Self Definition argues that sex, gender, and race are constructions by the ineffable self as it seeks to define its possibilities free of domination. The self's embodiments are themselves performances of self definition. Teodros Kiros supports his argument by a careful reading of the literature from both the Global South and Global North that spans figures, works, and eras from antiquity to our late modern present. These readings demonstrate that race, gender, and sex are performed in the Global South radically differently from in the Global North. These three notions as markers of identity are fluid, open, and expansive, and Kiros brilliantly shows this through inquiry into thought rooted in Egypt, Ethiopia, India, and China. By the time that the Global North forges possibilities of the self in the modern period, race, gender, and sex become fixed. Biology and anatomy become understood as destinies, and the possibilities of the self are deeply constrained. This book approaches case studies of key figures and movements chronologically and thematically, and in doing so Kiros highlights the tensions between the openness of the Global South and the rigidity of the Global North through which human possibilities as exercises of self-definition become clear under conditions of freedom. Our views of self definition will forever be transformed after reading this important text.
Teodros Kiros is professor of philosophy and literature at Berklee College of Music, a Non Resident Dubois Fellow at Harvard University, host and producer of African Ascent, and author of thirteen books, including Self-Construction and The Formation of Human Values.
Part One Chapter 1 The Self in Ancient Egypt Chapter 2 The Self in Classical Indian Thought Chapter 3 Sri-Aurobindo Chapter 4 The Self in Chinese Thought Chapter 5 Buddhist Innovations Chapter 6 The Self in Greek Thought Chapter 7 Race, Sex, and Gender in the Quran Chapter 8 The Self in the Enlightenment thinkers Part Two Chapter 9 Modernity and the Sexed and Gendered bodies Chapter 10 The Idea of Existential Seriousness/Revolutionary Theory and Race Chapter 11 Self-Definition Conclusion Self-Definition
Self-Definition is erudite and enchanting! It lures the readers to dive into the philosophical depth of the East and the West, finding out ontologically the definition of Self. In this monograph, Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian philosophies are given as much attention as Western philosophers like Descartes, Foucault, and Sartre. Finally, the author's original interpretation of the philosopher Paget Henry's philosophical reasoning to equate Brahman with African notion of Ego sets the foundation stone for the Global South in self-definition. -- Ashmita Khasnabish, Lasell College Against commentators asserting that attention to identity corrupts politics and individuals' lives, Teodros Kiros brilliantly argues that identity and processes of self-definition are essential to the political realm and to our understandings of self. Self-Definition rejects the Eurocentrism underlying numerous volumes on the subject. It examines figures, movements, and scholarship from the Global South and Global North. It also explains the who, what, where, when, why, and how of human self-definition across a range of eras. Upon finishing Kiros's book, all readers will have to reevaluate their prior conceptions of universality, particularity, and notions of race, gender, sex, and sexuality, especially as a result of the often silenced and disavowed philosophical heritages forged by Global South actors. Human beings are protean. So too, as Kiros demonstrates, are the ways humans define the self and perform identity. -- Neil Roberts, University of Toronto
