ABSTRACT
The history of social and political geography revolves around the way people are categorized by others, and how they identify themselves. Part of the power of categories comes from the ways in which scientists and academics have portrayed them. According to some social psychologists, for example, human beings have an instinctive need to categorize humanity into distinct social groups and to ascribe each with a unique identity. Performativity is about the way ideas, events and things in general – and identities in particular – are made. The literature on identities is buzzing with ideas about the way performativity theory and performance practice enlarge understandings of human life. It is often thought that what is distinctive about a performative approach to identity is the recognition that social divisions and distinctions are continually and routinely worked at: that social reproduction requires constant and consistent activity.
