Through the looking glass: Who am I?

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来自 University of Cape Town 的课程

Writing your World: Finding yourself in the academic space

39 个评分

University of Cape Town

Writing your World: Finding yourself in the academic space

39 个评分

Throughout the world, writing serves to express, record and even create meaningful moments. In academic spaces, writing becomes the bridge between ourselves and the world of ideas. In this course, we provide practical insights into how to write an academic essay. We show you how to develop the academic skills needed to be a competent academic writer. You will have an opportunity to engage with texts written by academics, and to see how some of the ideas in these texts are used by students in constructing an academic essay. We address some of the challenges these students face with respect to academic writing and offer you the opportunity to practice and to develop your own writing style. For this course, we centre our lessons around a specific topic - the concept of identity, since it forms such an important feature of how we locate ourselves in an ever-changing global world. In other words, this course teaches academic writing skills through getting you to write and reflect on your understanding of identity. So if you are thinking about studying at a tertiary institution, or if you just want to brush up on your academic essay writing skills, this course is for you!

从本节课中

Starting to write: Understanding definitions of identity

This week, we will consider practical aspects of academic writing, such as structure and the importance of defining key terms in an essay. The term we will focus on this week is identity. After hearing Kath Woodward’s ideas on identity, our three student writers, Ada, Ziggy, and Joey will write their own definitions of identity. Emphasising that writing is a process, we will give feedback on the students writers’ definitions. We will then provide you with the opportunity to draft your definition of identity, give feedback to other learners and receive feedback from them.

Through the looking glass: Who am I?5:30

Woodward on identity: I, me and the world11:31

Woodward on identity: Roots and routes12:24

How do definitions work?3:59

Definitions in context3:55

与讲师见面

Gideon Nomdo
Lecturer
Centre for Higher Education Development
Aditi Hunma
Lecturer
Centre for Higher Education Development

A looking glass is a mirror through which we perceive

ourselves or a version of ourselves.

And we use this to construct our identities.

What the mirror reflects back to us is generally a reverse image of the true picture.

And this may therefore be symbolic of the endless journey of self-discovery.

It's of course important to note that while we all have identities,

our individual expressions of our identity are distinctive,

and we express our identities in

very particular ways to provide us with a sense of belonging and purpose.

This raises many questions such as what makes one person different to others,

or what makes them the same.

In my own case for example,

I have twin daughters who look and sound the same,

but the two are very different when it comes to the taste in fashion and food.

Other questions relate to the boundaries that surround our identities.

How are these boundaries kept intact?

How are they challenged,

resisted, or even transformed?

What happens to our identities when we move from one place to another?

So if I use myself as an example again,

then at home my main identities are that of a father and a husband.

And then I come to my place of work here at the university where,

my main identities are those of a lecturer and colleague.

But when I travel to the USA,

the main feature of my identity is that of a foreigner,

a South African on American soil.

This also raises the issue of how having a particular identity,

shapes our relationships with others.

What then are some of the ideas that have created a system in

which some identities are allowed to have more power over others?

Take for instance the relationships between

black and white people in South Africa in the 1950s and 60s,

during the time of apartheid,

where racial segregation was legally binding.

At the time, being a white person gave one a huge advantage over being a black person.

I'm sure that you'll agree that there are a lot of important questions that

many of us are faced with in today's ever-changing, globalizing world.

At this stage, you may be asking,

"so what does all of this have to do with writing?"

Well, in this course,

you will be using your reflections of how your identities are

constructed as a means of learning the skills associated with academic writing.

In other words, you are going to develop

your academic writing skills through writing

and reflecting on your understanding of identity.

And don't worry, we'll be here to guide you every step of the way.

So let's hear the ideas put forth by Kath Woodward who's from the UK.

She will introduce us to particular questions around identity such as,

what it is, how it's formed,

and how much control we actually have over our own identities.

Let's just think about that for a moment.

How can you determine who you are in different contexts?

Can you choose your identity,

and if so when, where, how?

Woodward offers an interesting example of someone with

three different passports and shows how he is identified in each of them,

showing quite clearly the types of questions this raises about identities.

She also talks about the difference between how we identify ourselves,

and how we are identified by others,

and the implications this raises about our actual identity.

And she also reflects on the fact that we reveal

different aspects of our identity to the way we view ourselves,

and through the way in which other people view us.

This becomes evident in the choices we make such as the clothes we decide to wear,

or the way we choose to speak.

One of the points Woodward makes is that constructing

our own identities entails imagining ourselves,

or having visualizations of ourselves,

and acting out corresponding performances.

So the question to ask here is: Does that take away from our core identities?

This is quite a complex issue, isn't it?

Especially since it asks us to consider

which aspects of our identity is most important to us,

or what is it that makes me, me.

Woodward illustrates how it is possible to have single and multiple identities

and demonstrates quite effectively how identities can be viewed as something that's fixed,

fluid, and also changing.

In one of her books,

Woodward asked the following questions: How can we

feel we belong in a constantly transforming, uncertain world?

Can we exercise control in shaping our identities?

Woodward's conception of identity offers much food for thought.

We hope this has provided you with the beginnings

of some ideas towards answering the essay question.

Make some notes for yourself about what we have discussed

around identity and the essay question itself.

In this regard, it's important to define key concepts.

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