Often more than we realize, the question of personal identity is a fundamental one. How we conceive of ourselves determines our approach to the social, economic, and political spheres of our lives. It is from the answer to the question, “Who am I,” that we derive the unique aspects of our personalities. Only once each of us has established a sense of self can we begin to shape our relationships with those around us.
At the same time, however, this sense of self is always shifting. We adopt different identities at each stage of our lives. Even within a single stage, we become different “people” depending on the situation, changing the way we speak or dress to emphasize certain aspects of our personalities.
Much like the frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, it is the combination of our individual identities that decides the nature of the collective. Social and political relationships depend on this combination, arising when our conceptions of ourselves interact with others’ ideas of themselves. Such interactions alert us to the similarities and differences between individuals. On a broader scale, we term these differences “diversity.”
The dynamic nature of our personal identities in turn renders diversity consistently fluctuating. It is a concept without a static characterization, with a definition that transforms depending on the individual, community, or society that considers it. However, it is also one of utmost importance. By virtue of its significance and perpetual variation, diversity becomes a matter with which we must constantly grapple.
With this issue, the HPR confronts topics at the intersection of diversity and the political. Perry Abdulkadir analyzes the role of Muslim politicians in mitigating Islamophobia in the United States. Turning their gaze to the academic realm, Ignacio Sabaté, Hana Connelly, and Connor Harris investigate topics tied to the university and its disciplines. Taking us close to the HPR’s home, Sabaté tracks the movement to create Latinx Studies at Harvard. Widening her aperture, Connelly ventures into universities’ literary scenes, seeking to add nuance to readings of non-Western works beyond those tied to the author’s race, gender, or ethnicity. Finally, Connor Harris interrogates the debate surrounding affirmative action, focusing on the discussion sparked by the work of University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law professor Richard Sander.
The articles in all six sections of this magazine are varied in topic, perspective, and style. Their settings span the globe, taking us from a small town in Ohio to the bustling metropolis of Karachi, Pakistan. These pieces deal with subjects ranging from migrant labor in the Middle East to Frank Underwood of Netflix’s House of Cards. They are unified, however, by their excellence. I am positive that they represent the very best in college political journalism.
Image source: Flickr/fuseboxradio
Image source: Flickr/fuseboxradio
