Is Our Identity Flexible Writing Assignment

Is Our Identity Flexible
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Is Our Identity Flexible
The question of how we define identity both as parts of groups and individuals has been of great concern among various people. Maureen O’Connor and Steve Olson have made different attempts to answer the question which include ethnic plastic surgery and Hawaiian intermarriage concepts respectively. The ideas are considered post racial explanations because the concept of race used in defining personal identity has become less prominent with time. However, they describe that race still exists but in various ways where Olson used the term ‘’community of decent’’ to replace the term race. Further, the term ‘’community of descent’’ has become more of religious affiliation or a professional concept where an individual has some elements of control in associating himself or herself with a given race. Therefore, the assignment focuses on the analysis of Maureen O’Connor and Steve Olson definitions of identity based on non-racial grounds as presented in their books to prove that identity is not flexible.
A society has a common identity as people who live together and share resources that they possess. However, the increase in the rate of socioeconomic inequality between the aboriginals and the foreigners has led to loss of identity. The natives are now identified with their level of income and their living standards because they have unlimited access to resources such as educational facilities. Specifically, the foreigners are more educated than the aboriginals and they occupy the best remunerating jobs in the nation (Galanter, 2018). As a result, the new generation has lost empathy to the original inhabitants and they are identified as primitive people with low socioeconomic status. Olson states that ‘’several ethnic groups occupy the lower end of socioeconomic scale, but one in particular stands out: the people descended from the island’s original inhabitants. Native Hawaiians have the lowest income and the highest unemployment rates than any ethnic group. They have the most health problems and the shortest life expectancy. They are the least likely to go to college and the most likely to be incarcerated.’’ The statements prove that people have lost empathy to the original inhabitants and they are the most suffering groups in the country irrespective of being the aboriginals (Olson, n.d.). Moreover, the group focuses on producing a cultural amalgam which attracts tourists and form their main source of income. Further, there are active programs to revive the traditions of the society such as canocing, religion, dance, and music through immersion of new programs that are intended to incorporate the customs in the new English speaking community. However, O’Connor gives a different picture as she describes how people have become more interested in plastic surgery to fit into the new culture. Specifically, she states that ‘’regardless of whose face the patient idealizes, modern plastic surgery is often a matter of fitting in. First, each future must fit in with the rest of the face; and every surgeon I spoke to emphasized attention to proportion.’’ The idea proves that foreigners are interested in changing their identity and assume that of the aboriginals (O’Connor, N.d). Contrarily, some people have raised questions including individuals who are interested in plastic surgery to mimic a given race maybe because they love the new identity. Therefore, the statements prove that identity is not flexible and despite the efforts that people have made to change their identity through plastic surgery, this has not yielded any fruits as identity cannot be changed. Hence, there is likelihood that if the traditions of the Hawaiians are not kept, then they run the risk of becoming extinct.
Also, identity can be seen as a way in which people connect or relate to each other. Generally, social interaction is seen as a foundation for social structures which form the primary social enquiry and analysis. Through interaction, people design rules, systems, and institutions within which they intend to live. Therefore, a group of people may leave a particular area and decide to settle in a certain region where they design their own rules, systems, and institutions needed to survive. Olson pointed out that ‘’every group is a mixture of many previous groups, a fleeting collection of genetic variants drawn from a shared genetic legacy. The Polynesian colonizers of the Hawaiian archipelago are a good example. In 1795 the German anatomist J.F. Blumenbach proposed that the ‘’Malays’’ which is a collection of people including the Polynesians from southeastern Oceania and Asia were one of the five races of humanity in addition to Native Americans, Africans, Mongoloids, and Caucasians. All the groups are genetically composed of previous groups.’’ Also, Captain Cook arrived later after the groups and is still identified as a Hawaiian (Olson, n.d). Th...