On Identity

Issue 8.1

Letter from the Editor

16 April 2024 

The Process editorial board is proud to share Issue 8.1, On Identity. How we identify as individuals, how others see us — either as individuals or part of a group — can often reveal multiple sides of a society. In the United States, issues of identity have come to the forefront in recent years, particularly through large-scale movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. Tragedies such as the recent deaths of Nex Benedict, a Two Spirit sixteen-year-old of Choctaw descent in Oklahoma, and Ryan Gainer, a Black fifteen-year-old with autism in California, remind us that the fight for the basic rights and safety of those occupying marginalized identities is still ongoing. However, as our contributors for this issue remind us, identity can be a source of joy, resilience, and community, even in the most adverse circumstances. The essays in this issue demonstrate the multiplicity of identity, exploring how religion, race, gender, sexuality, and nationality shape identity across a variety of places and times. 

Examining the works of three travel authors from the medieval Islamic world, Terra Zhang presents a case study demonstrating the necessity of a global turn in Medieval Studies. Zhang focuses on the various conceptions of home presented by these authors, considering the ways in which experiences of cultural difference allow them to explore their own multivalent identities. Next, Patrick Buchanan asks readers to think critically about 18th century British culture, offering a postcolonial reading of J.M. Coetzee’s Foe, a retelling of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe from the perspective of Susan Barton, a White woman who is stranded on the same island as Defoe’s Crusoe and Friday. Buchanan problematizes Susan’s role as narrator, arguing that she imposes European concepts of identity and epistemology on Friday, who resists by operating as a nonauthor in his own embodied and non-literary narrative. Serena Jampel then takes readers to post-World War II America to reflect on Mel Brooks’ movie The Producers, in which Jewish-coded protagonists decide to produce a pro-Nazi play in hopes of swindling their investors. Examining how Brooks depicts Jewish identity and satirizes Nazis, Jampel concludes that the film reveals the dangers of laughing at fascism. In treating Nazis as a joke, the audience becomes complicit in fascism by failing to treat it as a serious threat and thereby allowing its proliferation. In our final piece, Travis York considers America a few decades later in exploring the legacy of BLK, a magazine for Black gay and lesbian communities published from 1988 to 1994. Calling attention to untold stories of the AIDS crisis, York showcases BLK’s response to the epidemic, including headlines on the effects of racism and homophobia on Black queer communities, AIDS prevention advertisements, and comics. 

These four essays remind us that identity is formed through constant negotiation both within one’s own community and in conversation with the Other. Our contributors consider both sides of the coin, examining how the friction of cross-cultural encounters can prompt exploration of the self and how marginalized communities create strategies and resources that allow their members to thrive. From medieval Muslim travel writing, itself a multinational genre, to a magazine for Black queer people in the United States, these essays examine how explorations of identity can continue to speak to us across time and space. We hope that these pieces will provoke reflection and conversation, and we invite you to read the call for papers for our next issue, On Memory. We look forward to your submissions!

Sincerely,

The Process Editorial Board

Finding Home Around the Globe: Traveling in the Medieval Islamic World

Terra zhang

Zhang focuses on the various conceptions of home presented by three travel authors from the medieval Islamic world, considering the ways in which they explore their own multivalent identities through experiences of cultural difference allow.

Keywords: Global Middle Ages, travel writing, home, dar al-Islam