Let’s not forget that!
By Inamullah Marwat
We have stepped into the Spring Semester 2023 here at UMT, Lahore. Both students and faculty are trying to build chemistry with one another in the new courses like always, as usually happens every time at the start of a new semester. Teaching is fun by the way, but the condition is if you have stepped into this profession by choice. It’s quite hectic, not only at times but, I think, all the time because as a lecturer or maybe someone in any other teaching position, you have to work before the lecture, work during the lecture, and work after the lecture. Such is the schedule that you have day in, day out.
I think we all belong to the human self and that should be the base of our identity. Let’s not be freaked out by our bountiful nothingness, in other words our socially constructed identities. Let’s embrace our human identity unconditionally! The first baby step to step into human identity & not be carried away by socially constructed identities in awareness
I love teaching more in the Fall Semester, perhaps because of the short spell of winter we get here in Pakistan. Every semester, we faculty members at the Department of Political Science and International Relations get some courses for teaching. Each faculty member has an academic forte and opts for subjects accordingly. Last semester, I got a chance to teach Peace and Conflict Studies to undergraduate students. I had studied this subject as part of my MPhil program in International Relations, but so far had not got a chance to teach it. Building chemistry initially with students, especially in a subject when you are teaching it for the first time, always takes some time and the same happened; however, the end was epic. We not only built good chemistry with each other but loved the whole journey across the subject. With each passing week in the semester, students not only started finding the course interesting, but I also started coming across a lot of creative ideas regarding how to navigate through the content of the course. We ended the course with a mock Pakistan National Assembly session on how to find a solution for the Kashmir issue. Students enthusiastically participated and suggested creative solutions in the light of Johan Galtung’s theory of Positive Peace.
In the last weeks, we covered some potential sources of conflict around us in our daily lives. Though there are many sources of conflict in the shape of information comprising disinformation, misinformation and malinformation, miscommunication, resources’ distribution, relationships, interests and needs, structures, power, governance, rights, culture, ideology, religion, and values, and we discussed all these sources in detail yet I would like to share one that I found quite interesting and that resonated with students as well as far as its analysis was concerned. That source of conflict is identity.
Identity is defined as a person’s sense of “self” and the relation of the “self” to the world. In simple words, we all humans have this desire to have a “self” and also this instinct is in us that the “self” we have is recognized by the world around us. The desire to have a “self”, which is a crucial part of our identity, is usually because, in the “self,” we feel protected, connected, and, to some extent, distinct, which is humans’ cardinal instinct. As per Psychoanalytical Theory which is a theory of conflict, every human has an instinct to be distinct. Conflict is within us, humans, as per the theory. It’s inherent. Psycho-analytical theory traces the roots of conflict in human nature. The theory says that the existence of this instinct among humans to be distinct naturally pitches humans to conflict with others.
So, conceptually speaking, part of the identity is having a “self”. The other part of identity is that the “self” we have wants its recognition in the world around us both at the micro or individual level and macro level including society, culture, religion, and others. Since the “self” in us believes in becoming distinct and believes in its recognition around the world, this assertion on the part of the “self” in us gives birth to conflicts all around. The reason is a majority of the time, the “self” with which we define ourselves is built upon a particular criterion; carries seeds of exclusion, and has no seeds of inclusivity; thus it’s a direct recipe for conflicts.
So, this is how an identity built upon the “self” creates a pitch for conflict. One interesting aspect of identity as a potential source of conflict is that we don’t have one singular identity since we don’t have a singular self. We have multiple identities based upon multiple selves in us. When I say multiple identities, I mean ethnic identity, national identity, religious identity, gender identity, and so on. In all these identities, there is a sense of “self” built upon a set of ethos and there is an urge in every identity in us for its recognition in the surroundings. We normally live in a society with all these identities in us, and thus are all the time in conflict with one another for the protection and assertion of our identities. Maybe now after dissecting identity as a potential source of conflict, things might make better sense when you look at ethnic clashes, states’ fights, religious wars, social schisms, etc.; after all, these clashes depict how our identities at micro and macro levels pitches us for conflicts. In other words, how our selves forming the basis of these identities fight with one another for assertion and recognition.
However, the question is whether the identity with which we define ourselves is really who we are or whether it’s socially constructed. Theory says that each identity of ours is a social construct. To make the point clear, let me draw a picture in your mind. It’s like before we are born, we belong to this large human identity. However, once we are born, we are separated from the large human identity. We are given a name, an ethnic identity, a national identity, a gender identity, and many other identities.
After our birth, when we start living with these new identities, we internalize them. We forget our actual human identity and start defining ourselves with socially constructed identities. Not only do we define ourselves with socially constructed identities but we also protect these identities and assert them. We approach each other under the cloak of these identities. We start considering these identities as defining who we are. We forget human identity. We consider socially constructed identities given to us by society as if they are in our blood, and thus by sticking with socially constructed identities, we create a pitch for conflicts.
Identifying ourselves with socially constructed identities, I think, is not a problematic if the whole point is that this is how we can navigate in human society. However, defining our whole identity with a particular socially planted identity that is exclusionary, is self-gratifying, is feeding itself at the expense of others and is creating a disconnect, is something we should reconsider.
I think we all belong to the human self and that should be the base of our identity. Let’s not be freaked out by our bountiful nothingness, in other words our socially constructed identities. Let’s embrace our human identity unconditionally! The first baby step to step into human identity & not be carried away by socially constructed identities in awareness!
