y to difference.This personal narrative is attained only because of the important role History plays in tying these factors together. In order for one to relate identity to difference using the dialogical method, he/she must position [themselves] somewhere in order to say anything at all.(Hall, 12) This position is attained through an understanding of history; a history which is constructed not only politically, but also through narrative and memory. (Hall, 13) The past is recovered and therefore present in our lives.Throughout his essay, Hall applies his ideas regarding identity to race and racism through the examples he presents. He describes instances that show how members of certain races come to relate themselves to their race through the identity process he presents. The discovery of race, how people interpret ones biological makeup, is also attributed to history and the Other. The form of racism, the system of providing disadvantages and advantages due to race, that Hall talks about is a definition which shows the way all of our behavior/conduct is pervaded by certain racist elements. He argues that racism is a structure of discourse and representation that tries to expel the Other symbolically (Hall, 11) Race is attributed to the mutual construction of ones social position as seen by the Other and the individuals position. In this respect, racism is relational because people rely on differentiation to know who they are. They must sustain the Other by recovering history to expel the other symbolically. (Hall, 11)In Lipsitzs The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy and the White Problem in American Studies, he explores the political aspect of the history which is recovered in respect to race through a specific set of political policies. He argues that through the historical process of political institution and various explicit racist policies since World War II, whites develop an economic adv...
