Identity Politics: Case Studies of National Identity

Identity which has been widely used in humanities discipline is defined as a mutual relation in that a certain group of people share some kind of essential characters (Erik, 196). Compared to identity, identity politics is a relatively new concept. Identity politics refers to political actions based on the needs, values and interests which the specific collective group share. Groups involving in identity politics include sexual and gender identities as well as racial, ethnic and national identities etc (Coate and Thel, 2).

Identity politics has exerted great leverage on our lives. Politically one’s identity group is always standing behind him/her. Those in the same identity group usually share similar interests. When there is oppression on the identity group, group members can be united as one to fight against oppression with might and may. Historically identity politics is related to a number of social movements such as identity movements, feminist movements and homosexual movements (Heyes and Cressida, 2). Those identity groups organized social movements for the purpose of striving for the rights they deserved. For that matter, identity politics is associated with bringing benefits for identity groups. However, there is also criticism from proponents who claim that even in the identity group, some group members may disagree with each other. In this way, internal contradictions start before dealing with external oppression.

As for me, life without identity politics is next to impossible, for identity politics is embodied in every respect of life. As a Taiwanese, I feel that my national identity quite perplexing sometimes. Culturally, we have strong connection with mainland China, for both of us are influenced by Confucianism. Geographically, Taiwan is also closed to mainland. Even though the political claims of ultimate reunification across the straits prevail in mainland, there are still ongoing heated debates in Taiwan. In general there are two political groups. One group as Taiwanese called it Blue Camp desires for reunification while the other group named Green Camp strongly opposes. As one of the new generation, it is quite bewildering for me on this issue. As I grew up in Taiwan, the sense of national identity and belonging are different from those who grow up in mainland. Therefore, usually when people ask me where I come from, I would say that I am from Taiwan instead of China.

Not too long ago, I have witnessed a bitter controversy between Taiwanese netizens and netizens from mainland on Facebook about the issue of one Taiwanese singer named Chou Tzuyu. Chou Tzuyu presented the Taiwanese flag in one Korean TV show and said that she came from Taiwan, which arouse the criticism from mainland. Later Chou Tzuyu apologized, but not many netizens from mainland were willing to buy it. Hence, the debates about this issue were sparked on Facebook. Taiwanese netizen claimed that people from mainland wanted to hijack their minds with the idea of One-China Policy while netizens from mainland said that Taiwanese always tried to split Taiwan from mainland China. In a sense, the debate is the argument about the sense of national identity. Since national identity is one kind of identity politics, this event can be used to exemplify identity politics.

Similarly, the issue of national identity in Hongkong also received an increasingly public attention over years. According to the news reported by UAS TODAY, a number of large demonstrations broke out in Hongkong in 2015. Thousands of protesters marched in streets and asked for freedom of election for Hongkong in 2017 from Beijing. Protests had fueled Hongkongers’ resentment for mainland to some extent. Different from Taiwan, Hongkong has returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. However, after nearly 20 years, the sense of nationhood among some Hongkongers especially among the youth is still not so strong. Therefore, the massive demonstrations in Hongkong reflect that to some extent, Hongkongers suffer national identity crisis. To be honest, I was quite shocked at the news at first because the demonstrations lasted for a few days and aroused the attention from all around the world.

Both of the cases of Chou Tzuyu and Hongkong demonstrations are examples of identity politics. Although both cases show that Taiwanese and Hongkongers experience identity crisis to some degree, there is a slight difference. For Honkongers, the reason why they are trapped in the identity crisis is because though geographically Hongkong is under Chinese sovereignty again, they are colonized by British culture for a long time. Hence, the practical gap makes them get lost in the sense of identity. However, to Taiwanese, Taiwan and mainland still separate geographically yet. It is easy for us to lack the sense of national identity. Through the case of Chou Tzuyu, I get to know that resolving the conflicts of the sense national identity between Taiwan and mainland still has long way to go.

In short, identity politics means political activities catering to certain identity groups based on cultural, ethnic, gender or religious interests. National identity is one of identity politics. As a Taiwanese, I am trapped in recognizing the sense of national identity. In the case of Hongkong demonstrations, Hongkongers to a certain degree also suffer identity crisis. The issue of national identity crisis in both regions remains unsolved.