Appiah Fractured Identities Summary

Conclusion Response to Appiah’s “Racial Identities”

Kwame Anthony Appiah, an outstanding writer, voices his opinion on the subject of our culture and racism in his essay, “Racial Identities.” Appiah’s conclusion has a lot of meaning to itself along with a sense of explanation. He says, “So here are my positive proposals: live with fractured identities; engage in identity play; find solidarity, yes, but recognize contingency, and above all, practice irony.” Moreover, these positive proposals are Appiah’s ideas to help guide our lives in a positive way. To live with fractured identities and learn to understand the unpredictable. To engage in identity play and test ourselves to new abilities while learning to testing our identity. Finding

solidarity and distinguishing yourself among others while learning where you belong from building your own foundation. Recognizing contingency by realizing future outcomes along with “what-ifs” when you make decisions along the way. Lastly, to practice irony; showing you’re not afraid to turn the social norm upside down. Appiah also says that, “if I am wrong...you need only correct me. But if I am right, so it seems to me, there is a work of the imagination that we need to begin.” If I were to disagree with him, I would need only to explain why I believe so, but if I agree, I must explain why as well.
Taking into account the depth and structure of this conclusion, it’s meaning can be easily misinterpreted.

When Appiah says, “positive proposals,” to me, it’s his way of informing us that he has his own views on life. That these “proposals” are his own ideas of what, we as people should attend to. Living with fractured identities would be his first. Now what does that mean and why does it apply to the context? A fractured identity, for example, would be a man who studied politics in college, but hates to vote and only wears jeans. This man’s identity is fractured because it’s completely different than other people’s views of a politician. Yes, he studied politics, but what politic doesn’t like to vote? Also, shouldn’t he learn to wear dress pants other than jeans? Some would think of this man as a weirdo who doesn’t fit into our cultural norms, or someone who is unpredictable. When Appiah says, “live with fractured identities,” I assume he means to understand the unthinkable and realize the beauty of other possibilities. I remember having a friend in high school who had a fractured identity. He loved to dress up for school almost every single day except it was always different types of classy clothing. He never wore just a suit and tie, but other crazy outfits that always left people staring and wondering what he was going to wear next. Sometimes, it’d totally shock people when he would come to school wearing sweat pants because people just never knew what to expect from

him. Living with fractured identities is important because it helps give an opportunity to be slightly different with a twist. It’s never good to be too predictable because that’s what makes someone boring. Understanding other’s fractured identities is just as important because sometimes the social norm isn’t broad enough. Sometimes it’s good to be unordinary.
Moving forward, Appiah tells us to “engage in identity play.” I believe the meaning behind these words is significant because it’s something we do almost everyday of our lives. Engaging in identity play is finding something else about yourself that’s different then the “normal” you. Testing the thoughts of what others have on you by violating the social norm while not conforming to fixed identities. Finding a new and different outfit to wear that’s not what you’re used to wearing, is playing with your identity. Learning how to swim when you’ve skied your whole life or hanging out with people who are completely out of your friend group is engaging in identity play. Looking past all the close minded thoughts you have about the world and expanding your horizons elsewhere. What Appiah is trying to tell us, is that we shouldn’t try to focus on becoming apart of the social norm just because others are, but to embrace our opportunity to be different, expand our knowledge of our own culture and ability to seek out other interests we may be too afraid to try. I believe Appiah’s assumption is correct because most of us today, only seem to surround ourselves with people alike. This is also due to cultural geneticism, which without a doubt is normal for majority of our population, but the only misconception, is that we don’t always “want” to be the way we are, but choose to be because we’re afraid of being different from others inside our own culture. While learning to become different from others based on your own interests and curiosities, we as people can learn to accept others for their own beliefs and associations, therefore, creating a broader culture of understanding and less judgmental people.
I remember one day when I was much younger, I decided I didn’t want to go to recess, but instead decided to read a book on the curb. I remember meeting a boy named Julio who spoke only spanish and he was reading also. I decided to try talking to him and when I did, most of my friends who were playing basketball stopped and stared at me. This is because they were confused why a white boy was sitting next to and talking to a mexican boy. A few weeks later, I had still been friends with Julio and when my friends finally realized it wasn’t so weird, they had began talking to Julio as well. I’d like to think of Appiah’s proposal, “engaging in identity play,” as another way of saying, “thinking outside the box.” Moreover, thinking with an open-mind and accepting other types of cultures and identities as something other than different to your knowledge, is a great way to live your life in my opinion and Appiah’s as well.
Another proposal in Appiah’s conclusion, is to find solidarity.

