The notion of identity, I would suggest, has much to do with the concept of boundary. It is about being able to say where something starts and ends as a way of distinguishing it from a range of possible others. Without a boundary of some kind, there is no identity; there is just undifferentiated stuff.
The notion of identity characteristic of the modern period, though, has over privileged boundaries that are sharp and essentially impenetrable. It saw identity as coherent and individualised. It saw persons and institutions as sole authors of their own actions and as beneficiaries of a unique biography or history (c.f. Hong, 2013, p.227). Postmodern sensibilities have thrown this conception of identity into question. Now there is a greater appreciation that all boundaries possess a degree of permeability and, learning the lesson from life, from the living cell (Rayner, 1997), that the maintenance of the integrity of one’s identity requires and irreducible degree of communication with one’s environment. Hermetically sealed identity is a guarantor of death.
Yet, if permeability goes too far there is a danger either of the dissolution of identity or of its colonisation by alien powers. Without a clear sense of identity, we, and the institutions to which we belong, can become easy targets for the powerful mechanism of the consumer model that offers available answers whatever their truth or coherence (c.f. Hong, 2013, p.229). The song, ‘I’m all lost in the supermarket’, by The Clash is most instructive here:
I’m all lost in the supermarket,
I can no longer shop happily.
I came in here for a special offer:
A guaranteed personality.
If we follow the implications of this argument, it means that identity will necessarily be a balancing act. It will require the setting of limits and definitions, yet not in so firm a manner as to exclude an exchange of thought, ideas and process with that which lies beyond. When one then goes on to consider the identity of an Anglican university this becomes particularly challenging. Why so? Because universities, by nature, are required to be as permeable as possible to the realities that lie beyond them. The generation of knowledge and insight demands no less.
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