Identity

Identity

Identity is defined as a person’s sense of self established by unique characteristics, affiliations, and societal roles. How one identifies themself is a task a person can spend their whole life trying to uncover and understand, usually discovering their identity in what they surround themselves with most.  People can also find their sense of identity within themselves allowing them to stand firm in how they present themselves to the world. Having a strong sense of identity is crucial in anyone’s life as without one, a person can be left wandering and eventually losing themself to the world.

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In Ghana, a person’s sense of self, or rather identity, is found in two places. Ghanaians generally define themselves by their country and family, which can also be synonymous with culture, and by affiliation with the church. The church in Ghanian culture is of great influence as many people follow the church as law and religion. The church is known to be the heartbeat of Ghanaian community as many go to seek guidance, help, education and more. After the Church, the family is the biggest influence in a Ghanaian’s identity. Families not only handle the upbringing of a child but also tend to dictate schooling, jobs, and the social influence a person has, which influences how one may identify themselves. In the case of mental health in Ghana, a family’s identity can be perceived as tarnished when mental health issues are present in loved ones as they are embarrassed. Due to the church’s view of mental health, loved one’s are demonized and ostracized through no fault of their own. This results in secrecy as families hide their loved ones from society to prevent loss of marriage prospects and to keep the family’s social status.

The search for identity, as well as the loss of identity, is an idea that is prevalent in the Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom. The first loss of identity is when the main character’s family leaves Ghana in hope of a brighter future in the United States. While facing culture shock and a new environment can be jarring for anyone, it is especially difficult to find one’s footing as when encountering racism. The main character in Transcendent Kingdom, Gifty, tries to find herself in religion as a child which is exemplified with her numerous journal entries to God. Unfortunately, after the overdose of her older brother, Nana, Gifty loses her youthful trust of religion and promises to invent a new Gifty. As a result, in adulthood, Gifty tries to find her sense of self in science as she searches for answers in her neurological research so desperately trying to understand Nana’s addiction. Gifty’s real sense of a lack of self is due to the fact that she does not view herself as her own person but rather an extension of her mother. Gifty, eventually, understands this through a psychoanalytic theory of child development in which the final step is for the infant to realize that they are a separate person from their mother. Gifty can only establish her own identity when she accepts her differences from her mother as well as their similarities.