Defining solidarity by the context of Appiah’s essay, I would say the meaning of this is to find where you belong relating to your beliefs. To overcome your obstacles of life by realizing who you are on the inside and the out, while finding others with mutual feelings you can relate to. The reason something like this is important is because we all are in search for others who believe in the same things we do. This builds unity and stronger relations between individuals, thus creating in someways, a culture of its own. An example of its context would be, “Most of us remember 9/11 in solidarity.” What this technically means, is that majority of us americans, share the same beliefs and feelings over what happened on that day. We share solidarity because majority of us feel the same way. Finding solidarity brings us together as a group and as a culture and what Appiah means, or why I assume he believes it’s important, is because without solidarity, we are all individuals wandering this world without answers to our questions. Without questions to our answers could be misleading, while becoming more close-minded with nothing to relate our own thoughts nor beliefs to anything similar nor different. Solidarity builds structure along with hope. It shows cultures what is right and what is wrong in the context of a situation. Solidarity is what brings people together by uniting them through similarities and by answering

unanswered questions. My freshman year of college I ran into a lot of trouble with the law, not because I’m a bad person but because I had made a mistake down the road. I had began to think that I was the only one who could’ve possibly done something so wrong and absurd on campus. I was filled with stress and a sense of indignity to the point where I had to see a counselor. Through the process, I landed myself in a discussion group with others who had been through the exact same situation I had been through. Talking over my problems along with listening to other’s, I began to find solidarity within the discussion group. This helped relieve massive amounts of stress off my shoulders as well as giving me motivation to finish my last semester of college on a positive note.
Next to finding solidarity, was Appiah’s proposal, “recognize contingency.” Recognizing contingencies is very important because it ties along with finding solidarity. It means to understand that other’s may share a different idea or opinion other than yours, but still accept you and your belief. What Appiah means by this, is to find solidarity within a group of people, but to acknowledge the different beliefs of others who are acknowledging yours. To be aware of others engaging in identity play. I agree with Appiah’s proposal along the lines of finding where you are most comfortable. To live that fruitful life of questions that can be answered and thoughts that can be shared is one of the most important things an individual should seek to become content. Finding the confidence to recognize contingencies through solidarity to understand that just because your thoughts are in one place, doesn’t mean someone else’s could be somewhere else. Finding solidarity while recognizing contingency helps become a more intelligent person, I believe. It broadens the mind of opportunities and opens up a new world of questions.
Lastly, Appiah’s proposal towards the end of his conclusion is to practice irony. Being able to realize that not all things happen because they’re supposed to, but to be able to understand the differences that come around your own cultural beliefs everyday. The ability to recognize contingency when it comes around out of the ordinary, is practicing irony; knowing that just because I go to an American school, doesn’t mean that someone from another culture may be wearing something totally different from the social norm. By practicing irony, comes a better understanding individual who realizes cultural identities are always somewhat different. For an example, everybody in my class knows I love to wear jeans and a sweatshirt almost every day to school. If one day, I decided to wear tight jeans, cow-boy boots and a flannel t-shirt, then that would be practicing irony. To flip the social norm completely upside down, is to practice irony. Therefore, I agree with Appiah’s last proposal because this is what brings people together. It is a gift to recognize the differences in our culture while participating in being different as well. The underlying thought process of an individual who’s recognition of other’s identities becomes stronger and healthier by understanding the world’s cultural differences along with other’s basic opinions.
In retrospect, I have summarized the writer Appiah’s conclusion to his essay, “Racial Identities.” Discussing his proposals and extending the meaning of each, in such a way that can be related to, to help build a stronger understanding of learning what to live by in the eyes of Kwame Appiah.