WHAT IS …..?

The issue of identity has always been a matter of some concern. It harks back to the primary question ‘ ti estin?’ – the ‘what’ question, usually followed by the ‘why’ question. Establishing an ‘I’ and the loss of ‘I’ is fundamental. It is, by the very nature of being, something that emerges from ‘we’. The ‘I’ then is developed as part of the ‘we’ and as it matures it identifies itself as an individual within the ‘we’, and either as a shaper of the ‘we’, or a follower.

There is a paper by Jane E. Dutton; Janet M. Dukerich and Celia V. Harquail entitled Organizational Images and Member Identification, published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 39, No.2 (Jun.,1994) 239-263.

The same model can or course be applied to any group be it family, town, city, county, country, ethnic group or religious affiliation; yet each member seeks to be viewed by other members as a distinct individual, whilst still maintaining to be a member. To be regarded as an individual the member seeks to make a mark, to create a distinguishing feature. That distinguishing feature, the sign, is what demonstrates an identity. Just as individuals seek to create a distinct identity, so do the various groups surrounding the individual. Towns, cities, counties, countries, organisations of all sorts seek to establish that individual characteristic separating them from the rest, all the while remaining within the overall group. That mark must of course be perceived as a singular identifying mark by the rest of the group. Individuals and groups can have multiple affiliations and accordingly their mark or sign will attempt to encompass the joint and several affiliations.

So how does an American Muslim, born in the United States, of immigrant parents, born in Britain, of immigrant parents, born in Egypt but brought up in France, identify him/herself? American? British? African? French? or perhaps European? How will their mark manifest itself?