ABSTRACT
Identity is by definition stable – A = A – there is no room for difference. But what can collective identity mean? And what sort of ‘identity’ is it where the make-up of the object or subject of consciousness has changed over time? What can it mean to be a unique individual whose identity is defined by belonging to a community that changes over time? In fact, what does possessing an identity mean? What does it mean if an individual claims or, indeed, rejects an ‘identity’? The question of identity is at the core of any debate about framing categories, policing boundaries, selecting and processing data, witnessing events and formulating evidence as the basis of judgement, decision-making and action. As in the stable definition of identity, what does it mean to say: this is the same tree we carved our initials into twenty-five years ago; or, it was you who committed the offence and no other person; or, I am American?
