Who Are We?: How Identity Politics Took Over the World,Gary Younge

-About this book

From award-winning journalist and sociology professor Gary Younge, a nuanced analysis of identity politics and why they matter today.
From those who insist that Barack Obama is Muslim to the European legislators who go to extraordinary lengths to ban items of clothing worn by a tiny percentage of their populations, Gary Younge shows, in this fascinating, witty, and provocative examination of the enduring legacy and obsession with identity in politics and everyday life, that how we define ourselves informs every aspect of our social, political, and personal lives.
Younge—a black British male of Caribbean descent living in Brooklyn, New York, who speaks fluent Russian and French—travels the planet in search of answers to why identity is so combustible. From Tiger Woods’s legacy to the scandal over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, he finds that identity is inescapable, but solidarity may not be as elusive as we fear.
We are more alike than we are unalike. But the way we are unalike matters. To be male in Saudi Arabia, Jewish in Israel or white in Europe confers certain powers and privileges that those with other identities do not have. In other words, identity can represent a material fact in itself.
As Gary Younge demonstrates in this classic book, now featuring a new introduction, how we define ourselves affects every part of our lives: from violence on the streets to international terrorism; from changes in our laws to whom we elect; from our personal safety to military occupations.
Moving between fascinating memoir and searing analysis, from beauty contests in Ireland to the personal views of Tiger Woods, from the author’s own terrifying student days in Paris to how race and gender affect one’s voting choices, Gary Younge makes surprising and enlightening connections and a devastating critique of the way our society really works.

-Contents

Epigraph
Introduction
1: Me, Myself, I
A political identity in ten parts
2: A Wise Latina
The question is not whether we all have identities, but whether we are all prepared to recognize them
3: The Chronicles of Cablinasia
Identities do not emerge out of common sense but communities
4: Blessed are the Gatekeepers
There is no such thing as authenticity, but there are plenty of people trying to enforce it
5: The Truth in Her Eyes
The only certain thing about any identity is that it will keep on changing
6: The Many in One
We each have several identities that can be compared but not ranked
7: The Enemy Within
Identities make no sense unless understood within the context of power
8: Lost in Translation
So long as the global means the erosion of democracy, the local will mean the elevation of identity
Conclusion: Keeping the Wolf from the Door
Bibliography

-caractéristiques

Date de parution:2 juin 2011

Éditeur : Penguin

Langue : Anglais

NB.de pages : 256 pages

ISBN-10 : 0141029943

ISBN-13 : 978-0141029948

Poids de l’article : 145 g

Dimensions : 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1 cm