Identity: The Panther

Recently, I read the book "In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong" by Amin Maalouf and I've been ruminating over this word identity and it significance to my life, peace/war issues, and the world in general.

This post is a response to the concepts that strike me particularly at this moment in time. I recommend that you read the book to receive a more accurate and thorough (not to mention more interesting) account of this topic.

Each of us possess not one, but multiple identities. In fact, we can claim allegiance to a near infinite number of identities. However, people tend to identify most strongly with a particular race, nationality, language, religion, and gender. Some identities we are born with, and the rest we pick up along the way. Maalouf poses in this book, however, that these various identities hold the key to understanding war, the current trends of globalization, and ultimately ourselves. Additional thoughts.

1) People will not only die for the identity that they hold most dear, but may even be willing to kill another person because they feel it is necessary to preserve a certain identity. Even worse, they may kill simply to force others to adhere to or deny a particular identity. Identities mankind has killed in the name of: Islam, Christianity, Atheism, Aryanism, Communism, Black, White, Catholic, Protestant, Hutus, Tutsis, Israel, Palestine, India, Pakistan, Sunnis, Shiias, Kurds, Democracy, Communism, Serbia, Kosova, the Crown, heterosexuality, pro-life, pro-choice, manifest destiny, Bloods, Crips, the North, the South, the East, the West...you get the point.

2) Although we all possess multiple identities, we tend to demand that others choose one identity. At the very least, we expect people to give specific priority to the identity that we feel is the most important one. For example, the author was born and raised in Lebanon (traditionally a Muslim country) into a Lebanese Christian family. However, he has lived in France for over 20 years and speaks Arabic and French and English fluently. In his experience, if he were to consider himself as much French as he is Arabic, many people in the French community feel he is a poser at best and the Arabic community may feel he has denied his roots. Not to mention he is frequently called to singularly identify with either the Christian or Muslim community.

Perhaps you clearly identify with one particular nationality, but when someone asks in a certain way, “Who are you voting for?” or “What church do you go to?” or “Are you straight?” We know what they are after. Are you one of us, or one of them?

3) People strongly assert the identity that they feel is under attack or scrutiny. An example from my own life: When I attended college in South Carolina, I was frequently in situations where I was the token Yankee, and sometimes people felt the need in my presence to assert their southern roots and negatively compare both regions (and it is noteworthy to say that I have done the same). Immediately, I became defensive and wanted to declare in that moment that above all else, I was, in fact, a Northerner. Proud of it, thanks. The truth of the matter is, that even though I can easily point out my so-called Northern traits, styles, and mentalities, I also very strongly identify with much of the Southern way of things and claim those things just as much a part of me as a Northern way. And I would certainly root for the Gamecocks over PennState. However, when I travel overseas, the North/South identity becomes virtually non-existent and I assume the primary identity of an American, or something else altogether. I used geographic location as an example, but people generally assert a political stance, religious belief, or gender when that identity comes under attack.

When challenged, someone might very well declare that first and foremost, they are a Democrat or Republican, native citizen or proud immigrant, Christian (or Presbyterian, Catholic, Evangelical, etc.) and on and on. And what of gender? A man who wishes to clearly be identified as a man may feel the need to strongly assert his given gender in a variety of socially accepted ways when one of the other guys throws a jab at him for being sensitive or artsy. Have you asserted an identity that you felt was threatened? Have you ever thought about why or how you handled the challenge?

4) Many people feel threatened by globalization because they feel as if it is simply an American version of the Trojan horse. Maalouf makes a compelling statement when he says,

“It is all the easier to imagine the reactions of the various non-Western peoples whose every step, for many generations has already been accompanied by a sense of defeat and self-betrayal. They have had to admit that their ways were out of date, that everything they produced was worthless compared with what was produced by the West, that their attachment to traditional medicine was superstitious, their military glory just a memory, the great men that they had been brought up to revere-the poets, scholars, saints and travelers-disregarded by the rest of the world, their religion suspected of barbarism, their language now studied by only a handful of specialists, while they had to learn other people’s languages if they wanted to survive and work and remain in contact with the rest of mankind.” (page 74)

People from non-Western, or more specifically, non-American cultures have to sort out and sift through globalization in a way that Americans do not. For example, they may accept and welcome the Internet and access to new markets and communication, but feel stomped on when they are forced by necessity to speak English (their second or third or fourth language) in their home country. Maalouf, with ties to not only the Middle East, but also to the West, Christianity, Islam, Arabic, French, English and other seemingly paradoxical identities, offers that each society needs to modernize itself in its own way. One could argue, but isn’t it just inevitable? And globalization is not controlled by any one person or government or country. True. However, if each person evaluated how he or she participated or contributed to the globalization process, we may be able to maximize the advantages and lesson the negative impacts of this newer, faster, smaller world.

“…it is essential that the global civilization which globalization in general is creating not seem to be exclusively American. Everyone must be able to recognize himself in it, to identify with it a little. No one must be made to think it is irredeemably alien and therefore hostile to him.” (Maalouf, p120)

5) Ultimately, we want every one of our identities to be legitimatized and recognized by others. This is of course assuming that we have first allowed ourselves to internally recognize these allegiances. I think on this point, it can be viably argued that people coexist peacefully when they feel that they are recognized as a full member of society with each of their identities still in tact. Wars and genocide have been fought for many reasons, but history reveals that a great number of them have been fought mostly in the name of a particular identity (point 1).

When evaluated on a micro sociological level, people deeply desire group acceptance. If rejected by a group or berated for belonging to a group, the person is faced with the decision to fight to legitimize their position (point 3) or go through the painful process of disassociating themselves with a group or identity that they feel they belong to. This is especially damaging if a person is forced or pressured to deny heritage, religious background, language, or culture. This is where the issue of immigration comes into play. The person who has left their home and tried to make a new home on foreign soil must try to learn the language and respect the traditions, history and culture of the land to which they have settled but their native neighbors should never require that the immigrated person deny their heritage, native tongue, customs, or flag in order to be accepted into society.

6) Identity is like a panther.

“…a panther kills if you persecute it and kills if you leave it alone, and the worst thing you can do is to leave it alone after you’ve wounded it. But also because a panther can be tamed.” (Maalouf p143)

I think this metaphor is self-explanatory.


There is so much more to be said, thought about, and discussed. This blog, though tedious is woefully deficient. What is incredible about this topic is that every human being to ever exist has had to deal with this issue of identity. We can all relate to these topics and with very little effort, produce a myriad of our own personal examples to the topics presented here and beyond.

When I break ground into a new thought or collection of thoughts, I always want to take it to the next level: application. I suggest reading the book. You’ll gain more insight into the many facets of this discussion. I have been trying to identify my allegiances, the obvious and the tacit. I am trying to see which identities I protect most, and if/when I jeopardize the dignity of another person in order to assert my own associations or belittle theirs. It’s not magical or earth-shattering, but it’s a start.