In the books Diasporas in the New Media Age: Identity, politics and community, and There’s No Jose Here by Gabriel Thompson, one encounters a story of our new immigration age. Within the former book, which consists of analytical essays on the topic of migration in terms of the digital age, one is introduced to how Information Technology (IT) has changed the immigration experience. In the latter book, one joins Gabriel Thompson in an exploratory relationship with Enrique, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who navigates himself through the crazy life of NYC. The objective and premise behind these books have broad and complicated focuses. Thompson’s creative non-fiction leads the reader through his personal narrative of what it means to be a Mexican immigrant. Diasporas in the New Media Age seeks to unravel the nature of the IT world within the context of mass migration. Despite the different goals of these two books, one can find commonality on the topic of identity.

            While linking these two volumes of thought, the following pages will explore identity as a simulation. In the current information age, it seems that people are beginning to experiment with online or digital identities. The effect of these social networks or Internet profiles appears to allow people to re-invent their offline presentation, which begs the question “What is identity?” The abstract idea of identity becomes difficult to define because usually people describe “who they are” with social constructs of personality traits and the environment. Even if one believes in a soul, the person will still have to confront the question “Is identity pre-determined or is it performed, developed, and re-created over time?” People define, interpret, and present themselves with what they identify themselves with (i.e. a simulation). Thompson’s narrative and the analysis of Diasporas in the New Media demonstrate that self-identity is a simulation of competing social constructs within an individual and a manifestation of one’s interactions with the environment.

For example, Thompson records instances in which Enrique and Enrique’s brother Manuel act in a manner that reflect identity as a simulation. While discussing Enrique’s short temperament, which is perhaps a result of past drinking problems, Thompson (2007) describes the way Enrique views his own frequent outbursts: “When calm he spoke about his temper in a detached manner, as if he were describing something that existed independent of himself, over which he had little control” (p. 52). Enrique would hate to attribute anger as a part of his personality. In fact, Thompson suggests that if one asked Enrique explicitly, the Mexican immigrant would reject any notion that his tendency to randomly express outrage defines him at all. As with other aspects of treating identity as a simulation, which Enrique seems to affirm, the social constructs that cause Enrique to lose his temper would have to persistently bombard and override other social constructs. Enrique’s alcoholism and aggressive mind set, for example, would have to consume his genial character. As one of the authors of Diaspora in the New Media Age understands digital identity, “Members use discussion forums to disseminate information . . . to reinforce or recreate identity to make it more . . . sustainable across generation[s]” (Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff, 2010, p. 40). According to this statement, identity is constantly fueled and changed by interacting with ideas (i.e. social constructs or information). Thus, in order to validate the claim that anger is instilled in Enrique’s identity, one must ask “What are the social constructs that have suppressed the constructs that keep Enrique’s anger in check?” Identity, or the simulation of identity that one normally refers to, becomes distinctive when competitive social constructs battles to the surface. A dramatic example of this idea is when Enrique observes Manuel declare, “The army has made me a soldier” (Thompson, 2007, p. 137). Essentially Manuel claims to have obtained a new identity by joining the military. The military has changed the façade of Manual’s personality because Manuel no longer identifies himself as the undocumented civilian (Thompson, 2007, p. 134). As a soldier, the American Mexican has new motives and ideals in life. The army trainings and privileges have changed Manual’s priorities circumstances, and obsessions. Manuel allowed the army’s social constructs to reconfigure his perception of self and others, and down grade his civilian social constructs. If indeed identity is simulated by social constructs and environment, it is nonsensical to argue that one can transplant his/her identity to a different place without facing compromise.

