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The Barents Euro-Arctic Region was established in 1993 to further security objectives in the European North. In order to reach the superior goal of maintaining stability in the area, it is a declared aim to create an identity region with people from all parts of it conceiving of themselves as `us' as opposed to `them' outside. The common history of the populations in the area as well as their similar geographical frame of reference are emphasized as forces capable of enhancing such a process. In this article, various narratives concerning the possibility of creating a common northern identity across the former Iron Curtain are presented. Pending more extensive empirical evaluations of the identity formation efforts, a preliminary conclusion would be that the new northern identity is characterized above all by contrasts and paradoxes. While the Barents Region project has profoundly changed the lives of a whole group of young Russians — here called `the Barents generation' — great numbers of people in the region probably have not even heard of it. Furthermore, a new contrasting between East and West seems to be underway.

AbstractNurturing, maintaining, and supporting positive identity formation for children and young people in residential child care are an underresearched area. Reasons for this are varied not least the fact that residential child care is still often not perceived as a positive choice for children and young people. Concerns about cost, value for money, the quality, and effectiveness of care have been exacerbated by findings from recent national and international government commissioned inquiries into allegations of historical abuse experienced by children and young people in residential child care. Their findings raise serious questions about whether residential care can ever be a positive choice, whether it can offer high‐quality care that promotes social, emotional, and psychological well‐being, and in particular whether it can nurture and support positive identity formation. Using an adaptation of Honneth's recognition theory and applying it to residential child care practice, this paper contributes to the growing body of work, which argues that residential child care is a positive choice and that it has a key role to play in positive identity formation. The paper ends with some thoughts regarding implications for policy and practice.

This study investigates the process of identity formation within marginalized communities, analyzing the interplay of social, cultural, and psychological factors. By examining how identity intersects with socioeconomic status, historical contexts, and the impacts of discrimination, the paper reveals the complex mechanisms behind individual and communal identity development. Drawing from an empirical review of relevant psychological literature, the paper sheds light on the multiple pathways through which identity is shaped in marginalized contexts. It delves into the influence of societal structures and historical contexts on the presentation of the self of marginalized individuals, highlighting they navigate through the external factors that push them to the sidelines employing hegemonic instruments. Through an analysis rooted in psychological theory and empirical evidence, this research provides valuable insights into the dynamics of identity formation, enhancing the dissection of how identity is performed within and through marginalized communities.

Identity formation in political and occupational domains was examined from young to middle adulthood based on an ongoing longitudinal study. In addition to the participants' identity status (diffused, moratorium, foreclosed, achieved), we assessed their perceived importance of politics, future orientation, and career stability four times in adulthood, at ages 27, 36, 42, and 50. The number of participants varied between analyses, from 168 to 291. Changes in the economic situation in Finland from 1986 to 2009 provided a context for the study. Data collections at ages 36 (in 1995) and 50 (in 2009) took place during economic recessions, and at age 42 (in 2001) during an economic boom. The results were discussed from both age-graded and history-graded perspectives. Developmental trends in political and occupational identity were reversed across age and changes in the economic situation. Political identity was at its lowest level and occupational identity was at its highest level at age 42 during the economic boom. Political identity progressed at a time of economic recession at age 50, whereas occupational identity regressed. In women, identity changes were associated with personal career stability. The perceived importance of politics increased concurrently with political identity achievement. During the recession when they were age 50, women tended to worry about future financial problems, while men perceived their future depending decreasingly on themselves and increasingly on the world situation. The results indicate that macro-level economic conditions may have psychological implications on people's conceptions of themselves that are worth considering in developmental studies. ; peerReviewed

Since the 1950s, there has been roughly a two-fold rise in the proportion of Americans who identify as political Independents. We argue that the ethnic and immigrant experiences of Latinos shed new light on why and how individuals self-identify with a political party. For Latinos, we argue, party identification is defined by social and political identity formation under uncertainty. We argue that for immigrant-based ethnic groups like Latinos, identification as Independent is a rationally adaptive strategy given uncertainty and ambivalence about one's social group attachments, one's core political predispositions, and the benefits of political and civic involvement to pursue the individual and group interests of Latinos in the US. Absent home-grown and wellgrooved habits, the category of Independent affords a safe harbor for many Latinos from which to bank experiences and impressions about political life in the US. We test our account using data from 1989-1990 Latino National Politics Study, the 1993-1994 Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality and the American National Election Studies.

Drama acts as a medium for information dissemination, communication, education, conscientization and entertainment. It is usually created, and its very creation determines what it is and what it does. Drama is created in such a way as to express meaning, feeling, and spirit so that the audience members will have an opportunity to experience what the actors want them to experience. Drama helps man to form a view of the world; a true and large-scale assessment of events; get a rational, reasoned orientation of the world around him; and make a true assessment of his own self. It aesthetically expresses man's emotional-intellectual world in his relationship to the environment. National or personal identity is a direct result of the presence of elements from the shared activities such as drama performances, cultural practices and other common factors in people's daily lives including language, history, culture and consciousness. In Nigeria, drama has played significant roles in forming and consolidating ethnic and national identities. Drama therefore is an effective instrument for Identity formation.

