In: Psychology
How would YOU define identity (in a historical not a personal context) and in what ways can focusing on identity help us gain a broader and deeper understanding of history?
An identity of a person tells a lot. It can be considered as a starting chapter of history of someone. It tells the person about the views and perspectives of others for himself/herself. It also explains the qualities and beliefs of a person.
If a person is aware about his/her ethnic identity then only he/she can mould his/her behaviour accordingly. If people ask about their identity then they try to discover the roots through which they have been produced through multiple generations.
It assists them in creating a timeline by which they can draw their backward history. They also come to know about the gene pool which they share. Our aspirations and our attributes are being characterized by our identity.
Some people define their identities with their external morphological characters while some describe their identities with their traits and remarkable qualities. Our knowledge of identity inspire us to perform better and better in our life.
If we know about our history and if it was bad then we try to improve our present through our level best efforts. If our past history was better and present is going through a bad phase then we simply try to make a match which ultimately helps in raising our standard.
Knowledge of identity is important because it provides us a chance and inspiration to move forward with a positive attitude.