            Thompson and Brinkerhoff implicitly assert that as an immigrant transforms him/herself during the integrating process, the person can still retain the characteristics of past identity. In the contexts of immigration, Brinkerhoff (2010) observes that “[I]dentity support . . . enables diasporans to integrate new ideas, values, and experience into their identity frame of reference, testing the boundaries for what it means to their homeland identity” (p. 40). Immigrants have the ability to experiment with identity by joining likeminded communities that provide reinforcement and security from outside forces. Migration unlocks people from possible cultural isolation that often produces a static or persistent sense of identity. Individuals within foreign or non-mainstream groups can re-vitalize communities by allowing group and external social constructs to clash. Nonetheless, despite the exciting prospect of redefining a group, traditional social constructs will still emerge from the hybrid identity. This is perhaps due to the fact that group solidarity often numbs environmental pressures. People within groups learn to value internal ideas more than external ideas. In fact, even if one lacks physical community, surrounding influences will have little effect on anyone carrying group identity. A tangible example of this is when Thompson (2007) reports that “Enrique and Juana have actually unpacked a small section of Mexico, dirt and all” (p. 56) within New York City. Enrique transplanted a piece of Mexico into Brooklyn in order to exhibit the resilience of his Mexican values, beliefs and dreams (i.e. social constructs). The intriguing aspect of both Thompson and Brinkerhoff’s examples of the socially constructed self, which sounds like a form of determinism, is that they affirm autonomy. That is, Thompson and Brinkerhoff suggest that everyone possesses the will to decide “who they are” by removing oneself, participating in, or believing in a worldview. Perhaps control over one’s own identity becomes most evident when a person’s social constructs encounters overwhelming opposition. Tension usually provokes one to either re-assess or re-invent self. As Thompson (2007) once describes Enrique’s comment to a certain situation, “’Remember what you said? We invent things when we need to’” (p. 155). In pragmatic terms, sometimes assuming a new identity becomes expedient or conditional. New circumstances stimulate self-growth and active interactions with surrounding social constructs. People have the capacity to side or mix with social constructs that simulate or express a particular identity. Thus, it seems reasonable to argue that identity could represent either a fluctuating construct of constructs or an absolute entity that only expressively changes.

            Brinkerhoff and Thompson recognize the danger of reducing both the existence and concept of identity. As Brinkerhoff (2010) explains how IT perpetuates inequality or simulates the reality of identity marginalization, she argues that “Exclusion works . . . at the conceptual level during the designing process . . . and before the design is implemented” (p. 53). Brinkerhoff implicitly claims that digital identity is predetermined by a user’s identity. A user’s online presence will inevitably reflect the person’s real world identity because replication becomes the mechanism by which one forms his/her digital self. Thus one encounters the strange phenomenon of digital identity simulating simulations because identity reflects environment, social constructs, or other identities. Similar to how one creates a digital identity, one develops personhood by ‘replicating’ social constructs through the media of self-expression and indoctrination. The concept of digital identity provides a tangible picture of how identity arises out of the struggle between social constructs. That is, not dissimilar from the idea of ‘survival of the fittest,’ identity could represent the resilience of social constructs in all the movement of a person’s life. The conflict that one confronts when defining identity in terms of replication is that one cannot definitively point to the ‘starting material.’ The origin of identity becomes problematic because one must look either infinitely backwards into the evolutionary process or up to an ultimate identity. A possible resolution to this problem is that one could present identity in terms of observations. While Thompson (2007) struggles to understand Mexican immigrant identity, he eloquently expresses that “[He] was not interested in battling abstraction against abstraction. Instead [he] asked [himself] . . . ‘Do you actually know any Mexican immigrants?’” (p. 3). Despite the fact that one’s knowledge about self or others is subjective it allows one to explore identity more concretely. Rather than trying to unravel identity, which is an irreducible concept according to this idea of replication, one can form a valid indirect meaning of identity either through self-examination or by developing personal relationships. When Thompson emphasizes the idea of knowing verses describing someone, he communicates that individual identity should be determined from intense engagement rather from removed analysis. A more observable understanding of personhood is not social construction but the expression of simulations. Thus, theoretically it follows through that identity thrives on self-expression. Brinkerhoff (2010) adds a profound point to the discussion when she states that “IT connectivity makes it possible . . . to express and perform . . . digital identity” (p. 50). If one continues with this idea that the virtual world demonstrates how and why identities exist, it becomes clear that expression, performance, and connection indicate the presence of identity. Logically, without any of these three indicators, it would be difficult to observe, fulfill, or access the meaning of identity. Similar to remaining anonymous on the Internet, without connectivity, the utility to expressing and performing the self to the world, identity would never achieve recognition. Compartmentalizing the situation, however, poses the equilibrium that identity also implies connectivity, expression, and performance. Thus, identity is inextricably linked with the irreducible concept of existence.

            In conclusion, identity as a simulation represents this idea of identity as a narrative. All the above evidence indicates that personhood encompasses abstract concepts or ideas that all find expression and definition within stories. Whether or not one would describe identity as either an ever fluctuating manifestation of internal competition between social constructs, or a product of replication provoked by external forces, the concept of narrative perfectly summarizes the substance and simulation of identity. Narratives provide a tangible image of one’s identity because they validate, and test who or what a person identifies with by outlining observable signifiers. If the presented analysis holds true, can inanimate objects have identities?

References

Brinkerhoff, J. M. (2010). Migration, information, technology, and international

            policy. In A. Alonso & P. J. Oiarzabal (Eds.), Diasporas in the new media

            age: Identity, politics, and community (pp. 39-48). Reno: University of

            Nevada Press.

Thompson, G. (2007). There's no José here: Following the hidden lives of Mexican

            immigrants. New York: Nation Books.