Al Ahram, p.12, (20/7/2008)

Amartya Sen …Identity, freedom and creativity

By: Samir Morcos

Amartya Sen published a book entitled "Identity and Violence" in 2006. The book was widely read.  It raised a lot of debates in Europe. I hope that this book would be translated into Arabic as it included valuable thoughts that would benefit the Arab region.

Amartya Sen is an Indian economist who got Nobel Prize in economic sciences in 1998. He taught in Oxford and Harvard. He was born in Dhaka which was part of India then became the capital of Bangladesh where he closely watched the sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims. Amartya Sen refuses categorizing human beings.  He says that a human being has several identities during his lifetime due to his relationships, work experience, cultural background, political affiliations, etc. Then he discovers the mistake of categorizing human beings and putting them within certain groups. He added that believers of a certain religion would have different views regarding a certain issue due to their different experiences and social background. Therefore, the human being has several identities. The author cites proofs from literary works and from his own experience. To sum up, there is no static identity. Identity is formed and then develops. It should be open and creative not dogmatic; if dogmatic, it will lead to violence and destruction and intolerance of other identities.