Self and Identity (SumBlog7)

Dan Mountford

There comes a time in everyone's life when they need to decide who they are, and who they want to become. W.E.B. DuBois's concepts of double consciousness and the veil were fascinating to me. Looking at someone, you can't always tell what cultures influence them, or what thoughts they're experiencing. I think this picture by Dan Mountford exemplifies that. You can look at the girl in the picture, and see her silhouette, but if you take a closer look, you can see that she isn't exactly what she seems to be. We can't tell what people are experiencing unless we take a closer look, or decide to get close enough to look through their eyes.  


People are a product of their culture. The experiences that everyone has are heavily influenced by the culture in which they were raised. It becomes necessary for us to remove ourselves from the situation, and try to conceptualize what the other person is feeling. W.E.B. DuBois felt this double consciousness when he was just a boy, playing with his classmates. He was raised in the same culture as them, yet he felt different. He was torn between between being African American and American. He felt these two identities deep within, because he grew up with both cultures. Couldn't the two coexist? The judgement we feel from others because of our differences can sometimes be explained by the culture in which a person was raised. Sometimes, people really just don't know any better. Ethnocentrism can creep in and cause prejudice and hate. 

Like the picture by Dan Mountford, each of us has many different levels and layers. Everyone has multiple different cultures that they've grown up in based off of family, race, school, or even friendships. It is unfair to judge someone off of first impressions or assumptions, because we really never know what is lying in the layers underneath the surface unless we dig in and get to know them.