Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 19

National Identity. Among the many identities that we may have, we also have a national identity. This identity is often confused with racial or ethnic identity, but it is different. Nationality, unlike racial or ethnic identity, is one's legal status in relation to a nation, i.e. a country. So, no matter what your ethnic origin is, your nationality is your citizenship.

Although nationality may seem a clear-cut issue, this is not the case when the nation's status is unclear. For example, bloody conflicts erupted over the attempted separation in the mid-1800s of the Confederate States of America from the United States. Similar conflicts erupted in more recent times when Eritrea tried to separate from Ethiopia, and Chechnya from Russia. Less bloody conflicts that involved nationhood led to the separation of Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Contemporary nationhood struggles were played out as Quebec attempted to separate from Canada, and as Corsica and Tahiti attempted to separate from France, for example. Sometimes nations disappear on the political map, persist in the social imagination, and re-emerge later. Examples of such nations include Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Some people feel their ethnic identity more strongly than their national identity. For other people, their nationality is more important than their ethnicity. The relationship between ethnicity and nationality is complex and dynamic.

Regional Identity. Closely related to nationality is the notion of regional identity. Many regions of the world have separate, but vital and important, cultural identities. The Scottish Highlands is a region of northern Scotland that is distinctly different from the Lowlands. Regional identity remains strong in the Highlands.

In the United States, regional identities remain important, too. Southerners, for example, often view themselves and are viewed by others as a distinct cultural group. Texas advertises itself as "A Whole Other Country," promoting its regional identity. Although some regional identities can lead to national independence movements, they are often cultural identities with distinctive cuisines, dress, manners, and sometimes language or dialect. These identities may become important in intercultural communication situations. For example, suppose you meet someone who is Chinese. Whether the person is from Beijing, Hong Kong, or elsewhere in China may raise important communication issues.

Personal Identity. Many issues of identity are closely tied to one's notion of self. Each of us has a personal identity, but it may not be unified or coherent. A dialectical perspective allows us to see identity in a complex way. We are who we think we are; at the same time, contextual and outside forces constrain and influence our self-perception. We have many identities, and sometimes these various identities are in conflict. A dialectical perspective sees these contradictions as real and presenting challenges in communication and everyday living.

Our personal identity is important to us, and we try to communicate it to others. We are more or less successful depending on how others respond to us. We use the various ways that identity is constructed to portray ourselves as we want others to see us.

Identity and Communication. Identity has a profound influence on intercultural communication processes. We can employ some of the dialectics identified in earlier chapters to continue examining this relationship. First, we can use the individual-cultural dynamic as we examine the issues that arise when we encounter people whose identities we don't know. In intercultural communication interactions, mistaken identities are often exacerbated and can create communication problems.

Sometimes we assume knowledge about another person's identity, based on his or her membership in a particular cultural group. When we do so, we are ignoring the individual aspect. Taking a dialectical perspective can help us recognize and balance both the individual and cultural aspects of another's identity. This perspective can guide the ways that we communicate with that person (and with others). The question here is one of identity: Who am I perceived to be when I communicate with others? My identity is very much tied to the ways in which others speak to me and the ways in which society represents my interests.