On Identity

more ties I have the rarer and more particular my own identity becomes.

Their role is to act as bridges, go-betweens, mediators between the various communities and cultures.

The identity a person lays claim to is often based, in reverse, on that of his enemy.

People often see themselves in terms of whichever one of their allegiances is most under attack.

while there is always a certain hierarchy among the elements that go to make up individual identities, that hierarchy is not immutable; it changes with time, and in so doing brings about fundamental changes in behaviour.

Identity can’t be compartmentalised. You can’t divide it up into halves or thirds or any other separate segments. I haven’t got several identities: I’ve got just one, made up of many components combined together in a mixture that is unique to every individual.

Every one of my allegiances links me

For it is often the way we look at other people that imprisons them within their own narrowest allegiances. And it is also the way we look at them that may set them free.

to a large number of people. But the