Summary
Identity: Laurie Taylor presents a special programme exploring the ways in which we define ourselves and gain a sense of belonging – from race, religion and nationality to membership of a subcultural tribe. He talks to Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University, and author of a new book which takes issues with fixed notions of identity; Carrie Dunn, author of a study of female football fandom and Karl Spracklen, Professor of Music, Leisure and Culture at Leeds Beckett University and author of a new book about the ‘Goths’, a counter cultural identity originating in the 1980s.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.5 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.2 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. I'm Laurie Taylor and this is the Thinking Loud Podcasts for BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:40.8 | Now as some of you may have already recognized you're listening to a |
| 0:44.8 | displaced person because my natural habitat of course is Wednesday afternoon at |
| 0:49.7 | four o'clock that's the time slot occupied by thinking aloud for the last 20 years. But here I am, |
| 0:55.0 | courtesy of some remote but no doubt highly skilled scheduler, popping up on Wednesday |
| 1:00.4 | evening. Boxing day evening. And that's not the full extent of my |
| 1:04.5 | displacement apart from being shuffled along the schedules thinking aloud has |
| 1:08.2 | also been expanded, stretched from its traditional 30 minutes to an epic |
| 1:12.3 | 43 minutes. But to business. Now you'll be |
| 1:16.1 | pleased to hear that I've finished the count. Altogether I sent out 140 |
| 1:20.4 | Christmas cards and in return received 118. Now when one takes into account people |
| 1:26.1 | who've died but not been crossed off my address list, well I've more or less broken even. But there has been one disturbing feature of this annual exercise in reciprocity. |
| 1:36.5 | I cannot help but notice a shift in the motifs that adorn large numbers of my cards. |
| 1:42.0 | You see, whereas in the past most of my cards featured illustrations |
| 1:45.5 | of cheerful festivities, they now have a more sober agenda than a more wise men pursuing |
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