Deadly Identities by Amin Maalouf

According to Maalouf, a person shouldn’t have to define himself or his identity to people if he were exposed or raised according to different cultures. It is unfair to him- as it is to other people- to have to choose between certain aspects of his identity, or even hide those facets and ”save” them for a different gathering or group of people who can cope with those different sides ”The identity cannot be compartmentalized” .

As a matter of fact, Maalouf has been asked several times if he felt “ more French or more Lebanese” and when he answered “both”1, people actually took him aside and tried to make sure if that was what he really thought to himself, not just what he told people. Most people expect us to have a “Fundamental Belonging” where your utmost loyalty lays. This loyalty must be to a religious belief, colt, tribe or political cause. Anything more complicated than that, and you’re either a liar or too much to handle.

Maalouf, a native Lebanese and a French citizen for 22 years, believes that a man should “embrace his different identities though he may be viewed as a traitor like Rhine -Turk born but German in upbringing- who cannot assume both identities freely”