The Negotiation of Personal Identity

"In this book Meena Dhanda presents an account ofpersonal identity as a complex of which 'moralidentity' and 'practical identity' are the two mostimportant elements - "'moral identity' as one'ssense of identity as a person as such"and "'practical identity' as one or more of thestructured ways in which one expresses one's moralidentity". Taking as her main example the situationof India's Dalits, Dhanda argues that overallpersonal identity is to be understood as the outcomeof an on-going process of negotiation above allbetween these two elements. Given the centrality ofthe roles played by different and often over-lappingconceptions of what constitutes identity not only inthe world of theoretical debate, but also in that ofpolitical and personal practice, Dhanda's argumentsin favour of seeing these matters in terms ofnegotiation rather than in those of simple andmutually uncomprehending conflict will be of verygreat interest to all concerned with the manyproblems of personal and inter-communal experienceto-day." Alan Montefiore, Emeritus Fellow of BalliolCollege, Oxford.

Autorentext

Dr Meena Dhanda is a Senior Lecturer of Philosophy, University of Wolverhampton, U.K. As a Commonwealth Scholar at Balliol College, and a Rhodes Junior Research Fellow at St. Hilda''s College she got her doctorate from Oxford University. She has edited a unique collection of essays in contemporary Indian feminism on Reservations for Women.

Klappentext
"In this book Meena Dhanda presents an account of personal identity as a complex of which 'moral identity' and 'practical identity' are the two most important elements - "'moral identity' as one's sense of identity as a person as such" and "'practical identity' as one or more of the structured ways in which one expresses one's moral identity". Taking as her main example the situation of India's Dalits, Dhanda argues that overall personal identity is to be understood as the outcome of an on-going process of negotiation above all between these two elements. Given the centrality of the roles played by different and often over-lapping conceptions of what constitutes identity not only in the world of theoretical debate, but also in that of political and personal practice, Dhanda's arguments in favour of seeing these matters in terms of negotiation rather than in those of simple and mutually uncomprehending conflict will be of very great interest to all concerned with the many problems of personal and inter-communal experience to-day." Alan Montefiore, Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.