Identity construction of self and other is a political contest over power

Evidence

The construction of identity—for identity, whether of Orient or Occident, France or Britain, while obviously a repository of distinct collective experiences, is finally a construction in my opinion—involves the construction of opposites and “others” whose actuality is always subject to the continuous interpretation and re-interpretation of their differences from “us.” Each age and society re-creates its “Others.” Far from a static thing then, identity of self or of “other” is a much worked-over historical, social, intellectual, and political process that takes place as a contest involving individuals and institutions in all societies. … It should be obvious in all cases that these processes are not mental exercises but urgent social contests involving such concrete political issues as immigration laws, the legislation of personal conduct, the constitution of orthodoxy, the legitimization of violence and/or insurrection, the character and content of education, and the direction of foreign policy, which very often has to do with the designation of official enemies. In short, the construction of identity is bound up with the disposition of power and powerlessness in each society, and is therefore anything but mere academic woolgathering. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 838

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the foundational claim that identity is always a construction involving the making of an ‘other’ whose difference from ‘us’ is continually reinterpreted.
• XREF: This is the core scaffolding concept the reader needs — identity-as-construction feeding directly into later Islamophobia readings on how Muslims are othered in media and policy; connects to Said’s Orientalism thesis and to the broader postcolonial vocabulary. — connects to: Selfhood itself is constituted by the acknowledgment of dominating power — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 36; Identity’s political meaning derives from domination structures, not attachments themselves — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 2145; Slave resistance centered on claiming the power to name oneself — Marianne DeKoven, Utopia Limited: The Sixties and the…, 902 (+6 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that social contests over identity are not intellectual exercises but urgent conflicts fought through immigration law, orthodoxy, education, and designation of official enemies is the load-bearing mechanism this entire module depends on.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 838