I just did a presentation today in a peranakan costume. Never knew that i would look good in other ethnic groups' costume :P Had to be decked in another ethnic costume to convey the main point of the presentation which is the taking on of various identities, that the self is always fluid and sometimes contradictory. in wearing this ethnic costume, i felt that i was wearing another culture onto myself, that I was highlighting the differences between being a Chinese and a Peranakan. That the Chinese does not look as natural wearing this as compared to a Peranakan. But then again, this depends on our imagination, how well we can imagine ourselves to fit into a certain culture or ethnic costume. If we can imagine ourselves to look natural in any ethnic costume, The Self vs Other distinction is broken down. Perhaps my Self does not permit such imagination because I am not able to look beyond the superficial appearance, thinking that ethnic costumes define our identity when it is actually our cognitive imagination which controls our identity. I wish I can look at the Other through their perspective, or as what some theorist says: looking at the Other through the eye of the needle. Sometimes it is also other's perception which defines our own identity. And because we want to be validated by the majority, we try to assimilate by defining our identity that is similar to the majority's. Our need for acceptance motivates us to behave in a certain way, but of course this does not apply to everyone as some may subvert the way the majority behave. Perhaps in behaving subversively, they are resisting their powerless subject positioning. they are trying to reorganize a sense of who they are and put up counterdiscourses to highlight their own culture, their own unique existence. However, these people's identity is probably the most volatile as they constantly need to reorganize a sense of who they are as they have to ensure that the identity they adopt is subversive or different from the majority's. I wonder how these people feel about their fast changing identity though, how tiresome it is for them to possess such a fluid identity. I would not subject myself to such trauma, not that I am a conformist, wanting to be like the majority but it is tiring and a waste of time trying to subvert or be different from the rest. Sometimes the choices given to us are also so limited that we are rather homogenous due to these limited choices. Thus, we may end up seemingly conformists but the choices given to us by the powerful are limited and it is too tiring or troublesome to subvert.