"Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class."
Refers to the way in which individuals and groups define themselves and are defined by others. Post-colonial studies often explore how identities are shaped by colonial power relations.
Colonialism: The idea that one country can rule over another and exploit its resources.
Nationalism: The idea that people have a sense of belonging to a nation.
Racism: The belief that different races have different qualities or that one race is superior to another.
Cultural imperialism: The imposition of one culture over another.
Globalization: The process of increased interconnectedness among people, countries, and cultures.
Assimilation: The process of losing one's cultural identity and adopting the culture of the dominant group.
Hybridity: The mixing of different cultural elements to create a new identity.
Post-colonial theory: The study of the effects of colonialism on society and culture.
Orientalism: The exoticizing and stereotyping of non-Western cultures by Westerners.
Intersectionality: The idea that people's identities are shaped by multiple factors, such as race, gender, class, and sexuality.
Decolonization: The process of undoing colonialism and achieving independence.
Indigenous rights: The recognition and protection of the rights and culture of indigenous peoples.
Diaspora: The scattering of a group of people from their homeland and their dispersion throughout the world.
Black feminism: The intersection of race, gender, and class in the experiences of Black women.
Queer theory: The study of sexuality and gender identity in relation to society, culture, and politics.
National identity: Refers to a shared sense of belonging and common culture that defines a nation-state.
Ethnic identity: Refers to the shared cultural practices and traditions of a specific ethnic group.
Racial identity: Refers to the social status and cultural identity assigned to an individual based on their physical appearance.
Gender identity: Refers to an individual’s sense of self as a male, female, or non-binary gender.
Religious identity: Refers to an individual’s affiliation with a particular religious tradition.
Linguistic identity: Refers to the language and dialect that an individual speaks or identifies with.
Sexual identity: Refers to an individual’s sexual orientation and preferences.
Cultural identity: Refers to an individual’s identification with the broader cultural practices, beliefs, and values of a given society.
Colonial identity: Refers to the cultural identity of people who have been colonized by a foreign power and have been subject to colonial rule.
Post-colonial identity: Refers to the cultural identity of people who have been colonized in the past and are still dealing with the lasting effects of colonialism today.
"The term could also encompass other social phenomena which are not commonly understood as exemplifying identity politics, such as governmental migration policy that regulates mobility based on identities, or far-right nationalist agendas of exclusion of national or ethnic others."
"The term 'identity politics' dates to the late twentieth century, although it had precursors in the writings of individuals such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Frantz Fanon."
"Many contemporary advocates of identity politics take an intersectional perspective, which accounts for the range of interacting systems of oppression that may affect their lives and come from their various identities."
"The purpose is to better understand the interplay of racial, economic, sex-based, and gender-based oppression (among others) and to ensure no one group is disproportionately affected by political actions, present and future."
"Identity labels are not mutually exclusive but are in many cases compounded into one when describing hyper-specific groups. An example is that of African-American, homosexual, women, who constitute a particular hyper-specific identity class."
"Criticisms of identity politics generally come from either the centre-right or the far-left on the political spectrum."
"Many socialists and ideological Marxists have deeply criticized identity politics for its divisive nature, claiming that it forms identities that can undermine proletariat unity and the class struggle as a whole."
"Right-wing critics of identity politics have seen it as particularist, in contrast to the universalism of liberal or Marxist perspectives, or argue that it detracts attention from non-identity based structures of oppression and exploitation."
"A leftist critique of identity politics, such as that of Nancy Fraser, argues that political mobilization based on identitarian affirmation leads to surface redistribution — a redistribution within the existing structure and existing relations of production that does not challenge the status quo."
"Instead, Fraser argued, identitarian deconstruction, rather than affirmation, is more conducive to a leftist politics of economic redistribution."
"Other critiques, such as that of Kurzwelly, Rapport, and Spiegel, point out that identity politics often leads to the reproduction and reification of essentialist notions of identity, notions which are inherently erroneous."