Identities

Each of us has a sense of who we are, where we come from, and what we believe. But is identity assigned at birth? Shaped by circumstance? Or is it something we choose, that changes over time? In this hour, TED speakers describe their journeys to answer the question: who am I?

Entrepreneur Tan Le tells her family's harrowing journey from Vietnam to Australia. She talks about how her upbringing as a Vietnamese refugee living in Australia has defined her identity. What is it like to raise a child whose very identity is fundamentally different than yours? Writer Andrew Solomon shares what he learned from talking to dozens of parents and how the experience shaped the identities of both parent and child. Novelist Elif Shafak describes how fiction has allowed her to explore many different lives, to jump over cultural walls, and how it may have the power to overcome identity politics. Country and culture used to serve as the cornerstones of identity, but what does "home" mean to someone who comes from many places? Writer Pico Iyer talks about the meaning of home in a world where the old boundaries of nation-states no longer apply.

Learn more or listen again to this week's episode, which originally aired October 13, 2013.

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