Individual and Society
Senior 4 · General and Religious Studies
Individual and Society
Lesson 1 of 4
25 min
On the night of 18 March 1997, armed infiltrators who still followed the ideology of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi attacked the secondary school at Nyange, in today's Ngororero District. They ordered the students of the fifth and sixth years to separate themselves according to the so-called ethnic categories. The students refused. Their answer was: "Twese turi Abanyarwanda", "We are all Rwandans".
Rwanda honours these students as national heroes in the Imena category, and the school has been named Igicumbi cy'Ubunyarwanda, the Hearth of Rwandanness (Chancellery for Heroes, National Orders and Decorations of Honour, CHENO).
The attackers tried to reduce each student to one identity, chosen for them. The students chose another identity, one they all shared, and put it first. This lesson is about that power: every person has many identities, and the way we rank them shapes the choices we make.
Definition
Identity: the answer to "who am I?": the characteristics, relationships and values by which a person knows themself and is known by others.
Personal identity: what makes you a unique individual: your name, character, talents, memories and values. Social identity: the groups you belong to and feel part of, such as family, nation, faith, school or team.
Multiple identities: the fact that every person belongs to many groups and plays many roles at once. Example: a student who is a daughter, a Rwandan, a choir member and a future nurse.
Ascribed identity: given at birth or by circumstances you did not choose, such as your age, parents or place of birth. Achieved identity: one you choose or earn, such as your subject combination, your profession or your membership of a club.
Stereotype: a fixed, over-simple belief about all members of a group. Example: "people from that region are lazy".
Notice three things about Aline's map. First, it is plural: no single box tells you who Aline is. Second, some boxes are given and some are chosen; the chosen ones grow in number as a person grows up. Third, the boxes do not always agree. Her choir rehearses on the evening before her chemistry test; her family expects her to help at home on Saturdays; her football team trains at the same time. Every week Aline has to rank her identities.
Identities shape choices in three ways:
The economist and philosopher Amartya Sen, in his book Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (2006), argues that violence is made easier when people are persuaded that they have only one identity that matters, and that it sets them against others. A person who also sees herself as a neighbour, a teacher, a mother and a citizen is harder to recruit into hatred. Sen's remedy is to recognise our many identities and to use our freedom to choose which of them comes first in a given situation. The Nyange students did exactly that.
Rwanda's institutions now point the same way: NURC's 2020 survey reports that today's national identity card, unlike the cards of the colonial era, records no ethnic category, and that 98.2% of respondents saw themselves as Rwandans first.
| Situation | Identities in tension | A responsible way to choose |
|---|---|---|
| Your best friend asks to copy your answers in a test | Loyal friend / honest student | Rank honesty first; help your friend revise before the next test instead |
| Your parents want you to study law; you want to study agriculture | Obedient child / person with your own talents | Gather information, talk respectfully, look for a choice both sides can accept |
| Your peer group shares a "joke" about another faith | Group member / member of a faith or of the nation | Choose the wider identity: refuse to share, and say why |
| Prayer time falls in the middle of a school event | Believer / student | Plan ahead; ask the school for an arrangement; respect others' practice too |
Warning
Identity is not destiny. Two mistakes to avoid: (1) reducing a person to one identity ("she is from that region, so she must ..."), which is how stereotypes start; (2) believing that your given identities decide your future. Your age and birthplace are fixed, but your values, skills and loyalties are largely chosen.
Tip
Given, chosen, ranked. When a question asks how identity affects a choice, use three steps: name the identities that are given, name those that are chosen, and explain which one the person ranked first in this situation, and why.
Important
Discuss. The Nyange students put their shared identity first, at great personal risk. Is it reasonable to expect people to rank a wider identity above a narrower one in every situation? Think of one case where a narrower identity (family, faith) should come first, and explain how you would decide.
Opinion Science: "Social Identity Theory: The Science of Us vs. Them", about 14 minutes, with psychologist Jay Van Bavel of New York University. Listen for how even randomly formed groups start to favour their own members, and for what reduces "us versus them".
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: Figure 1, the tables, the analysis and the exercises.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each identity to its type.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
