Today's ubiquitous conflicts between warring constituencies that claim incompatible
and exclusive identities suggest that these large-scale theatrical
techniques for producing and stabilizing identity and soliciting national,
"racial," or ethnic identification have been widely taken up. The reduction
of identity to the uncomplicated, militarized, fraternal versions of pure
sameness pioneered by fascism and Nazism in the 1930s is now routine,
particularly where the forces of nationalism, "tribalism," and ethnic division
are at work. Identity is thus revealed as a critical element in the distinctive
vocabulary used to voice the geopolitical dilemmas of the late
modern age. Where the power of absolute identity is summoned up, it is
often to account for situations in which the actions of individuals and
groups are being reduced to little more than the functioning of some overarching
presocial mechanism. In the past, this machinery was often understood
as a historical or economic process that defined the special, manifest
destiny of the group in question. These days, it is more likely to be represented
as a prepolitical, sociobiological, or biocultural feature, something
mysterious and genetic that sanctions especially harsh varieties of deterministic
thinking.