Previous studies have found that trans people claim to have consistent gender identities over their lifetimes. As a result, scholars know little about processes through which individuals come to identify differently from their gender assignment. In this article, I analyze how gender minorities in the United States come to identify with new labels, theorizing gender-identity formation as a social process. Despite pressure to present oneself as "trans enough" and despite many individuals' claims to "always have been" the ways they are, most research participants' stories illustrate a process of gender-identity change—what I term coming into identity. Coming into identity is the process whereby individuals come to understand themselves in new ways despite living in epistemological systems and constructed realities where such ways of understanding oneself are not widely acknowledged. I find that participants' coming-into-identity experiences involved self-reflection in relation to (1) exposure to new gender conceptualizations and models, (2) gender experimentation, (3) difficult experiences, and/or (4) conversations with others. This research contributes to our understanding of gender-minority identity formation and the relationships among discourse, narrative, story, social interaction, identity, and agency. I argue that in accounting for coming into their identities, individuals exercise agency, mobilizing and building new narratives and discourses.

Political transformations in Central and Eastern Europe are relevant not only to institutional change but also to the transfiguration of a fragmented and degraded political self and group. In their search for democratization, Eastern Europeans are desperately seeking a new morally and psychologically empowered identity. The process of creating a new identity entails complex systems of group defenses (splitting, scapegoating, identification with the aggressor), which are already being expressed in the realm of politics (e.g., violation of minority rights, anti‐Semitism, ethnic violence, etc.). Short of celebrating the establishment of democracy in Eastern Europe, methodological and theoretical inquiry into Eastern European transformation should focus on the psychocultural parameters that have an impact on the process of identity formation and warn policymakers against serious political implications that this process is likely to have not only for Eastern but also for Western Europe. In lieu of these complex processes, the authors argue that traditional concepts of security become outdated against the rising manifestations of conflict and violence in Central and Eastern Europe. They therefore propose an expanded conception of security that encompasses a dimension pertinent to the psychocultural origins (e.g., identity crisis) of security threats (e.g., ethnic violence, extremism, migration).

Identity formation in political and occupational domains was examined from young to middle adulthood based on an ongoing longitudinal study. In addition to the participants' identity status (diffused, moratorium, foreclosed, achieved), we assessed their perceived importance of politics, future orientation, and career stability four times in adulthood, at ages 27, 36, 42, and 50. The number of participants varied between analyses, from 168 to 291. Changes in the economic situation in Finland from 1986 to 2009 provided a context for the study. Data collections at ages 36 (in 1995) and 50 (in 2009) took place during economic recessions, and at age 42 (in 2001) during an economic boom. The results were discussed from both age-graded and history-graded perspectives. Developmental trends in political and occupational identity were reversed across age and changes in the economic situation. Political identity was at its lowest level and occupational identity was at its highest level at age 42 during the economic boom. Political identity progressed at a time of economic recession at age 50, whereas occupational identity regressed. In women, identity changes were associated with personal career stability. The perceived importance of politics increased concurrently with political identity achievement. During the recession when they were age 50, women tended to worry about future financial problems, while men perceived their future depending decreasingly on themselves and increasingly on the world situation. The results indicate that macro-level economic conditions may have psychological implications on people's conceptions of themselves that are worth considering in developmental studies.

Examines the cooperative regime established by the Jan. 1993 Kirkenes Declaration, and its failure to produce a common identity among various northern European/Russian populations. Highlights impact of the 1994-95 Barents Region program on Russian youth and the East-West dichotomy; region-building, self and other, alleged "we-hood", and cultural aspects.

Exhibitions focusing on notions of identity and difference offer an arena for debate on issues of power relations, appropriation and alienation. This is because the exhibition subject, its contents, and methods of display form curatorial narratives that may legitimate as well as challenge hierarchic cultural positions. These debates bring forth, however, call for a deeper analysis of the objectives, dynamisms, and readings driving these exhibitions. This paper proposes to question how systems of appropriation have operated through the second half of the twentieth century while ultimately maintaining a dialogue with the dichotomy dividing the center from the subaltern in exhibition practices. It revi~ws the methods of integration of what have been defined as 'minority cultures' leading to appropriation and questions how a particular show, the 1993 Whitney Biennial -still key in the debate on identity difference- has considered and responded to issues of differentiation. Ultimately, this paper will attempt to bring a better understanding on how cultural identity results from a construct built upon a series of politically driven dynamics.