Definitions

Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these identities.

A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal values.

Essay

Identity politics and culture wars are both very important aspects of our current society. Despite these both being quite controversial topics, especially in right- wing societies with conservative views, I personally believe that they are vital aspects of helping our world reach equality and freedom. Identity politics is simply an approach that allows people to freely express who they really are, and although there will always be extremists, people who disagree with our world developing in a positive way (such as abolishing constricting laws to do with abortion and non- heterosexual marriage) need to be educated, especially since the majority tends to have opinions of issues that don’t involve them. Like I mentioned, extremists (in culture wars) are a problem and shouldn’t deal with issues in the way they do, however I believe many people base their opinions solely on extreme instances which can be very inaccurate. Moreover, many view culture wars as a way of dividing societies and when protests and other forms of conflicts begin to create problems such as vandalism and violence, I can understand how some may view certain aspects of culture wars as negative. Acts like this create a bad name for something that should result in positive change and a better life for minorities. However, educated people will look past this, seeing the true desired outcome. Moreover, I find it difficult to understand how people can have opinions about issues that don’t include them, for example cisgender people refusing to support the idea of transgender rights, even through it doesn’t affect them. This selfish ideology is what leads to these culture wars, as if these limited and closed minded opinions is what discourages people from being who they truly are and prevents the world from being equal.

One of the most known culture wars is the Women’s Right Movement in America, a culture war which resulted in more equality between men and woman (at least in America). The 1848 Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention marked the beginning of the women’s rights movement in the United States. Over time, the women’s right movement grew into a cohesive network of individuals who were committed to changing society.

Many still have negative views on feminism to this day, not viewing it as equality but as women attempting to rise above men. The Suffragettes were part of the ‘Votes for Women’ campaign that had long fought for the right of women to vote in the UK. This was one of the first movements that provoked negative reactions to the idea of women gaining equality and not being lesser than men. This was due to them using art, debate, propaganda, and attack on property including window smashing and arson to fight for female suffrage, which many people, including women who disagreed with women being equal to men. In my opinion, the vandalism that the Suffragettes caused was completely justified, as it seemed as through nothing else could provoke change to happen.

Identity Politics

IDENTITY POLITICS is a term that describes a political approach wherein people of a particular religion, race, social background, class or other identifying factor form exclusive socio-political alliances, moving away from broad-based, coalitional politics to support and follow political movements that share a particular identifying quality with them. Its aim is to support and centre certain groups’ concerns, agendas, and projects, in accordance with specific social and political changes.

The term was first used by the Combahee River Collective, a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston from 1974 to 1980, in 1977. It was used all over by the early 1980s, and in the ensuing decades has been employed in various cases with radically different connotations depending upon the term’s context. It has gained currency with the emergence of social activism, manifesting in various dialogues within the feminist, American civil rights, and LGBT movements, disabled groups, as well as multiple nationalist and postcolonial organizations, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement.

Culture Wars

CULTURE WARS are cultural conflicts between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal values are seen. The term is commonly used to describe contemporary politics in Western democracies with issues such as homosexuality, transgender rights, pornography, multiculturalism, racial viewpoints, abortion and other cultural conflicts based on values, morality, and lifestyle being described as the major political cleavage.

Michelle LeBaron describes different cultures as “underground rivers that run through our lives and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions, attributions, judgments, and ideas of self and other.” She has stated that cultural messages “shape our understandings.” Due to the huge impact that culture has on us, LeBaron finds it important to explain the “complications of conflict:”

First, “culture is multi-layered,” meaning that “what you see on the surface may mask differences below the surface.”

Second, “culture is constantly in flux,” meaning that “cultural groups adapt in dynamic and sometimes unpredictable ways.”

Third, “culture is elastic,” meaning that one member of a cultural group may not participate in the norms of the culture.

Lastly, “culture is largely below the surface,” meaning that it isn’t easy to reach the deeper levels of culture and its meanings,

Main Source : Cultural Conflict Wikipedia

Google definition of Identity:

The fact of being who or what a person or thing is or a close similarity or affinity.

Identity within photography:

The relationship between photography and social identity is as old as the invention of the camera, despite the fact that its earliest developers thought that their newfangled device was best suited for other purposes. 

From our perspective, it’s easy to see why the camera was embraced by so many people, who thought of it as a means of self-representation, despite what its inventors proclaimed. Previously, those who could afford to have images made of themselves were almost invariably of the upper-middle and ruling classes. They had the income and leisure to sit for the portrait painter. But suddenly, with the camera, the power of such imagery came within reach of ordinary folk, which helped them express their identity through the images they created of themselves or even other people. 

Of course, these portraits and self-portraits had their share of fiction. Consider a picture of a Chinese migrant worker, who in the 1870s had made his way across the Pacific Ocean to California, taken a train across the American continent, and found temporary work as a shoemaker in a factory. One would never guess his lowly status as a migrant factory worker in the photograph; we might instead be tempted to regard him as something else, a man of taste and leisure, for instance, accessorized in the latest dapper fashion and proud to hold the latest books in English. As the photograph tells us, “identity” was quickly recognized as something that could be manufactured in front of the camera as easily as it might be discovered by it.

The constructed nature of identities is facilitated by photography. In very sophisticated ways, how identities are made in today’s globalized, interconnected, intensely visual world is often explored by photographers. In some cases, the ambitions that urged photography’s earliest sitters to take to the lens continue to inform these photographers’ practices.

The latest exhibition by Art House Jersey shows the work of multiple artists, and as the put it is an “ambitious exhibition that explores the idea of ‘home’ in the 21st Century”

The exhibition shows the works of multiple artists working in a range of mediums from sculpture to tapestry, painting to film. They believe that it will challenge people’s perceptions of what an art exhibition can be and has been designed to appeal to a broad variety of ages and not just for those with a firmly established interest in art.

“Rosalind and I wanted to create an exhibition where everyone can feel at home. A key aim of ArtHouse Jersey is to make the arts accessible to the wider community, which was why we were drawn to a subject matter that will mean something to everyone. Home is of course a loaded term, and its connotations will be different for all of us. For many it will be a sanctuary, but for some it may have less positive associations. No Place Like Home builds a rich narrative and delves into personal stories, global issues, childhood memories, and speculative worlds as well as the bleak realities of the current housing market. The artists do not shy away from difficult issues, but rather tackle them with inventiveness, pathos, humour and a generosity of spirit. Alongside the gallery works, three installations will be announced in the coming weeks which will take their place in surprising settings around the Island.”

Laura Hudson and Rosalind Davis – Curators of ‘No Place Like Home’

The Société Jersiaise was first established in 1873 and is a registered Jersey charity with the a mission “to produce and facilitate research, and to share that knowledge with the widest possible audience for the benefit of our island community.”

We began the day with a talk from the Chief Archivist Patrick Cahill and Assistant Archivist Rochelle Merhet about the importance of the archive and how it works. They told us that the Photographic Archive works to allow the island to see and understand its past with images that either depict exactly what happened at a certain point in history (photographs from the Nazi Occupation of the Island) as well as what is believed to have been there in the past (paintings of St Helier Harbour or drawings of l’Hermitage on the Elizabeth Castle breakwater as it looked in 555 AD).

With our film project revolving round Elizabeth Castle, they showed us geological and geographical maps of the area, diary pages from the English Civil War, letters from King Charles II to Sir George de Carteret and photos from the NAzi occupation and the handover of the fort from the British military to the island. It was an interesting array of material that was impossible to delve into in the 15 minutes we had, but it has definitely intrigued me to look closer into what they have to offer, perhaps even consider working closely with them when researching at forming my personal study project.