Please get in touch if you have any thoughts or
responses to the subjects I write about, or about our
events. I'd love to hear what's been useful or
interesting, or downright annoying...
This week I've had several conversations about
belonging. Or rather conversations about not belonging.
Being marginalized and excluded or simply not fitting
in, not knowing where to fit.
The culture we live in is defined by transient
populations, wars, intermarriage and the
cross-pollination of religious ideas and practices from
around the world, so the question of identity is
complex.
When I’m asked where I come from I find it difficult to
answer, having South African parents, great grandparents
from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and my family
currently being scattered across at least 6 different
countries in both hemispheres. I’m British, but only by
one generation, the rest of me being a puzzle in the
making, and who knows where I’ll end up?
So I’ve been asking these questions: does creativity
spring from the spaces and intersections between
cultures? Does being an outsider, being different, not
following the crowd, act as a function of creativity or
foster an ability to innovate without being crushed by
conformity and cultural norms? If we feel completely at
home, totally secure in our sense of belonging, does
that blunt the edge off our curiosity and make us
passive and unquestioning?
From his collection of essays entitled “Imaginary
Homelands”, by Salman Rushdie:
"Our identity is at once plural and partial. Sometimes
we feel we straddle two cultures; at other times, that
we fall between two stools. But however ambiguous and
shifting this ground may be, it is not an infertile
territory for a writer to occupy. If literature is in
part the business of finding new angles at which to
enter reality, then once again our distance, our long
geographical perspective, may provide us with such
angles. Or it may be that that is simply what we must
think in order to do our work."
It may also be that we have a choice to define
ourselves. As creative people we construct new
identities, cultures, and definitions daily, whether
they be brands or fine art, literary fiction or viral
marketing campaigns. What’s important is that we
continue to value unique perspectives and the ability to
identify powerful synergies between cultures. If you
exist on the margins and the edges, appreciate the view
and the excellent company, there are a lot of us misfits
out there with you.
