Counterpoint-online | Themes

Identity

In a globalised world where boundaries of information, economics and culture are becoming increasingly blurred, do existing notions of identity, centred on national political communities still hold weight? Exposure to all these influences is making the task of self-definition ever more complex. The infinite sources from which to draw inspiration have not dampened our “need to belong” though, with political voices clamouring to reassert the importance of shared national values. Counterpoint considers the negotiations and transactions made in regard to individual, communal and national conceptions of identity, exploring their multiplicities, contradictions and points of entanglement. By confronting these issues we can then ask ourselves: Who are we and what do we belong to?

Projects

4-10-2007	Symposium on Leadership and Human Rights in Africa
22-09-2007	Leadership for Change in Africa
5-09-2007	A manifesto for positive change in Africa
24-06-2007	Chinua Achebe wins Man Booker International prize
19-06-2007	Honouring World Refugee Day in Glasgow

Publications

	Glass Houses Author: Rughani, Pratap dir. Part of the Keeping in touch project, this DVD forms a series of interviews with journalists from outside the UK, giving us the unique opportunity to look at Britain from the outside, through 17 pairs of eyes.
	Britain & Ireland: Lives Entwined II Author: British Council Ireland Essays on contemporary British-Irish relations, with views from the USA with a preface written by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland.
	The Art of Identity: Memory, Myth and a Feeling of Home Author: Altenberg, Karin, ed. Five participants of Bosnian origin were asked to create a mental map of their current identites - the result is a multi-layered collection of texts, images and sound creating an audio visual landscape which expresses a common identity.
	From Outside In: Refugees and British Society Author: Arbabzadah, Nushin, ed A collection of memoir, fiction and poetry that explores being British from the perspective of the newly arrived
	Who Cares About Britishness? A Global View of the National Identity Debate Author: Ware, Vron Looking beyond the confines of the British political agenda, Ware gives voice to the views of people who have settled in the UK or who live in countries once colonised by Britain, raising compelling questions of identity, diversity and democracy