Abstract
The article explores the relationship of ambiguity to identity in societal contexts dominated by discourses of fixed, essentialist and hierarchic sexual and ethnic dichotomies. Rather than accept hegemonic definitions of ambiguity as something harmful to society and its members, the article suggests that ambiguity functions as a key coping strategy – especially for women and men navigating, negotiating and positioning themselves and their identities in opposition to how they are defined by heteronormative and Eurocentric discourses. Drawing on data collected from psychotherapeutic practice as well as from interviews with women and men who have used ambiguity in this way, the article describes how they define and celebrate their identities in opposition to the stigmatized and subordinate identities ascribed to them by dominant binary discourses in a social field marked by rigid boundaries, uncertainties and paradoxes. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the importance of ambiguity as a strategy not only for aiding interpersonal relationships but also as one crucial in organizational contexts.
Highlights
Background for the articleMuch of my practice as a clinical psychologist has involved therapeutic work with women living with other women
As an associate professor teaching in a school of social work, I have supervised a number of students whose master’s theses provide examples of dilemmas and problems experienced by members of sexual and ethnic minorities using ambiguity in struggling to gain a positive sense of themselves in opposition to the stigmatizing effects of dominant ideologies
In my clinical practice and research, I have found ambiguity to be a personal coping strategy that allows for movement between categories of identity, especially those requiring navigation and negotiation in social contexts dominated by gendered dichotomies of, for example, normality/ deviance, heterosexuality/homosexuality, and masculine/feminine
Summary
Background for the articleMuch of my practice as a clinical psychologist has involved therapeutic work with women living with other women. I will explore the concepts of ambiguity and identity – and especially the use of these concepts to understand people maneuvering in a field filled with different cultural discourses.
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