Reconstructing Identity
In the context of the Phonathon, identity becomes unstable. While the callers change from a person to the next, their personalities undergo a transformation. The always shifting scenarios at the Phonathon causes callers to reconstruct their personalities, and an adaption process begins in order to suit the personality of the person on the other side of the phone. After observing the instability of personalities, it is important to analyze the extent to which a person has to “fake” a personality in order to suit that of prospective donor. The caller does not necessarily fake a personality, but he creates a new persona with traits suitable for the context of the call. Even though the performance of a different personality …show more content…
When a caller is on the phone with a person he has never meet, he experiments a transitional period of adaptation in the first minute of the call. The caller will evaluate the attitudes, voice register, and engagement of the alum, and while doing so, he will draw on previous experiences in order to recreate the personality that best suits the the context of the conversation. A reconstruction or adjustment of personality meant to facilitate or ease the interaction between caller and the prospective donor.
Going back to my visit to the Phonathon, I was able to witness two instances that required different levels of “reconstruction of indemnity.” Same caller, two different pools of alums. Each of the calls required a different level of adjustment of personality, allowing me the possibility to clearly discern some key component of the performance of identities. The first call was to a young man, who graduated form Trinity in 2015 with an economics major, and finance concentration. While at Duke, he was part of the finance club, played intramural sports, and was a member of a Greek …show more content…
If stability of identity is impossible, the possibility of a more flexible form of identity can be opened. For example, Judith Butler though her series of publications argued that identity can be constructed in and through conduct rather as pre-existing conduct. In this sense, it can be argued that the production of the subject is not a one-time condition, instead the construction of the identity of the self should a process that happens with time. The shifts in identities of callers could be recognized as the individual creating his own identity, rather that the job environment imposing traits and behaviors against the stablished persona of the individual. Butler has argued that identity is created by reiteration of past behaviors. Her idea of performativity incorporates a recursive system in which actions are reiterations of previous performance in order to generate a new identity. For Butler, formation of identity occurs due to “forced reiteration of norms (Butler, 1993 p. 94). In the Phonathon, every time a caller interacts with an alum, he draws from previous behaviors in order to generate a personality that would properly fit within the setting of each call. Hence, the idea of faking an identity turns questionable. The caller may not be assuming a personality other than his own, but in fact he is recompiling
In the context of the Phonathon, identity becomes unstable. While the callers change from a person to the next, their personalities undergo a transformation. The always shifting scenarios at the Phonathon causes callers to reconstruct their personalities, and an adaption process begins in order to suit the personality of the person on the other side of the phone. After observing the instability of personalities, it is important to analyze the extent to which a person has to “fake” a personality in order to suit that of prospective donor. The caller does not necessarily fake a personality, but he creates a new persona with traits suitable for the context of the call. Even though the performance of a different personality …show more content…
When a caller is on the phone with a person he has never meet, he experiments a transitional period of adaptation in the first minute of the call. The caller will evaluate the attitudes, voice register, and engagement of the alum, and while doing so, he will draw on previous experiences in order to recreate the personality that best suits the the context of the conversation. A reconstruction or adjustment of personality meant to facilitate or ease the interaction between caller and the prospective donor.
Going back to my visit to the Phonathon, I was able to witness two instances that required different levels of “reconstruction of indemnity.” Same caller, two different pools of alums. Each of the calls required a different level of adjustment of personality, allowing me the possibility to clearly discern some key component of the performance of identities. The first call was to a young man, who graduated form Trinity in 2015 with an economics major, and finance concentration. While at Duke, he was part of the finance club, played intramural sports, and was a member of a Greek …show more content…
If stability of identity is impossible, the possibility of a more flexible form of identity can be opened. For example, Judith Butler though her series of publications argued that identity can be constructed in and through conduct rather as pre-existing conduct. In this sense, it can be argued that the production of the subject is not a one-time condition, instead the construction of the identity of the self should a process that happens with time. The shifts in identities of callers could be recognized as the individual creating his own identity, rather that the job environment imposing traits and behaviors against the stablished persona of the individual. Butler has argued that identity is created by reiteration of past behaviors. Her idea of performativity incorporates a recursive system in which actions are reiterations of previous performance in order to generate a new identity. For Butler, formation of identity occurs due to “forced reiteration of norms (Butler, 1993 p. 94). In the Phonathon, every time a caller interacts with an alum, he draws from previous behaviors in order to generate a personality that would properly fit within the setting of each call. Hence, the idea of faking an identity turns questionable. The caller may not be assuming a personality other than his own, but in fact he is recompiling