Social Identity in the Complex Urban Setting of Quetta, Balochistan

Abstract

Drawing upon data from semi-structured interviews of 31 young adults, this paper examines social identity in the multilingual, multiethnic setting of Quetta, Balochistan. Urbanisation, modernisation and increased intergroup contact have intensified the cultural, socioeconomic and political polarities within which the ethnolinguistic groups generate and maintain their distinctive boundaries. The informants' self-reported social perceptions and behaviours are discussed with reference to four interrelated components of identity: customs, language, politics, religion. Analysis reveals that informants view themselves as group members and attribute their own and others' behaviours and qualities on a group basis, despite considerable variation in individual behaviour. The paper argues that well-defined stereotypical perceptions function to preserve group boundaries by reinforcing group-characteristic behaviour and by allowing individual divergence and changing norms to be tolerated. In sharp contrast the paper then explores the complex experience of four individuals forced to re-examine and/or reconstruct their social identity when their group membership is significantly challenged through circumstances of incongruity or dislocation.