In class, we discussed the politicization of identity. I’m going to talk about the dilemma this politicization of identity has and seek for a way to overcome it.

To show their identity, people make groups, which means they create people outside and they are required to be recognized to be a member. At this point, standards or definitions for the recognition are necessary. These standards reflect the practices in the society, that’s why it can’t be avoidable to become political. However, this human interpretation and politicization is problematic in that it often works as arbitrary force since this is a totally subjective process. Here is the dilemma: Identity is inevitable to be political, but the politicization is problematic.

To take an example from the class, I’m going to mention the problem around gay refugees. They have to prove with evidence that they are gay refugees in order to get the position as gay refugees so that they stay in the country. However, the problem is that nobody knows what is the real, more specifically, there is no definition of gay. That’s why how to apply this concept is highly subjective and political. In this example, those gay refugees have to prove it in a Western way, which raises many difficulties. Here, we can see the dilemma around the politicization of identity.

So, how can we do to overcome this dilemma? There doesn’t seem to be an obvious answer, but I’m going to point out that identity doesn’t always have to clearly appear in public. For example, different from Western countries, in Japan, LGBQT people don’t take any political action in public, on the contrary, they tend to hide their identity as JGBQT. Certainly, many people say that they are oppressed in the society and have no choice but live silently, but to take another viewpoint,  we can say that they may find their own ways of living, which satisfy them without showing their identity as minority in public. In this sense, to keep their identity and to make groups and take political actions are different. Identity doesn’t always have to be political. Here, we can see the possibility to go beyond the dilemma of politicization of identity.

In the context of post-human society, identity gets more and more importance. At this point, we need to consider it again and be careful not to overlook the essence in the deepest point.