ABSTRACT
This unit explores the complexity of people’s cultural identity in terms of how they want to represent themselves. Consider Example A1.1.1:
Example A1.1.1 Being represented
Deconstruction
Apart from the problem of being stereotyped and Othered, perhaps on the basis of the popular media images which may depict Muslim women as lacking in power, Parisa’s predicament in Example A1.1.1 is that she lacks other images on the basis of which the people around her can judge who she is. Although her colleagues have got to know her and see her as their friend, they lack real knowledge of what sort of group she belongs to in order to place her. In this sense, they are also in a predicament, and indeed vulnerable to the stereotypes with which they are presented from other sources. Two concepts which need to be focused on are:
n The multi-facetedness of other people and societies. n The way people talk.
