Identity exercise

Try to form the general structure of a research article based on the following sources.

Source one: Kureishi, Hanif. 1990. The Buddha of Suburbia. London: Faber and Faber. (a novel).

• My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost. I am often considered to be a funny kind of Englishman, a new breed as it were, having emerged from two old histories. But I don’t care – Englishman I am (though not proud of it), from the South London suburbs and going somewhere. Perhaps it is the odd mixture of continents and blood, of here and there, of belonging and not, that makes me restless and easily bored. Or perhaps it was being brought up in the suburbs that did it. [...] I was looking for trouble, any kind of movement, action and sexual interest I could find, because things were so gloomy, so slow and heavy [...] it was all getting me down and I was ready for anything.”

Source two: Veash, Nicole and Jack O'Sullivan: “Young Britain: The new generation: Tomorrow belongs to us.” The Independent, Monday 17 November 1997. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/young-britain-the-new-generation-tomorrow-belongs-to-us-1294604.html

• "I'm very much a creature of the planet," says Mr Reza, born in Glasgow of Mauritian parents. "I don't belong to any particular land mass. My skin is brown but I don't feel Mauritian. I feel more British when I go abroad. I don't belong to any religion. I'm open to the existence of anything but I don't believe in God. Some of the Buddhist philosophies I find quite palatable. I don't want to be a member of a class. I'm a person. I've never followed on political party. I'm not a believer in one though if you had to label me I would probably fall somewhere between Labour and the Liberal Democrats."

Source three: Veash, Nicole and Jack O'Sullivan: “Young Britain: The new generation: Tomorrow belongs to us.” The Independent, Monday 17 November 1997. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/young-britain-the-new-generation-tomorrow-belongs-to-us-1294604.html

• The extent of isolation felt by this generation is astonishing in a country that until recently called itself Christian and prided itself on local loyalties. Just one in five feels part of a community, while only one in ten identifies with a religion or race. Two per cent see themselves as belonging to a political party, while 13 per cent feel part of a social class.

Source four: “Identity.” Longman Dictionary.

1 [uncountable and countable] someone's identity is their name or who they are

2 [uncountable] the qualities and attitudes that a person or group of people have, that make them different from other people, see:

national/cultural/social etc identity (=a strong feeling of belonging to a particular group, race etc)

identity crisis/crisis of identity (=a feeling of uncertainty about who you really are and what your purpose is)

3 [uncountable] formal exact similarity between two things

Source five: Hall, Stuart 1996. "Introduction: Who Needs 'Identity'?" in Questions of Cultural Identity, ed. Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay. London: Sage Publications. 1-18.