This is the Quality Contributions Roundup. It showcases interesting and well-written comments and posts from the period covered. If you want to get an idea of what this community is about or how we want you to participate, look no further (except the rules maybe--those might be important too).
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Notes -
I keep thinking about our various discussions of identity, and I keep coming back to how self-focused the modern western notion of identity is. In the past, almost all of a human’s identity was proscribed for him often before birth, though sometimes afterwards. You were given your identity, born into a certain social class, a certain culture, and within a family, clan and tribe. You practiced whatever religion your tribe did. And you were treated as a member of your natal gender as well. The intersection of all of those identities you were handed at birth determined most of your behavior. And the idea that you might just choose something else was unusual. A woman in 1800 couldn’t just reject her womanhood or do things associated with men. You couldn’t just decide you want to be a Buddhist or Muslim in Catholic Poland simply wasn’t an option. A peasant could not simply decide he wanted to be a noble and a noble couldn’t chuck aside his title and be a farmer.
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