Context and Identity -- by JD Kruger -- GLP4

Cherry Beach Promise Party -- Rave -- Toronto, Canada -- JD Kruger

 

 

Context and Identity by JD Kruger -- GLP4

 

In the human landscape, context determines identity as identity determines context. This is an

 

everpresent dialectic that ensures for the advancement of society.  This is the dialectic of the

 

signature and the commons. But, how do we define these boundaries of individual and social identity

 

structures. In Canada, cultures, or multiculturalism,  reflect the array of identities that are present in

 

our everchanging social fabric. Culture influences and endorses individual representation of identity.

 

Everything is impermanent, however, there are roots to each individual’s self-concept that makes the

individual transcend space and time. Multi-culturalism views the individual as a product

of a unique cultural experience, that competes with other social views on the street, in the

marketplace, and in public space. And so, we see, that a zen-like self-abnegation might

be the safest practise in a space that is up for grabs, that is as all things, contestable.

Socio-economics makes the individual a fighter that balances the books between social

responsibility and individual freedom. Certainly, personal wealth builds identity, as

wealth permits activities that are not free for the poor. Luckily, in Canada, economically

speaking, the very poor are generally freed from total slavery by the tax-payers’ wallets.

In Canada, we have social services such as health care, Employment Insurance, Disability

Programmes for earnings, and the like. There is macro and micro economics, that

determine the individual’s planning of financial order, and political control over social

economic balance within the hegemony of power that is obviously controlled by the rich.

And so, ones economic status determines a personal vision of political activity.

The media displays the personal and the suprapersonal affirmation of unique

identities of the individual. The media excites desire and focuses its attention on reeling

in the masses to be somewhat greedy for technological toys, for racing cars, for fashion

statements that are bought like cardboard cutouts of movie and rock stars. Rock videos

are politically charged with meaning, and even those whose banality of goodness and evil

ring true, still affect the identities of many adolescents and young adults. You see battles

between stars such as Avril Lavigne and Lindsay Lohan, from the irreverent punk to the

pristine girl. Of course, the voices matter, but these days, image matters even more.

Even as the rich get more glamorous, it is only the innovative and unique that set

the trends in the media representation. Art is the most valid expression of individual

identity, as the artist lives his life in an everchanging battle of self-affirmation and

determination, not to mention self-actualisation. Pop art values artefacts of the current

moment, collective engagements, and living theatre. Political expression in art,

conceives the power of social revolution, however, in North America this generally

amounts to nothing more than hairspray and cologne. The subconscious mind and the

collective unconscious bleed into the conscious representation of individual and social

identities. And the artist, picks from both the subconscious and the conscious minds to

determine what goes on his canvas, what characters he portrays on the stage, what images

are used as leitmotifs to trigger common vision. And so, the poet, like the radar of the

nation, examines these things wilfully to report on the status of development in society.

He does this not only through content, but through form.

Work and play place the individual in social classes with contextual bounds of

personal identity. Just exactly how much food is on your plate. The poor use their

money for habits that they cannot afford, leading to crimes, and other disruptive acts.

The rich can be anally retentive about their money, but, generally, they share with their

same economic level, family and friends. Of course, as I keep re-iterating in these

essays, individual freedom and social responsibility, is the great dialectic that keeps us in

balance. Identity is conferred on those who take a stance one way or the other. In

Canada, we are not too extreme. Not as far right as the United States, and not as far left

as Cuba. This leads us to politics: do you pull to the left or to the right, in a generally

centrist Canada. One thing, for sure, that you must realise, vigilance and expression is a

dialectic that we all must share.

Subcultures, the anarchist punk, the red communist, the blue YUPpie, the longhaired

peace-freak hippie, the academic in his ivory tower, the skins and the sharps, the

black hiphop artist – all these subcultures play a roll in the determination of an

individual’s expression. And we read these signs, in the café, on the streets, in the

subway. And we know to whom we gravitate, and we know from whom we alienate

ourselves. This semiological play, is one that can be won, if you control the degree of

expression of these images to your desired level. Gravitate towards one, and try not to be

such a whore, although something can be said for the one who is able to integrate and

transcend all these various masks and costumes. And so, we have the holy actor.

Records of personal experience are artefacts of personal identity. As we build our

personal histories and legacies, we leave notes, fragments of experience, visual

expression, cinematic footage, and the like. We see that our personal voices can

transcend time, and the internet is doing a pretty good job of hosting everything that

seems to be taking place in the world around us. We form personal bonds with those

around us, via the internet, and whole oeuvres can be shared transculturally and

transhistorically. Thus, the personal record is a shaping of identity, the part of our

identity that we wish to be made public over time. This is valued in building

relationships and is even negotiated with financial power.

If we don’t rely only on material wealth, we can see that spirituality also makes us

whole as individuals with identity in society. We hold our places in the temples, in the

churches, and by valid expression of spirituality in our daily lives. Some say that

spirituality is a deceit, while others argue that spirituality is the most valued expression of

human existence. Regardless, how you share your spirituality, or how you overcome it,

is a true test of individual identity. These individuals form groups, and express their

religious experience through prayer, Buddhist mantras, Hebrew avodah, Christian

discipline, amongst other religious tracts. And so, if you have an affinity for the spirit,

you must take it by the reigns, and use it to empower your life work. Once again, this is

the expression of individual and social identity. Existentially speaking, the individual is

caught in a labyrinth that demarcates the direction of the personal path towards self-definition.

Existentially, then, we are left with our individual autonomy that can only be

safeguarded by an ethic of intersubjectivity. Conversely, empathy reflects the identity of

the individual’s drive to relate with others with a goal of social transformation in a need

for identifying oneself with others, forming communities of common interest.

Finally, the individual alone cannot determine identity, but with communal goals

society can determine individual identity.

JD Kruger – GLP4.