The Institution of Identity

In our last class, the word “postmodern” was tossed around frequently. By all accounts, it seems as though we’ve reached the “postmodern” stage of human history. But what does this development imply for cultural identity?

To be postmodern, as I understand it, is to already have a somewhat clear idea of one’s own cultural identity. Though the elements of this identity are slowly presented throughout one’s formative years, they are already set by previous generations. Culture is, or appears to be, an institution; it has been formed over many generations, but the unique characteristics cannot be altered anymore. Our understanding of the culture, however, helps us to analyze it, albeit from a third-person perspective. We have, in effect, adopted a “look, don’t touch” attitude towards cultural identity, treating ethnic or religious heritage as a museum showpiece, rather than a logical way of life.

The three examples that I, as a New Yorker, am most familiar with would be the cultural pillars of Jewish-American, Italian-American, and Irish-American life. Though modern practitioners of these three cultural heritages ascribe to modern standards of American living, they nevertheless find time to honor certain traditions and cultural holidays alongside family and friends. Yet, while these practices hold very dear meanings to each individual, their origins may not always be considered. The fact of the matter is, most were the result of necessities at the time. In all likelihood, the holidays each culture commemorates, the cuisine each culture enjoys, and the customs each culture observes were set many generations ago, and were not consciously created to boost cultural uniqueness, but were simply the most logical way of living given the circumstances.

Now, all that is well and good, and is probably understood by most people, but it does beg one more question. In today’s world, we celebrate each culture’s unique history; however, does the arrival of postmodernism not signal that the history of each culture has, in effect, been written? Are we done building our cultures, now that we have become self-aware?

As much as we laud the innovations of the present day, those of us attempting to hold on to a cultural identity cannot help but feel cheated by modern innovations. We each like to be unique, yet we all express our uniqueness through common platforms, such as Facebook. We are powerless to eschew such uniform changes in lifestyle, so we attempt to translate our own individual heritage into modern terms. That, coupled with a wider flow of information, has brought cultural heritage, at least in America, to a pitiful caricature of what it once was.

A clear example of this is Christmas. As the most important holiday in the Christian faith, its divinity cannot be ignored. However, due to the influence of the mass media and the consumer market, its image in popular American culture is not one of pious observance, but cartoonish folklore and materialism. It hardly addresses the cultural history behind the date, yet its qualities have now been set in stone.

On a large scale, most nations rely on similar tactics in order to justify their existence. They will tout their unique history, and tailor their public image, in order to shore up nationalist sentiment. Elements of history may be sugarcoated, but the intention remains clear: that the national culture is vivid and distinctive. Anything to get away from the reality that in the postmodern age of globalization, our cultural distinctions are slowly evaporating.

Perry Landesberg