Narrative Essays and Journalistic Opinion

Gender Identity

"A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Rememberances of a Gay Boyhood" by Bernard Cooper
"I read the definition [of homosexual] again and again, hoping the words would yield more than they could."

Language and Identity

"Notes of a Native Speaker" by Eric Liu
Eric Liu considers the definitions of race.
"If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?"
By JAMES BALDWIN
"How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by Gloria Andzaldúa
How to Tame a Wild Tongue- Summary and Response posted by A. Kave
"Mother Tongue"
"Amy Tan describes the variety of Englishes she uses. In doing so, she addresses the connections between languages and cultures." (Cohen 417).
"My Name" by Sandra Cisneros
A vignette from Sandra Cisnero's The House on Mango Street. Here she writes of the power of a name.

Place and Identity

"The Way to Rainy Mountain" by N. Scott Momaday
Momaday is a Native American writer who writes about how birthplace and home are central to identity.

Cultural Identity

"The Double Helix" by Roxane Farmanfarmaian
Farmanfarmaian's piece on cultural identity considers her Iranian and American roots.
Am I rootless, or am I free? ‘Third culture kids’ like me make it up as we go along by Ndéla Faye
"When your mother is from Finland, your father from Senegal, and you live in neither, your identity becomes a matter of choice" from The Guardian

Identity and Disability

"On Being a Cripple" by Nancy Mairs
"In this superbly written essay, Nancy Mairs, a feminist writer who has multiple sclerosis, defines the terms in which she will interact with the world."
"The Making of the Disabled Identity: A Linguistic Analysis of Marginalisation" by Rose Galvin
This sociological study explores language and identity in relation to disability. The author builds on theorists in the field and connects their work to the context of disability, arguing labelling and categorizing creates marginalisation.
"Communicating With and About People with Disabilities" (CDC)
This one page document includes language to use and language to avoid when talking with and about people with disabilities.
"Respectful Disability Language: Here’s What’s Up!" (NYLN)
This short document gives guidelines concerning what language is “respectful” when talking about people with disabilities.
"Brief Reflections on Disability Theory, Language, Identity, Equality and Inclusion" by Nicola Martin
This short blog post by Nicola Martin, Head of the Disability and Wellbeing Office at LSE, includes her reflection “on the way ‘special needs’ language can lead to negative identity fixation” and she elaborates on “the requirement to engage disabled people in developing inclusive practice to minimise disadvantage and promote equality of opportunity.” Summary taken from the introduction of the post.
"I am Disabled: On Identity-First Versus People-First Language"by Cara Liebowitz
This article, written by a person with a disability, discusses the trend towards using people-first language.
"Disability and Identity" by Margaret Wangui Murugami
This academic journal article from the Disability Studies Quarterly explores identity formation for people with disabilities as individuals and as members of society.
"Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self" by Alice Walker
Beauty and Alice Walker's acceptance of her own beauty years after an accident leaves her eye deformed.
"Graduation" by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou considers her own anger and pride on her graduation day. A day when she is to leave her segregated high school.
"The Mulatto Millennium" by Danzy Senna
Rethinking blackness in a multiracial world
"The Year We Obsessed Over Identity" by Wesley Morris
"2015's headlines and cultural events have confronted us with the malleability
of racial, gender, sexual and reputational lines. Who do we think we are?"

Feminism and Identity

"Only Daughter" by Sandra Cisneros
"I am the only daughter in a family of six sons" (Cisneros).
The Powerful Language of Feminism
"I often wonder about how to engage young non-feminists in feminism."
Taylor Swift is Not Your Friend
"Swift’s current co-opting of capital-f Feminism as a self-promotional tool."

Religion and Identity

What's in a (Muslim) Name?
Opinion: Huffpost
"How to Talk About Religion" by Robert Kunzman
Preparing students for active democratic citizenship means teaching them … How to Talk About Religion.Academic journal article.
Visualizing Race, Identity, and Change
A feature in National Geographic‘s October 125th anniversary issue looks at the changing face of America in an article by Lise Funderburg, with portraits of multiracial families by Martin Schoeller, that celebrates the beauty of multiracial diversity and shows the limitations around our current categories when talking about race."

Appearance and Identity

Appearance: Dress and Posture
Do first impressions count?
Suicide on Campus and the Pressure of Perfection
New York Times article from the Education Life section.
"Being Dishonest About Ugliness"
"The Australian author Robert Hoge, who describes himself as “the ugliest person you’ve never met,” thinks we get it all wrong when we tell children looks don’t matter: “They know perfectly well they do.”"
With Some Selfies, the Uglier the Better
"What is it about ugly selfies?"

The Minority Experience

The Only One: Being Black in the White Working World
"While the folks here at my job are pretty progressive, I often feel like that lone black kid who was Photoshopped onto the cover of his Midwest college's recruitment brochure."
India Has Lost Its Way and No Party Has the Courage to Set it on the Right Path
APOORVANAND
My First Racist Experience
Indira Laisram
Between the World and Me: Letter to My Son by Ta-Nehisi Coates
“Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.”

Many of the above essays can be found in these compilations:

O'Hearn, Claudine Chiawei. Half and Half Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. Print.

Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays A Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. Print.

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Print

Talk to your English teachers to get a copy or check here on this Google Doc.

Photography and Identity

"The Bitter Legacy of Canada’s Forced-Assimilation Boarding Schools" by Laurence Butet-Roch

Photography as a Method of Identity Formation
Pinterest_Identity
Photographers and ideas on the theme of Identity

Goodreads Quotations - Identity

For more quotations on identity click here to go to Goodreads' "Ouotes about Identity.

Top 10 best identity quotes for teenagers

The Human Race

The Human Race (Before They Pass Away)
Potraiture

US - Language and Identity: A Literary Response to Identity

Narrative Essays and Journalistic Opinion

Photography and Identity

"The Bitter Legacy of Canada’s Forced-Assimilation Boarding Schools" by Laurence Butet-Roch

Goodreads Quotations - Identity

The Human Race