Negotiating boundaries of belonging: identities, recognition and agency

Taking a social psychological perspective, this chapter considers the struggles for belonging as experienced by marginalised and minoritised communities and how these groups navigate and negotiate their identities in relation to contextual boundaries of inclusion and exclusion. It will endeavour to reflect upon how identities are seen by both self and others within a given socio-political context, and how these interactional dynamics shape one’s experiences and sense of belonging. It will also note the sophisticated ways in which one’s agency can be enacted in response to such experiences, highlighting the possibilities for challenging and resisting dominant narratives of the politics of belonging. In this way, the chapter will discuss the implications that these issues have on our societies, where lines of sameness and difference, of inclusion and exclusion, can have very real consequences on people’s experiences, identities and sense of belonging.