Feminism & Psychology

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Identity as Contested Space: A Canadian Vantage on an Epistemological

Challenge
Alisha Ali
Feminism Psychology 2006; 16; 345
DOI: 10.1177/0959353506067852
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COMMENTARY

Identity as Contested Space: A Canadian Vantage on an

Epistemological Challenge
Alisha ALI
Feminist psychology faces many obstacles in forging innovative paths in the
scientific study of human behavior while contending with the need to engage our
more traditionally oriented colleagues in our work. Due to the disciplines underpinnings in philosophy, psychology is a suitable testing-ground for philosophical
approaches that claim to meaningfully inform scientific endeavors. For feminist
psychologists, the question of how best to integrate philosophical and practical
considerations is a particularly vital one, given feminisms predominant concern
with political action and social change. The topic of identity is one area in which
the points of connection between philosophical and methodological concerns are
especially evident. Research on this topic has typically derived from notions of a
static and non-mediated self that is consistent across contexts and conditions.
However, recent work on identity reflects a growing interest in the dialogical
construction of self. In particular, feminist scholars have begun to examine the
complexities of multiple co-existing identities in womens lives, and have
demonstrated the need for an epistemological stance that captures the dynamic
and changing quality of identity (Bettie, 2000; Frable, 1997; Poindexter-Cameron
and Robinson, 1997). This need ostensibly amounts to a call for new approaches
to meaning-making around issues of identity that can provide direction for progressive and emancipatory inquiry in this domain.
This direction can be found in numerous sites and contexts, including the
writings of feminist philosophers dealing with issues of individualism and selfhood (e.g. Butler, 1990; Pilardi, 1989) and the exploration of cultural environments that support an expanded experience of identity. I believe that the Canadian
cultural context is one such environment. Having worked as a feminist researcher
in Canada as well as in other countries in North America, Asia, and the
Caribbean, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the unique contribution that

Feminism & Psychology 2006 SAGE (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi)
http://fap.sagepub.com, Vol. 16(3): 345349; 0959-3535
DOI: 10.1177/0959353506067852

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346

Feminism & Psychology 16(3)

Canadian feminist psychology can bring to the discipline. By exploring these

differences, it is possible to outline some key facets of a Canadian vantage on
notions of identity that can inform feminist psychological research on this topic.

DUALISMS OF IDENTITY

I will outline two key aspects of feminist psychological research in Canada, both
of which reflect the rejection of binary divisions inherent in traditional representations of identity. My observation of this rejection is based on close collaboration with feminist psychologists doing research and advocacy work in academic
settings, community agencies, and hospital environments in Canada and elsewhere. I also draw upon my experience researching psychosocial factors in
immigration and in the lives of immigrant women. I have found the study of
immigration to be a useful area in informing my understanding of cross-national
differences in the construal of identity.
The first relevant division is a self/other distinction wherein the self implies
a belongingness that does not extend to the foreign other. Those who are
subjugated into the category of otherness are marginalized away from certain
privileges by virtue of their visible or invisible foreign-ness. Being deemed
foreign appears to be based on such qualities as ones spoken accent, ones
physical appearance (such as through skin color or manner of dress) and more
subtly ones lack of familiarity with a host countrys customs and habits. I have
found that women of color who have immigrated to Canada report that their sense
of feeling foreign is less than they had expected. Many such women were also
surprised to find large non-white populations in major cities in Canada. In contrast, my interviews with women of color who have immigrated to the US more
often report perceiving a primacy placed on an envisioned American self such
that a foreign other (e.g. an immigrant woman) encounters daily life through a
lens of indirect experience.
This form of indirect experience is aptly captured by Jacks (1991) notion of
externalized self-perception, which represents the gradual loss of self that can
occur through viewing oneself not through ones own eyes but through the eyes
of a judgmental dominant group. Externalized self-perception has been documented to correlate with symptoms of depression (Jack and Dill, 1992) and is
posited to foster the internalization of a disempowering gaze (Jack, 1991). Such
disempowerment can function to neutralize the agentic self and thereby immobilize efforts directed at social action on the part of women who do not conform to
dominant norms. This immobilization can affect feminist psychologists as well as
the women we work with in grassroots and community-based settings by diminishing attempts to create transformative and emancipatory change at systemic and
individual levels.
The other division related to notions of identity is a distinction of individual/
collective. This dualism represents identity formation as an individual process

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ALI: Identity as Contested Space

347

rather than as a socially mediated process; collective is assumed to apply only

to events outside of the individual. This distinction therefore poses a challenge to
those who arrive at self-knowledge through connection to others. The implicit
devaluation of the collective also serves to diminish the possibilities of collective
action which is necessary to achieve widespread social change. Particularly relevant to womens well-being is the additional implication of self-blame that is
conferred on those who rely on others when coping with disempowering life
circumstances. Self-blame has been found to impact womens physical and
mental health (Ali et al., 2000; Moscarello, 1992). Therefore, for feminist psychologists, there is a need to advance the notion that the outer realities of
womens lives shape our inner experience.
In interviewing women who have immigrated to Canada, I have found that
their primary source of social support is from other members of their immigrant
community. One of the interviewees described her experience as follows:
You get here and you dont know anyone. But then you go to your church where
its people like those you left back home and they know some of your friends
and family back home. That helps you feel that youre part of a larger group of
people, and that all of you belong here as much as anyone who was born here
does.

