Stuart Hall Response

In his article, Stuart Hall addresses the issue of defining identity. He describes identity as something complex and unstable. One of his main points is that ethnicity is not a part of your identity that you can just claim. Just because your parents were born in Jamaica, you do not have the right to identify yourself as a Jamaican until you discover that part of your identity. Identity cannot be accurately defined by the standard labels such as class, race, gender, and nation. While these labels make identity seem stable, they are in fact always changing. Hall argues that this is in part due to the changing conditions in which these labels exist. Defining yourself as white, for example, does not complete an identity. There are white people in England, the United States, Canada, and many other nations. White is only the color of your skin. Because the general definition of white people is always different, you must go beyond just color. It is often more effective to use more specific labels instead, such as political parties or position on a current issue.

The music with which you identify is always changing. While you may still like the music you listened to as a tween, chances are you have heard new genres of music since then and have added more likings to your musical tastes. This is similar to identity because your environment is always creating new issues on which to take a stance. In addition, you cannot define yourself using a single label when it comes to music. Sure, you could say that you like rock music, but there are probably exceptions to your label. Maybe there are certain rock songs that you don’t enjoy or maybe there are a few songs from other genres that you listen to. Just as my identity is not limited to “white-American”, my musical tastes are not limited to one genre.