The politics of identity is concerned with exploring identity beyond something that an agent ‘possesses’; instead, identity is interrogated as a complex and often problematic category in social relations. In an era where ‘identity politics’ are heavily scrutinised, this edited collection turns the focus around to the ‘politics of identity’, exploring how identity can be constituted, and the ways in which it is created and contested, multiple and contradictory. The book provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the ways in which identity can be theorised, and the complexities that emerge in identity practices.

The book contributes a unique interdisciplinary examination of timely case studies from Latin America, Europe, South-East Asia, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, and the Middle East. These case studies explore emerging and problematic identity practices and policies that have significant political, social, cultural and economic impact in relation to gender and sexuality, place and space, belonging and inclusion, migration and citizenship, and foreign and security policy. These are explored through a range of approaches from international relations, sociology, citizenship studies, social psychology, memory studies, narrative theory and assemblage theory, with different disciplines and perspectives critically analysing questions of power, subjectivity, hierarchy and resistance. The book showcases the political implications of identity, how it is constituted, and the effects it produces. 

This edited collection will be of particular interest to students of international relations theory, sociology, migration studies, gender and sexuality, post-colonialism and policy-making at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.