This is Sidor, a podcast from the Smithsonian.

I'm Tony Cohn.

And I'm Megan Dietry.

In this episode we're talking about identity.

Our identities help us understand ourselves and find our people.

We build them through life experiences.

It's our careers, our geographies, and our community.

We preserve them in family histories and religious beliefs. Dr.

Gennett Cole has spent her life exploring the meaning of identity.

First, as an anthropologist, and now is the meaning of identity. First, as an anthropologist,

and now is the director of the Smithsonian's

National Museum of African Art.

Visual art, she says, can help visitors

understand the diversity of a place like Africa,

but also the many ways an individual can self-identify as African.

But our identity isn't just one thing.

How we see ourselves has a huge role in how we see others around us.

We sat with Janetta in her office and chatted about has a huge role in how we see others around us.

We sat with Janetta in her office and chatted about just that.

She's one of the most dynamic speakers at the Smithsonian,

so I'm just going to let her lay it out for you

uninterrupted. lay it out for you uninterrupted. When we use a word identity, I think the most thought about way that we are communicating an idea is this.

...