ABSTRACT
W e live in uncertain times; we probably have always lived in uncertain times. However, the recent collapse of the global certitudes of the Cold War (the Berlin Wall fell only on November 9, 1989), and the subsequent jockeying for position among many previously “latent” contenders for economic and socio-political prominence in the new world order, has honed our sense of uncertainty about the world we live in. The events of September 11, 2001 jolted all this into sharp relief, creating a pervasive atmosphere of uncertainty not only about our social, cultural, and economic future, but also about what kind of people we are and who we will be—uncertainty about self in social context.
