Identity is the fact of being who a person is, and it is frequently mentioned with topic of belonging. The importance of relationship between belonging and identity is growing as people want to feel more accepted by their society. In this paper, 4 aspects of identity from 4 different distinct sources will illustrate that identity can coexist with belonging while being changed for betterment of belonging.
Arabic bilinguals in the UK are eager to connect their language to their identity and feel belonged to the host country. According to a sociolinguistic research involving 62 participants, it aims to explore Arabic-English speakers as a minority in UK and understand symbolism of Arabic language defining their identities and investigate what they think that creates the feeling of belonging. When participants are asked about which language define who they are, 10 men say that “Arabic and English define my identity” (Said 92) and 35 women add “having to choose between the two worlds of Arabic and English, each one make me who I am” (Said 92).
To these participants, they can be both and the answer emphasizes that a person can have multiple identity, then a questions arises, what will it take to be accepted as English speakers? This is a questions that challenges their identity, however, many respondents want to maintain their language “as part of their ethnic, cultural and social identities” (Said 93). Others prefer to “speak the language of the host country as a way of identifying more with society or as a way of signaling their new identities” (Said 93). Living with difference is not always easy for people, but for the respondents who are comfortable with differences, they have ways to be confident in belonging to both communities.
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Researchers ask participants whether they feel belonged in the UK or their own country, “89% said they belonged to both, 6.4% said they belonged to the UK,” (Said 93). The result illustrates that the host society accepts bilinguals and it is what then makes the majority of respondents feel that the host country is their home, because “social exclusion may lead to possible radicalization” (Said 94). This social acceptance can be proved in the interviews that “a number of the participants said that they felt as though they belonged in the UK and even though their Arabic was not necessarily supported in the public domain it was still welcome” (Said 93). The interviews highlight that the feeling of belonging can coexist with identity despite obvious linguistic and ethic differences at least “at the Government and local authority level that they were catered for and not invisible” (Said 94). The findings demonstrate that belonging does not have to be connected with identity, but it can be challenged as how others might view their language. People can undergo negative perception while still find a sense of belonging to the host country, and it is discussed in another research regarding older Chinese Immigrants.
Building a sense of belonging is inevitable as a part of immigrants’ life in the foreign land. In Brisbane, Australis, a research involving 20 first-generation Chinese immigrants reveals an identity and belonging-building process. When researchers ask about how participants view their home and themselves culturally, they see their home as a “Chinese-Australian home” (Liu et al. 44) and “60% of them self-identified as Chinese-Australian, 25% as Australian” (Liu et al. 44) The answer reflects that belonging and identity do coexist in both family and social context.
Chinese are well-known for their cultural identification, their tradition plays an important role of building identity even for the Chinese immigrants, but what makes them feel Australian, the responses tend to be “owning a property in which they intended to live permanently in Australia” (Liu et al. 44). On the other hand, participants’ reasons to feel Chinese tend to be “cultural heritage, food, tradition, language, physical appearances, and family connection” (Liu et al. 44). Talking about identity, participants’ Chinese traits seems to be much obvious. Therefore, how these Chinese immigrants maintain a positive social connection with such cultural difference becomes an important theme in the research.
With living in Australia over 20 years, majority of participants think that “attachment to place was identified as a key contributor to a sense of home in Australia” (Liu et al. 44). It is important to be aware that meanwhile these participants are in a foreign land, to make this land a new home, a house is necessary. Once they have a house, they can have physically geographic connection to the host country.. As a result, they keep contacts with friends through “weekly gatherings at the church, dinning out together or having tea once a week or fortnightly or visiting each other” (Liu et al. 45). In addition, a participant who visits China, he feel like being a visitor, because “the Chinese in China have different beliefs and norms governing behavior” (Liu et al. 45). Such experience illustrates that geographical distance can weaken the feeling of belonging. Moreover, a participant who leaves China for over 30 years and when going back his homeland, he says “there is no feeling of belonging. I’ve become accustomed to the Australian way of life and culture” (Liu et al. 46). These views highlights the connection between cultural identity and finding a sense of belonging for older immigrants.
Belonging can sometimes be a complex concept. Girl, written by Jamaica Kincaid, is a poem about a mother giving her young girl advice on identity concerns. Every advice the mother mentions is about the positive traits of women in the social context. These traits meet the expectations of being a woman as an identity. In the circumstance, the perception can help the girl learn how to behave and abandon her habits which cannot be tolerated by the community. If the girl happens to act differently than the expectations, she will “look like the slut…so bent on becoming” (Kincaid 410), then the pressure placed by the society can force the girl to make correct changes to her behaviors to match her identity. If the girl fails to become a respectable woman, she then loses the sense of belonging to her society, like her mother says “after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread” (Kincaid 410). Although the only reason for building a new identity is to be accepted by her society, at least the outcome is positive to her life.
To find a sense of belonging in a small community, a person needs to build identity according to communal norm. The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, is a story about killing the “winner” of a traditional lottery every year for the good of agriculture. According to Old Man Warner, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson) is the origin for the ritual. Villagers carry on the old saying, because they are eager to get approval from the community by following tradition. Although there is no excuse for a person to harm others, it is still “reasonable” for betterment of identity in this community.
Isolation from small community is no difference than killing oneself slowly, therefore, maintaining the feeling of belonging becomes much more important, and building fitted identity is needed. Additionally, at the time of Bill Hutchinson wins the first draw, Tessie Hutchinson, his wife shouts to the host of the lottery, “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted…It wasn’t fair” (Jackson). However, when final round takes place within Hutchinson’s family and all members show their blank paper except Tessie, “Bill…went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it” (Jackson). Tessie does not build her identity according to her small community’s standards, she then cannot be accepted by anyone even her family.
This paper highlights the relationship between identity and belonging. Those who question the feeling of belonging should not look at how others view them, but how much they participate as a part of the society. It is encouraged to build fitted identity for different social context, and do not view oneself as different to others. The more effort made towards building one’s identity, one feels sooner that one belongs.
