In the West, self is viewed as egocentric; while the non-western view is that the self is sociocentric and anthropological.
Non-western view of self focuses on qualities shared with others
Social anthropology is interested in the non-western view of the self
A different approach needs to be taken for the case of the Northern Pakistan situation, where most people have contradictory identities; analysis of the self, in this case, studies the actions of the individual instead.
Identity
The two definitions of identity (original meaning and social anthropology) complemented each other and was therefore later coined as one.
Erik Erikson combined the two definitions of identity: consistent self-sameness and sameness with others
Original/Psychological meaning of identity
It meant the sameness of the self over time. Identity was understood as a disposition of basic personality features acquired mostly during childhood and, once integrated, more or less fixed.
Nonsameness or inconsistency of personality was regarded as a disturbance/mental illness.
Europe had a foundational understanding of the self because of Decartes Meditations.
The self is subjugated to the conditions of the world, while simultaneously be an agent of understanding and doing in that world.
Consciousness/ego remained the same, even before observing the world (a priori)
Social anthropological meaning of identity
Identity was used in the context of ethnic identity, focusing on sameness with others.
This is important because the group where an individual belonged constituted their social environment, through which personal identity is formed
Contemporary meaning of identity
Michel Foucault viewed the identical subject as the product of networks of power and discourse, disagreeing with the concept of sameness and subject as the source of knowledge
Psychology shifted its attention to plurality of identities
Identity has many parts and is fluid
Social and cultural sciences meaning of the identity
Identity is defined by differences, because an identity is formed by multiple identities
This definition of identity contradicts with the idea that identities are formed through shared identities, and puts attention on the idea of personal/individual identity referred to as the self
Anthropological approaches to a subject
Anthropologist treat their subjects as if they are different from them (they find it difficult to attribute a self to their subjects). Anthropologists generally discusses identity in a way that it’s detached from the self. Nevertheless, in non-western concepts of the self, they are modeled after the anthropological view of identity: the sociocentric view, meaning that the self is social and shared.
The first approach implicitly maintains that an anthropological subject have an identity instead of a self
An identity, in this context, refers to the similarities between people that is derived from culture
The second approach analyzes the selves by contrasting them with the western view of the self; therefore, denying non-western anthropology subjects of a self.
Criticisms of the anthropological/sociocentric approach to the self
The non-western approach characterizes the other’s selves as the opposite of the western view: dependent, can’t distinguish between individual and their status/role that the individual occupies, can’t set itself apart from each other. The issue with this is that it negates all qualities of a “self”.
The anthropological view does not deny subjects of identity, only a self. Something Dumont and Marriot argues. This means that individuals do not have individual individuality but only shared individuality.
The issue with this is that anthropologist treat their subjects goals and motivations to be dependent on the cultural/social group and behave according to the prescriptions and interests of that group.
Cultural and social determinism lurks behind this conceptualization of non-western selves.
Cohen (1994) argues that the self and self-consciousness are indivisible, and if anthropologist disregard the selves of their subjects, they are also disregarding their self-consciousness and distorting the accounts. This can be seen when anthropologist prematurely subsumes an individual to the groups they belong to.
When an anthropologist subsumes… it problematizes the relationship between the individual and the social (groups, society, or shared identities).
Rapport (1997) believes that individuality is necessary because it is the roots of the culture and social environment
plural society - identities of subjects in a society is defined by a set of differences and similarities. This cannot work with the idea of identity and self in anthropology, where they are equal.
empirical agent - acting self + identities
Postcolonial/Postmodern/Martin’s interpretation of identities
identities constantly transform because they refer to each other. a sign is put in place of some entity, a deferred presence that might be changed later. it points to other signs that surround it
in Britain, being black, immigrant, woman, and perhaps also lesbian, belonging to a certain class, and being engaged in a struggle to realize particular political objectives. Brah points to the intersectionality of identities: they are not different to the extent of not affecting one another but are all playing a game in the same field, be this a person or a set of power relations in a society (the two, of course, cannot really be separated).
identities are not only different, but also relate to each other. identities that are shared have different values depending on each person
Intersectionality and différance prevent the person from realizing and enacting the ‘‘pure’’ signification of a certain identity because competing significations must be taken into account.
there is no pure “identity”.
differance can allow for ambiguity, meaning that conflicting identities can work by deferring the other identity and reconstructing difference
In what follows I will tentatively treat the self, following Hallowell (1955), not as an independent and autonomous entity (according to the paradigm of the Western self) but as that reflexive sense that enables the person to distinguish self-consciously between him or herself and everything else.
This reflexive sense may also entail a sense of consistency and continuity simply because the basic difference persists. The basic difference between myself and everything else can be endowed with differing meanings, transmitted culturally or engendered by the experiences of the individual life history.
agency is an integral ability of human beings. The reflexive distinction between the self
and everything else entails at least some agency.
The fact of sharing kinship with Sunnis reflects upon Shiite identity and transforms its
meaning (and vice versa).
differance helps distinguish self from everything by transforming meaning using the plurality of identities
identities can be experienced as plurality, but self is only one because it is continuously lives on as the frame where variety of identities are inscribed
self is not passive because it manages identities
self can be expressed through denial of actively managing identities too and just being sincere. this means that it’s possible for self to have autonomy motivated by own principles independent of social and cultural identities
your multiple identities don’ t define you, you define your multiple identities. the multiple identities are like building blocks that are continuously shaped so that they can form your self image more accurately as a whole
self transforms as it relates to other contexts because action reinterprets social context and the meaning of being different from others. the reflexive sense of self-changes, meaning your differences with others that form your plurality of identities changes.
people manage their identities that allow them to relate to one another in a way that seemed most beneficial to them.
Conclusion
In anthropology, a better view of the self instead of the non-western is western where the self is part of being human. the ability to recognize that they have the capacity and necessity to make their own actions independent of their social identity.
its clearer to see this in action when a person has a plurality of identities that are conflicting where people are not restricted to a cultural consensus
Action requires a self that reflexively monitors the conditions, course, and outcome of action. this includes the ability to distinguish self and everythign else