The Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Ethnic Identity

The objective and subjective aspects of ethnicity are dynamically interrelated. The objective aspects are often the subjective aspects externalized, and conversely, the subjective ones are meaningful interpretations of and feelings towards the objective facts. In culturally pluralistic contexts, particularly in North America, pressures are exerted on all the aspects of ethnicity to adapt. The process of deconstruction and reconstruction is the mechanism through which this adaptation is achieved. It is the way in which individuals in their everyday living come to modify the meaning of their own identity and change at least some of their ethnic behaviour patterns without necessarily divesting themselves of all of them. It should be emphasized that what is referred to here is not a change in ethnicity determined by outside forces, such as government policies of assimilation. Rather, it refers to adjustment made by individual members of ethnic groups themselves in their everyday interaction with outsiders and each other, without external “official” compulsion.

Deconstruction consists of some objective aspects of ethnic identity losing their meaning and use, others losing their meaning without being completely given up, and still others retaining their meaning even when they are no longer used. Although some aspects of one’s identity may be abandoned and patterns from different cultural sources be acquired and become more meaningful, other aspects may be retained and continue to have significance. Similarly, at a certain point, an individual’s ethnic background or group experience may acquire new meaning and be objectified in fresh, visible ethnic patterns; this is the process of identity reconstruction. It is likely that over the generations, some highly selective old patterns will be recovered and given new significance. New collective experiences, in particular, work to create new meanings for communities. Different forms of ethnic identity emerge according to the particular ethnicity, social status or class, generational links, or period of time involved. It is important to note that ethnicity does not necessarily disappear; rather, a variety of new forms of ethnic identity emerge that are more adapted to the surrounding social and cultural conditions and the times in which they develop. These forms represent reconstructed ethnicity. An example of deconstructed and reconstructed identity is the individual who does not speak the ancestral language, belong to any ethnic organizations, or participate in the community’s celebrations, but who has an interest in financially supporting community causes or combatting defamation of the community in the larger society. Such a person also represents the ideological form of ethnic identity.

Another example of identity deconstruction might be an individual, often of the second generation, who has been raised in the culture of both the ethnic community and the larger society, who knows the ethnic language and may have belonged to one or more ethnic organizations, but who has been educated in the public school system, is mobile in the society at large, and uses its language most of the time. This person may continually criticize the ethnic community for its shortcomings and deny his or her own minority identity, insisting that this identity is the same as that of the mainstream society. Such an individual is also an instance of a rebellious identity.

Yet another example of both deconstruction and reconstruction is the third-generation individual who does not use or is unable to use the ethnic language in everyday life, but who participates in some community celebrations, such as religious ones on selected holidays, and wears a brooch symbolic of his or her ancestral ethnicity. Such individuals may from time to time, in conversation with others of the same ethnic background, include a word or a phrase in the ethnic language. Some exhibit in their homes a few art objects representing their cultural background, but that may be the extent of their “objective” ethnic identity. What is important here is that, subjectively, even a small number of items from the ancestral background may have a highly symbolic meaning for these people and express a strong bond with others of similar origin. Such individuals represent the type of identity called ethnic rediscovery. Among this type are also those persons of the third or consecutive generations whose parents have been mostly assimilated and who themselves were raised in the culture of the majority society, but who as adolescents develop an interest in their ancestral background and consciously seek out and learn the culture and language of their group.

The deconstruction and reconstruction of ethnicity is not unique to North American ethnic groups; it is an instance of a wider social process, one that has been occurring in many societies, even highly traditional ones. In North America, however, the process has been accelerated by several factors: first, the presence of a large number and great diversity of ethnicities; second, relatively rapid technological and sociocultural change, accompanied by a constant stream of immigration from the early nineteenth century to the present; third, a tendency to see one mainstream socio-economic structure as the legitimate locus of aspirations for all groups, reinforced by the strong value placed on social mobility and achievement, and the perception of alternative structures as marginal; and finally, a democratic-individualistic ideology that places an emphasis on personal freedom and a philosophy of “live and let live.” The deconstruction-reconstruction process makes multiple identities possible. As a result, at the collective level, it enables a democratic, multicultural society to function.