From: Lara Beaty [mailto:lbeaty@gc.cuny.edu]
I think, yes. The conflict need not be overt, but there is always a
conflict in "choosing" identities and the actions consistent with them,
the conflict of having identities accepted and actions being perceived
as such, etc. I'm thinking in particular of a youth who referred to
himself always as a "screen writer" but came across to his classmates
simply as "weird" (and other less friendly terms) and a Latina student
who spent most of her time enacting a European-American identity. The
conflicts were made visible through my observations, but I think
they're always there as long as the potential is greater than the
actualization. Yes?
okay, yes this makes sense - what i believe i noticed in the W-M Roth article is that for Ja-Meer and Cristobal that the conflict was situated in their own individual identies _not_ being reflected in the other - Ya-Meer didn't see himself as a superior student reflected in Cristobal, and Cristobal did not see himself as a good teacher reflected in Ya-Meer. hmmmm. now i'm wondering if this article isn't about how new identities are constructed but rather how we co-construct with others the identity we wish to be seen by. did the screen writer ever get others to see him as a screen writer rather than weird? or the latina student? how did she fare?
phillip
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