4.1 Identities

Personal identities are individual traits that make up who you are, including your hobbies, interests, experiences, and personal choices. Many personal identities are things that you get to choose and that you are able to shape for yourself. 

Place-based identities are aspects of who we are that are tied to the land and places we find ourselves on. This can involve drawing back to the lands of our ancestors, thinking about how the places we have experienced have shaped us, and reflecting about what it means to be on the ancestral land(s) that we are currently on.

Social identities are group identities. Beyond our personal identities, we understand ourselves and others as belonging to social groups. 

Membership in social identity groups (e.g. Religion, Ethnicity, Gender) are shaped in shared histories and experiences. They are further influenced by external forces such as legal decisions and historical factors and day-to-day interactions. Social identities are an important intersectional component of personal identities. 

Required Readings

To engage further with the complexity of identity:

• Read this article by Pamela E. Barnett: Unpacking Teachers' Invisible Knapsacks: Social Identity and Privilege in Higher Education Links to an external site..  The article highlights how some aspects of identity, such as gender, age, and others, carry specific social privileges that come into play in spaces of higher education.
• Read this book chapter by Dr. Beverly Tatum: The complexity of identity: Who am I? Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.), where Dr. Tatum discusses how being a member of a dominant social group (i.e. white, heterosexual, male, etc.) is taken for granted, while less dominant dimensions of identity tend to feel more noticeable.
• Optional: To further explore your relationship to place, read through this teacher's guide Links to an external site. from Native Land Links to an external site., an Indigenous-led resource created to foster learning about the Indigenous lands upon which we live, learn, and work. The student-facing questions in the guide are helpful to think about as you reflect on your place-based identity. 

Once you finish reading these articles, please go to the next page to explore the complexity of your own identity!