Abstract

Early-modern «identity» discourses regarding the individual seem to have been extended to political entities only by modern translations of earlier philosophical writings. The 19th century uses of the word included several other aspects of science, religion, and biopolitics. Although this was the quintessential century of the idea of the nation, no relevant concept of «national identity» emerged yet. At the turn of the 20th-century a major semantic shift became apparent, which would lay the ground for our present understanding. New meanings of «identity» emerged in fields such as psychoanalysis, anthropology, urban and literature studies. They considered the congruence between the natural or social environment and the «inner» dimension to be essential to escape alienation. Heidegger placed himself at the centre of this new debate by making «identity» an issue of authentic existence. Yet until around 1960, the word’s frequency in common language, while increasing, remained low. It seeped into the public debate in the following decades and has been exploding exponentially in the realm of media and colloquial speech since 1990. Since the 1970s, it has permeated nationalist, regionalist and neo-communitarian politics as well as postcolonialism and identity politics, with the latter exerting a considerable influence on the normative evolution of personal rights