Struggles of identity in the age of globalisation

Abstract

This article explores the intricate interrelationships between discourses on and struggles of identity and the multiple processes associated with increasing globalisation in the modern age. Globalisation is often exclusively associated with worldwide economic integration and the emergence of a borderless global market. However, globalisation also involves sweeping changes on the social, cultural and political terrains. Globalisation furthermore entails apparently contradictory processes of, among others, homogenisation and universilisation on the one hand and localisation and differensiation on the other. Various analysts point out that the often contradictory processes of globalisation has led to wideranging changes in the processes of identity formation that have, in turn, resulted not only in a flourishing of discourses on identity, but also in struggles of identity involving various minority and marginalised groups. Apart from exploring various definitions of identity, discourses of and struggles of identity are discussed on five levels, namely the individual, subnational, national, supranational and global levels. Attention is furthermore given to the role of the media and information and communication technologies in these struggles and the implications for policy-making within the media and communications sector. The farreaching implications for Africa, and South Africa in particular, are furthermore considered.