During the first half of the CRP 165 class, I've come to understand the underlying structures of society as we know it. Community and regional planning in large part look at how cities grow, evolve and how to adapt to this changing world. But this adaptation is inherently based on the history of its people. Identity is the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. Which on paper sounds harmless and empowering, but historically speaking it has been the tool and driving force behind the shaping of society as we know it now. Differentiating people from oneself is a way to find a safe space in an unknown world. Through time the concept of identity has evolved, in a great part due to advancements in technology, nowadays with the world at our fingertips, the concept of an “unknown world” seems to be disappearing, and the first signs of a new age with a global identity are becoming more apparent.

 

At its root, the first signs of separations and classifications of people were lordship and bondage. A society based on a hierarchy of servitude was the case of the world until nearing the discovery of the new world. The discovery of new people in a different land led to the first feelings of nationalism which is mixing language, ethnicity, and borders as a differentiating force. But outside of the monarch society of Europe in the 1500s the subservient social structure had no grounds. Only a few decades after the discovery of America by Europeans, demand for cheap labor to work plantations made slave-trading a profitable business. Cue the industry of slavery, a mix of forced servitude and separation of people based on race.  As many as 20 million Africans were transported by ship.

 

The transportation of slaves from Africa to America was known as the Middle Passage, The ships they were transported in were modified ships for the sole purpose of transporting as many slaves as possible which resulted in a 15-20% mortality rate on the voyage from West Africa to the Americas. Slavery was a long era in American history, spreading from around 1619-1960’s ending with the abolition of Jim Crow laws, throughout these times race replaced class in the Americas. With the arrival of the second wave immigrants to America in the 1800s who were in large part white Europeans, the separation based on race was turned on its head. The idea of nationalism within the united states was reborn, people stuck together and maintained their independent identities. 

 

In a now multicultural country with advancing technology, the intermingling of different people has transformed the global identity. People now have their own unique narratives spanning different languages, traditions, and cultures.  

 

I was born in Santa Fe, NM. Throughout the years I have been exposed to a variety of cultures and experiences which proved to be integral to forming me into the person I have become. My father, Karim Saidi was raised in a Muslim family in Fez, during a time when Morocco was strengthening its bonds with France. During that period there were cultural clashes between the fundamental Muslims and the influx of “open-minded” French students filtering into the Moroccan schooling system. This tumultuous clash of cultural ideals afforded my father the opportunity to step outside the traditional Moroccan concept of success and build a life of his own in the United States.

 

My mother was likewise born into an era of intense social upheaval. As a member of the burgeoning Basque separatist movement, my mother displayed an intense interest in, and desire towards the creation of her own life in the United States. In 1996, my mother moved to Costa Rica and my dad stayed in New Mexico. A long-standing custody battle resulted in my bouncing between Costa Rica and the United States for the majority of my pre-teenage years. This series of perpetual culture shocks obviously left a mark upon me. Attempting to consolidate two vastly different social norms as an adolescent was frustrating and difficult at times. But over the years I've come to embrace what makes me different in a rapidly changing world. 

 

With a quickly evolving world, in large part thanks to the internet, people around the world are closer than ever. The internet is helping break barriers and giving people a look inside different reaches of the world. The fear of the unknown seems to be dwindling and a sense of global unity seems to be on the rise. The end of the age of the “isms” (racism, classism, sexism, etc.) seems to be in sight.