Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
The identity crisis is caused by different historical values and traditions of two different races. In many cases, identity development occurs primarily in response to racial oppression and as a normal part of the human self-actualization process or the need to be the best self that one can be. In the book Nisei Daughter, Sone describes the experience and life troubles faced by a Japanese-American girl and her search for national identity.
Sone writes: “I didn’t see how I could be a Yankee and Japanese at the same time. It was like being born with two heads. It sounded freakish and a lot of trouble” (Sone 19). Sone underlines that for the second generation of Japanese-Americans, it is difficult to find their true self and identity because of racial prejudices and envy, negative attitudes towards immigrates and non-whites dominated in the society.
Sone discusses it is difficult to be a Yankee and Japanese at the same time and follow different values and customs. The identity crisis is expressed at the most sophisticated level or type of racial identity development, whereas less sophisticated resolutions represent various kinds of reactions to racial discrimination. Taken together, identity crisis may have implications for personal identity and personal orientation in life. In particular, emotionality and sentiment might be most evident during this stage. Identity crisis also represents the person’s first deliberate acknowledgment of an ascribed identity.
The person is angry at Yankees because of their role in racial oppression, themself, for having been a party to such a system for however long. On the other hand, a person is rejected by the Japanese because of American ancestry and origin. Thus, one’s acknowledgment of Americanness is high though it is not internalized; the person seems to be conforming to a preconceived notion of identity. Similar ideas are expressed by R. Takaki, who states that racial identity crisis is caused by the inability of a person to join two separate cultures and racial values (Takaki 23).
Identity crisis is caused by a dominance of one group (Yankee) and a subordinate position of the other group (Japanese). Sone depicts that Yankee becomes the primary group to which one belongs, though the quality of one’s belongingness is no longer externally determined. However, because in developing a stable identity, the individual can face the world from a position of personal strength, it now becomes possible to renegotiate one’s positions with respect to Yankee and American society (Sone 20).
The assumption that racial identity is relatively stable means that a person’s racial identity attitudes are enduring personality characteristics that consistently influence the person’s interactions within various environments, rather than transitory states likely to shift and to be triggered by the vicissitudes of changing environments. Racial identity does proceed according to an adaptation and assimilation process. Takaki underlines that in spite of the pervasive socialization toward racism, some Americans do appear not only to have developed an American consciousness but one that is not predominated by racial distortions (Takaki 17).
Sone underlines that identity crisis is influenced by social perception of a person and their race. Racism and national envy towards immigrants humiliate and disgrace many Japanese coming to America. Sone underlines that that is, one can choose to be oblivious to race and the differential effects of race on how one is perceived and treated by society at large, or one can decide to remain fixated at one of the identity stages to be described subsequently (Sone 21).
The various models do suggest that personality characteristics such as feelings, beliefs, and behaviors can be affected by the particular stage of racial identity in which the person finds themself—violation of civil rights and freedom, oppression, and feelings of frustration influence the identity crisis and self-identity. Diverse world views cause persons to attend to information selectively and to perceive similar information differently, though the same kinds of information are potentially available to each person regardless of race.
Sone underlines that the same internal and external factors should contribute to the person’s racial identity development regardless of their race. Thus, both the Japanese and Yankee racial identity propose that the stages of assimilation are associated with poorer adjustment of social norms and traditions when the person has to expend considerable energy in screening out or denying potentially identity-shattering information (Sone 25).
Thus, if the Japanese presence “intrudes” into the American person’s environment, and the intrusion cannot be ignored or controlled, then the White person is likely to be forced to deal with White racial identity issues somewhat. However, to the extent that such intrusions can be avoided, which may still be the case in much of White America, one can avoid resolving White racial identity issues. The personal story of Sone unveils that a person can reject racism and similar forms of oppression. Thus they are unable to reestablish relationships with individual White associates who merit such relationships and to analyze Whiteness and White culture for its strengths and weaknesses as well. Where Japanese are concerned, two additional versions of the identity approach appeared (Takaki 34).
Sone vividly portrays what possibly makes racial identity development different from other aspects of identity development, with perhaps the exception of gender, is that most of the focus of socio-cultural communications from the environment to the person are about group-related appearance rather than the individual’s own abilities, interests, and so on. On a national level, to the extent that the person appears to share the group characteristic of Whiteness, they are considered to be superior to others who do not share that characteristic and, conversely, to the extent that the person shares the group characteristic of Japanese nationality, they are considered to be inferior to those who do not share the characteristic. A person’s first knowledge of how their racial characteristics are likely to be evaluated by society is transmitted by these various communicators.
An individual develops a view of the racial aspect of themself (ascribed racial identity) primarily on the basis of how these sources react to that aspect of the person (Sone 72). To the extent that the person is socialized in multi-racial environments in which significant role models consider race to be a normal and desirable part of themselves as well as others, it is likely that the person, so influenced, will develop a positive and pluralistic racial identity.
In sum, identity crisis is influenced by personal attributes, which include internal mechanisms as well as physical attributes (e.g., skin color, physiognomy) that are visible to the individual and perceivers in their environment. Personal characteristics, particularly those that are visible to observers, receive the brunt of communications about the person’s worth to their socio-cultural environment.
Works Cited
- Sone, M. Nisei Daughter. University of Washington Press; 1 edition, 1979
- Takaki, R. Strangers from a Different Shore. Back Bay Books; Rev Upd edition, 1998.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.