Blog Post #2 (February)- Kristin J. Soria

In week 6 of our course, we discussed the importance of Identity and Perception within communication. In our textbook it states that, “Any identity is more than a collection of traits, more than skin or physical features; rather, identity is always a historical idea, a product of social norms and patterns of thinking that, solidified over time, have become taken for granted and seemingly “normal.” (Warren & Fassett, 97)

Identity is very important to think about when you try to identify where you fall in line with social, political, and cultural factors. Leading to the question of “Who am I?” – breaking the question into parts we first must start out with the “Who” aspect. “Who” is a “…function of the experiences we’ve had as raced, classed, gendered, sexualized, (dis)abled, and otherwise culturally marked and mediated individuals.” (Warren & Fassett, 99) These functions are aspects that have shaped or personalities, lives, and have helped us develop perspectives on how we view our society and the world. “Am” meaning exist or a position in space, leads to how experiences have shaped our actions, perceptions, and how we communicate our experiences. Many times, the “am” to this question encourages questions to be asked to gain more information and awareness to our identity, such as: Who are we? Is it sufficient to say we are Americans? Do our social, political, and cultural influences change how we identify as Americans? Without full information/ responses to the “am” aspect, we can never fully have enough information to form a “true” perspective on oneself and yet, we tend to form our own narratives from our experience about others. Then onto the “I” aspect of the question, is truly the most important when asked “Who am I?” This is when we state and control how we communicate and present ourselves to others. We are aware of our actions and we know who we are. We understand the characteristics and “frame” to our identities.

When reflecting and discovering your identity, perception and communication within social, political, and cultural functions are extremely important when developing and shaping your individuality and relationship with others. Without communication and perception there is no identity.

*Bonus: When researching more into the importance of identity, I found that The Need for a Sense of Identity explains more of why we need to have a strong identity. Giving more into details of becoming aware of the different identities you can identify with. It gives simplicity to how we can evolve in the categories we relate and interact with.