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The Hebrew Bible talks about people forming a collective identity that lines with faith, freedom, and belonging. -
One of the earliest autobiographies, Augustine’s spiritual journey shows the tension between public faith and private self, asking what truly defines a person. -
An Old English tale where the hero constructs his identity through heroic deeds and lineage. Explores tribal allegiance and the tension between pagan and Christian identities. -
A palace and fortress complex of the Nasrid dynasty that reflects Islamic identity in Spain, with intricate arabesques, calligraphy, and geometric patterns asserting cultural and religious expression. -
This Renaissance sculpture represents the idealized male identity: strength, beauty, intellect. It reflects both individual greatness and civic identity in Florence. -
“To be or not to be…” Hamlet’s existential struggle probes identity, duty, madness, and the self in conflict with society. -
Douglass reclaims his identity from the erasure of slavery, using literacy and autobiography as tools of resistance and self-definition. -
A haunting allegory of alienation, this story explores how identity can be eroded by society, family, and internalized guilt. -
Through stream-of-consciousness, Joyce charts an artist’s coming-of-age, his rejection of religion and nation, and his quest for self-creation. -
This poem powerfully asserts black identity and equality, envisioning a future where African Americans are fully recognized as part of the American family. -
This introspective portrait by Kathe Kollwitz captures the tension between personal grief and political commitment. Kollwitz’s work consistently addressed identity as a mother, artist, and pacifist in war-torn Germany. -
This book explores the formation of female identity through existentialist philosophy, asserting that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." It dissects how women’s identity is shaped by patriarchy and culture. -
The unnamed protagonist reflects on being unseen and misrepresented as a Black man in America, exploring how identity is shaped by invisibility and resistance. -
Baldwin’s essays reflect on race, sexuality, and national belonging in mid-century America, exposing how identity is shaped by personal and historical trauma, as well as social structures. -
The film explores the protagonist’s shifting sense of self as she confronts mortality, beauty, and womanhood. It’s a poetic study of female identity under the gaze of others and of the camera.