Meeting Yourself: Activities for Exploring Cultural and Personal Identity

Abstract

This paper will explore the implications of identity for ourselves and for our society from an intercultural practitioner's point of view. It will address the role of socially constructed and mediated narratives in shaping and maintaining identities as we know them, highlighting the importance of identity formation by self and with others in the contemporary environment which is experiencing new challenges posed by the flood of news media and the tools now available to create and disseminate it, as well as the challenge posed by developments in Artificial Intelligence that are potentially invasive of privacy and even threats to personal autonomy. This is increasingly important in a globalized environment where rising populism and nationalism are fostered both by unconscious stimulation of fear of the other and by deliberate control of popular narratives through the efforts of cultural mediators. The paper will explore and describe five successful areas of practical activities or exercises in which identity and social connectivity can be used to refresh identity and the narratives that support it. These are focused private journal writing, personal name creation and exploration, cognition and self-talk, individuation vs. connectivity and the potential of gamification. The role of art in exploring what is normally hidden in everyday life will be briefly explored and expressed via the inclusion of several poetic reflections on identity challenges.

Citation

Simons, G.F. (2020), "Meeting Yourself: Activities for Exploring Cultural and Personal Identity", Warter, I. and Warter, L. (Ed.) Understanding National Culture and Ethics in Organizations, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 147-162. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-022-120201013