What is identity? Philosopher Charles Taylor describes identity as follows: "It is who we are, 'where we're coming from'. As such it is the background against which our tastes and desires and opinions and aspirations make sense... [M]y discovering my own identity doesn't mean that I work it out in isolation, but that I negotiate it through dialogue, partly overt, partly internal. with others." I like this understanding. It is simple and introduces the important rider that identity is shaped in ongoing dialogue with others. As I understand it, my is partially shaped by being in conversation with you. After all, you made me a grandmother! But I am also other things, shaped by other conversations. Is there also a part of me (and of you) that is wholly ours, perhaps mysterious, even to ourselves? However we answer this question, it is clear that we discover our identities through others. (pg. 11)
~ Denise Ackernann, After the Locusts
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