Darkangel

M. FerDon 2010

January 24, 2013

in Writing
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Identity Construct

My research and lecturing examines the contemporary notion of Identity. I accept that identity is a construct, but this has only been discussed since the Post-Modern era (1960s), and only widely examined in the 1990s by theorists such as Judith Butler who coined the term “Queer Theory”. Butler based her theories on the research, in part, of Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault.

The fluidity of identity fascinates me. That Identity perception shifts and changes with fashion trends, as do all societal structural concepts from language to Art, shows that all of human endeavour is actually a construct. This Blog will examine: Performance of identity, the impact of Post – Modernist thought on the discussion of Identity Performance, how it is played out in the contemporary, and the organisations that try to stem the tide of the digital age (media [news, magazines, TV shows etc.] long the scapegoat of all the ills of the contemporary world has been supplanted, and included in, the horrors of the internet). The Internet is a fantasy that more closely resembles the human psyche than any other mechanism in human history. But, is the Internet sculpting thought, or is thought sculpting the Internet – the chicken and egg story is still a mystery.

Basic Background to this research

‘There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; … identity is performatively constituted by the very “expressions” that are said to be its results. “

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble. New York, NY: Routledge

In other words, gender identity is a performance. And if Gender Identity is a performance, all notions of Identity are a performance and Fantasy. Although her research and theoretical concerns revolved around Feminism and Queer, her observations have become a normative stance for many who identify with Pop Cultural Icons – Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert for contemporary examples; Madonna, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Prince and The Rocky Horror Show as examples of the Icons who paved the way for this theatrical display of identity.

Jacques Lacan was a psychiatrist who worked with psychotic patients in the 1930s and 1940s. He revised Freud’s theories from a structural linguistic point of view, which was a scientific, humanist philosophy and examined them in a post – structuralist framework.

One of the aspects of Lacan’s definition of fantasy is the constructed reality of identity that is dependent upon learned conventions. There are layers of language and social conditioning that is taught by the other, or caregiver. This separates the infant from their reality. This reality is pushed deeper into the unconscious as each new fantasy is layered on top. Reality is never eradicated from the human psyche. The term, fantasy, is used for socialisation because the teachings of the other are also filtered through their own experiences and therefore never complete. Just recall the idea of the so called Chinese Whisper that changes with each telling. The imago is a constructed reality from outside forces that is fragmented, exaggerated, untrue on many levels so therefore fantasy. Another important part of the construction of the imago is the mirror stage of childhood development. The infant looks into a mirror and realises it is a separate being from the others around it. To start with the mirror image is reversed, the child only sees portions of itself, and the infant has by this time had enough socialisation to judge the image based on linguistic information, so a fragilization of the physical view of the imago occurs as well. It is important to realize that not only is the intellectual component of our self image or imago a fantasy, our perception of our physical image is also a fantasy.

Lacan, J. (2002). Ecrits: A selection. (transl. Bruce Fink). New York, NY: Norton & Co.