Inspired in part by his lawsuit against the US Secretary of Defense while serving as an active
duty military officer in this book James Skelly explores and critiques the dominant conceptual
bases for self and identity. Arguing that our use of language in the construction of identities
is unwitting unreflective and has engendered horrific consequences for tens of millions of
human beings Skelly shows that we need to overcome sectarian modes of thinking and engage in
much deeper forms of solidarity with others. This book offers not only an academic reflection
on the concept of identity but one that delves into the nature of the self and identity by
drawing on Skelly's concrete experience of attempting to present a self-identity opposed to war
in the face of the political psychological religious and legal arguments put forth in a
year-long battle by the United States government to prove that he did not qualify as a
conscientious objector. One consequence is that Skelly argues that in order to create a new and
more pacific human sensibility we must help ourselves and others to gain sovereignty over our
social worlds and the definition of 'who we are'. This will necessitate a broad educational
project that arms individuals with the tools necessary to insure that the definitions and
categorizations to which we are subject in the construction of traditional notions of
'identity' can be resisted and ultimately transcended.
