What being Tunisian means to our youth today?
And why is being conscious of our identity crucial for the thriving of our country?
Have you ever wondered what makes your unique identity? and how is that supposed to give you a sense of meaning and purpose?
Well I did. I still do actually. As I am starting my IB diploma programme this year in an international school, I have the opportunity to be, on a daily basis, with people from all over the world. And what is fascinating is that I can see how much the collective identity of a person can shape her/his individual identity.
Well, there’s quite a difference between what makes an individual identity and a collective one. Yet, my main focus through this article would be the collective identity and how it can impact the future of a nation. Ours.
What is a collective identity?
As abstract as it is, defining the collective identity can be challenging.
Here’s the definition I found deeper than the others as well as being well structured. According to Alberto Melucci, an Italian sociologist, collective identity is a process that is negotiated over time with three parts:
- Cognitive Definitions: the formulation of a cognitive framework concerning goals, means, and environment of action.
- Active Relationships: the activation of relationships among the members of a community.
- Emotional Investments: emotional recognition between individuals.
In other words, a collective identity is the sense we get from belonging to a certain group- that usually has the same shared values, language, norms ..-interacting with its members on different levels.
Why are we living an identity crisis?
No matter how confident and emotionally intelligent our youth might be, they will feel at a certain time the need to belong to somewhere, to a community.
Some will have to face the fact that, during all the years they’ve been living in Tunisia, they haven’t for a single moment thought of the meaning of being Tunisian, its responsibility and its importance to their own evolving. They love their country, they celebrate its national holidays, they still remember some eras of its history from the tedious history classes. But did they try to dig deeper and search for its meaning?
Thus, in order to satisfy the urge of being accepted, they would try to immerse completely in another culture. A more compelling one.
This can be one of the hardest times to define the digital era whether as a blessing or a curse. As we are easily connected through social media, some young people will try to fit in the portraits that the most popular cultures make and deny their own collective identity in the process.
The consequences can manifest in many different ways: the street art, the lyrics of the latest hits , the brain drain and, in extreme cases, the illegal immigration.
The roots of the crisis
Before blaming our youth, have we stopped to ask why they want so badly to leave? Is it really because there is “no future” in Tunisia?
Well, there are various reasons. Education plays a very important role for sure. Yet, I am not going to talk about this issue now because it needs to be treated deeper in another article.
Isn’t it because maybe they are not heard enough ? Isn’t it maybe that the people making the laws didn’t actually take time to ask the youth about what they really need, what they suggest and think about the future of the country?
How can we embrace who we are?
I am not saying that we should blindly accept and inherit the identity our parents gave us and that we should follow for the rest of our lives the values our society made. We are all in a life-long journey of finding and redefining ourselves.
Yet, being part of this country means that at least we need to understand what is really happening in Tunisia post-revolution on the social, economical and political level.
Once fully aware of the situation, its roots and consequences, our youth will know that instead of decreasing their chances of success, Tunisia now is offering them unlimited yet unconventional chances. In fact, the issues that we have now in Tunisia ( like pollution, the gap between the job market and our graduates, IT..) are new and promising fields to work on.
Taking full responsibility of being who we are
“The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose” Richard E. Grant
If every single young Tunisian understands that Tunisia’s youth, today more than any other time in our history, represents the only hope, she/he will admit the responsibility in contributing in our country’s development.
If fully aware of that responsibility, they will stop looking for opportunities to leave for an illusive paradise.
Empowered by their purpose, they will work harder, innovate and start taking action.
A call to action
We do have a lot of potential young people that can lead the country and create a different reality for generations to come.
So let’s stop playing the victim and start creating chances for a better Tunisia!
“It is easy to sit up and take notice, What is difficult is getting up and taking action.”
Honoré de Balzac
A final thought
What I want to say by all of this is that the most serious challenge facing our youth today is understanding who they are, how much they are important to their country and how much is our future related to their sense of responsibility and contribution.
