ABSTRACT
Whenever students and colleagues inquire about my experience as a campus activist in the 1960s and want to know how things have changed, the most signifi cant development that comes to my mind is the rise of the politics of cultural identity. In the 1960s and early 1970s, activists tended to identify themselves through their political affi liation or the social causes they fought for. In those days they called themselves radicals, socialists, communists, Trotskyists, Maoists, anarchists, libertarians, liberals, squatters, grassroots activists or feminists. Feminists also presented themselves through their political affi liation: they were radical feminists, or socialist feminists, or another brand of feminist. But today, political affi liations have receded to the background and cultural, religious, sexual, gender or lifestyle-related identities have come the fore.
