria – a matter for debate rather than being decided by only a few people, usually white, older men regarded as being highly educated.

Williams linked this change of meaning to industrialization to argue that working-class culture represented a collective idea and the institutions, manners, habits of thought and intentions which proceed from this, and that middle-class culture was, and is, based on a more individualistic view. As a result of social movements like the end of (formal) colonialism, feminism and globalization, the view of culture as largely associated with a particular, rational and cerebral view of knowledge an d white, male, ‘Western’ superiority derived from Arnold has increasingly been questioned.

One persistent theme, h...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Identity and Culture in a World of Uncertainty
• Part II How Young Children’s Identities Are Shaped
• Part III The Implications for Adults
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright