Issues of Identity: Social Norms and Marginalized People (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Annotated Bibliography
Buckingham, D. (2008). Youth, identity, and digital media. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
Buckingham revolves around matters that pertain to the search for identity among adolescents. The author highlights the key aspects of this struggle. He thus explores the influence of technology on adolescents’ search for lasting identities. The author observes that adolescents are not necessarily marginalized, but they are a special group in the society that deserves attention during transition to adulthood. The book thus extensively explores the literature that pertains to youth identity issues in an attempt to make the subject plain to the reader. It covers the subject matter comprehensively.
Galvin, R. (2003). The making of the disabled identity: A linguistic analysis of marginalization. Disability Studies Quarterly, 23(2), 149- 178.
Galvin, in writing this paper, advances the argument that when people acquire disability, the society unknowingly forces them out of their initial identities into new purportedly inferior ones. This change in perception throws the disabled persons into a state of inner suffering due to the marginalization they experience. However, the author is of the opinion that the perception of society and the individual’s interpretation of the same is immaterial as the negativity or positivity associated with a person’s state are all constructs of language. They are simply words and they should be treated as such.
Guess, T. (2006). The social construction of whiteness: racism by intent, racism by consequence. Critical Sociology, 32 (4), 650-671.
This article takes a unique approach to the issue of race-instigated marginalization in the American society. While many scholars have directed their attention to the ‘others’ in conducting race related studies in this society, this article focuses on whites. The article points out that it is considered ‘normal’ to be white in the US. Yet, as witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, marginalization transcended the racial divide. The article thus raises a salient question on whether it makes a difference to be white in the US. This aspect sets it apart from other such studies.
Nordberg, C. (2006). Claiming citizenship: marginalized voices on identity and belonging. Citizenship Studies, 10(5), 523-539.
This article is typically representative of the challenges that the Romani ethnic group encounters throughout the world. Although it focuses on the Finnish Roma, it connotes the marginalization that this group goes through with such explicitness that it seems like a worldwide study. Direct interviews with Romani activists about their experiences as citizens of Finland are organized into various salient areas of interest such as state membership, distributive inequality, discrimination, and minority status among many others. The emphasis is on the politics of representation. The article is an in-depth analysis of the issues that affect the Romani people and it can be useful for anyone researching on the same topic anywhere in the world.
Raskoff, S. (2014). Everyday sociology blog: challenges in naming gender identities: cis
and trans. Retrieved from: /2014/01/challenges-in-naming-gender-identities-cis-and-trans-.html
In this article, Raskoff discounts the normative stereotypes that society has built around sex and gender identities. The author acknowledges that this has been a subject of contention for many years, but in the last two decades, there are indications of an increasing open mindedness concerning the issue. Raskoff especially expresses reservation over the presumption that societal norms are the ultimate yardstick with which sex and gender identities are evaluated. The depth with which the article covers its subject matter makes it a rich resource for purposes of research on the subject of sex and gender identity contentions.
Ruby, T. (2011). Listening to the voices of hijab. In E. Henderson (Ed.), The Active Reader: Strategies for Academic Reading and Writing (pp. 291-303). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
This chapter is a careful and extensive examination of the Hijab issue, which elicits diverse opinions from both the Muslim and non-Muslim members of society. It points out that many meanings are attached to the Hijab by incorporating the opinions and views of Muslims. However, these views, although some of them seem to vouch for the Hijab, obviously bear connotations of an oppressive and discriminatory relic imposed on Muslim women. The article brings this aspect out more explicitly when it covers the Western perception of the Hijab. Another explicit idea that stands out from the article is that the Hijab is a symbol of identity.
Walker, M., Sockman, R., & Koehn, S. (2011). An exploratory study of cyberbullying with undergraduate university students. In E. Henderson (Ed.), The Active Reader: Strategies for Academic Reading and Writing (pp. 185 -189). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
This Chapter explores the concept of bullying, which has moved from its traditional form into the cyberspace due to technological advancement. According to the authors, bullying brings about the idea of dominant (the bullies) individuals and subordinates (victims). The relationship that exists between the bully and the victim is discriminative from the perspective of identity. The article extensively explores the typology of cyber bullying as well as the issues that surround it. An aspect of the bullying menace that stands out explicitly from the article is its prevalence. The picture created by this article is one of a disaster that is thriving under the noses of the concerned authorities with a lot of impunity.
References
Buckingham, D. (2008). Youth, identity, and digital media. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
Galvin, R. (2003). The making of the disabled identity: A linguistic analysis of marginalisation. Disability Studies Quarterly, 23(2), 149- 178.
Guess, T. (2006). The social construction of whiteness: racism by intent, racism by consequence. Critical Sociology, 32 (4), 650-671.
Nordberg, C. (2006). Claiming citizenship: marginalized voices on identity and belonging. Citizenship Studies, 10(5), 523-539.
Raskoff, S. (2014). Everyday sociology blog: challenges in naming gender identities: cis and trans. Retrieved from, /2014/01/challenges-in-naming-gender-identities-cis-and-trans-.html
Ruby, T. (2011). Listening to the voices of hijab. In E. Henderson (Ed.), The Active Reader: Strategies for Academic Reading and Writing (pp. 291-303). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Walker, M., Sockman, R., & Koehn, S. (2011). An exploratory study of cyberbullying with undergraduate university students. In E. Henderson (Ed.), The Active Reader: Strategies for Academic Reading and Writing (pp. 185 -189). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Critical Review of ‘Claiming citizenship: marginalized voices on identity and belonging,’ by Nordberg, C.
The Romani/ Roma/Rom or simply Gypsies are an ethnic grouping that is scattered across Europe and other parts of the world. This ethnic group maintains a long history of marginalization from the mainstream activities of the societies in which it stays. The reason behind the harsh treatment of the Roma is an issue that has sustained numerous debates for a long time with no substantial conclusion being made. This review focuses on the article, ‘Claiming citizenship: marginalized voices on identity and belonging,’ by Camilla Nordberg and published in the Journal of Citizenship Studies in 2006.
Summary of the article
The Finnish Roma have been part of the Finnish society since the sixteenth century, yet up to recently, they have been struggling to be recognized as citizens of Finland (Nordberg, 2006). Despite meeting all the demands that were placed on them by government as well as those expected of them as citizens, the Finnish Roma were still treated as if they were second class citizens. The ‘other’ members of the Finnish society consider the Rom as inferior people. The Finnish government perpetuated this notion until late 1995 when a new constitution leveled the field for everyone. Before this move, the Roma were in a dilemma of determining their identity. They were not in a position to confidently identify themselves as citizens of Finland because the treatment they received suggested otherwise. They were expected and even compelled to integrate into the Finnish society by harsh assimilative policies, which sought to rid them of their culture and language (Nordberg, 2006). The government sought to achieve this by separating the Roma children from their parents and raising them under different settings, in which they would be taught the Finnish culture and language in order to force them out of their own culture and language (Nordberg, 2006).
Critique
Many authors have illuminated the issue of Romani discrimination in their various countries of residence. Nordberg’s article is thus a timely addition to the body of literature on this subject with a Finnish perspective. The cases of discrimination are however more or less the same in the different countries.
The gist of Nordberg’s article is the claim to nationality for the Finnish Romani. This aspect is not an out of the ordinary phenomenon, especially with the Roma in consideration. Their struggle for recognition is an issue that has dominated the social justice circles in all countries they reside in (mostly in European countries). According to Renzi (2010), the Roma are largely underrepresented politically as well as within the administrative structures across Europe. The implication is that although they exist within these societies, they are not seen as a significant part of such societies. Whether they receive essential services or not is not an important i...