Clearly, the notion of a shared collective experience as a means of support and

adjustment is crucial to our understanding of psychological aspects of immigration. Such a notion necessitates a reformulated conceptualization of identity in
which the social and interpersonal are construed as essential elements in psychological growth and development.
These two divisions constitute major challenges for feminist psychology with
respect to both scholarly work and psychological practice that enhances womens
mental health and well-being. To meet these challenges, feminist psychologists
need to adopt an epistemological stance that rejects these dualisms and instead
presents the possibility of socially mediated identities that are fostered by numerous contextual influences. This stance must also support theoretical models that
can accommodate a multiplicity of identities such that the myriad of intersections
of experience and context are accurately captured. A Canadian perspective on
these considerations can provide a valuable vantage, and can present some crucial possibilities for an emancipatory construal of identity.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Canada is often characterized by an acceptance of difference and an appreciation

of the value of co-existing cultures. The presence of both Anglophone and
Francophone cultures and the strong cultural influence of numerous immigrant
groups are examples of such co-existence. The widespread acceptance of diversity encourages a vantage that allows for a multiplicity of identities, and it is in

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Feminism & Psychology 16(3)

this multiplicity that we can find implications for an emancipatory stance toward
an understanding of identity. By embracing the notion of multiplicity, we can
meet some of the challenges faced by feminist psychology in scholarly work on
identity. The Canadian vantage allows for numerous ways of being and a proliferation of intersecting identities, thereby providing a liberatory direction for
construing identity. For instance, the model of co-existing cultures renders the
category of foreigner uninformative and irrelevant. Feminist psychologists can
adopt a model of the proliferation of numerous co-existing identities as a viable
alternative to the prevailing uni-dimensional model.
One useful avenue of inquiry for such work is the exploration of identity
among women who have lived in a range of different cultures and environments
(Macklin, 1995; Mojab, 1999). Immigrant women are one such group. In Canada,
feminist psychologists have the opportunity to engage in research exploring the
psychological sequelae of immigration among a broad range of groups and
ethnicities. Examining the lived experience of women who are newcomers to
Canada can expose some of the assumptions we hold about Canadian society and
about the meaning of identity during times of transition. Such research can also
reveal gaps in service provision to at-risk groups and can therefore demonstrate
the need for social action around issues of fundamental human rights. Advocacy
for increased access to the services necessary for basic human needs should be a
central component of the feminist agenda. As feminist psychologists, we should
engage in such advocacy through our work with government agencies and
through collaboration with community-based activists.
While the Canadian context supports a vision of an emancipatory model of
identity, the Canadian example is less than ideal in its enactment of this vision.
For instance, despite the espousal of equality, racism still exists in Canada and
has been documented in such areas as the legal system (Razack, 1998), the
workplace (Henry, 1994), and the mental health system (Javed, 1995). Moreover,
feminist psychologists in Canada face challenges in equalizing power relations in
workplace and domestic settings as well as in advocating for women who experience violence in its many manifestations. Canadian feminists can strengthen
liberatory efforts by strategizing and mobilizing collaboratively to create positive
change in womens lives locally and globally.

REFERENCES
Ali, A., Toner, B.B., Stuckless, N., Gallop, R., Diamant, N.E., Gould, M.I. and Vidins, E.I.
(2000) Emotional Abuse, Self-Blame and Self-Silencing in Women with Irritable
Bowel Syndrome, Psychosomatic Medicine 62(1): 7682.
Bettie, J. (2000) Women without Class: Chicas, Cholas, Trash, and The Presence/
Absence of Class Identity, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 26: 135.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York:
Routledge.

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2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.

ALI: Identity as Contested Space

349

Frable, D.E.S. (1997) Gender, Racial, Ethnic, Sexual, and Class Identities, Annual
Review of Psychology 48: 13962.
Henry, F. (1994) The Caribbean Diaspora in Toronto: Learning to Live with Racism.
Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Jack, D.C. (1991) Silencing the Self: Women and Depression. New York: Harper
Perennial.
Jack, D.C. and Dill, D. (1992) The Silencing the Self Scale: Schemas of Intimacy
Associated With Depression In Women, Psychology of Women Quarterly 16: 97106.
Javed, N.S. (1995) Salience of Loss and Marginality: Life Themes of Immigrant Women
of Color in Canada, in J. Adleman and G. Enguidanos (eds) Racism in the Lives of
Women: Testimony, Theory, and Guides to Anti-Racist Practice, pp. 1322. Binghamton,
NY: Harrington Park Press.
Macklin, A. (1995) Refugee Women and the Imperative of Categories, Human Rights
Quarterly 17: 21377.
Mojab, S. (1999) De-skilling Immigrant Women, Canadian Woman Studies 19(3): 1238.
Moscarello, R. (1992) Victims of Violence: Aspects of the Victim-to-Patient Process in
Women, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 37: 497502.
Pilardi, J. (1989) Female Eroticism in the Works of Simone de Beauvoir, in J. Allen and
I.M. Young (eds) The Thinking Muse: Feminism and Modern French Philosophy,
pp. 1834. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Poindexter-Cameron, J.M. and Robinson, T.L. (1997) Relationships among Racial
Identity Attitudes, Womanist Identity Attitudes, and Self-Esteem in African American
College Women, Journal of College Student Development 38: 28896.
Razack, S. (1998) Looking White People in the Eye: Gender, Race and Culture in
Courtrooms and Classrooms. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Alisha ALI is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology

at New York University. Her research examines mental health issues among
immigrant women, women of color, and individuals living in poverty.
ADDRESS: Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, Room
411 East Building, 239 Greene Street, New York, NY 10003, USA.
[email: alisha.ali@nyu.edu]

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