Anonymity’s Constructions and Deconstructions of the Self

Robin Wagner-Pacifici

doi:10.60923/issn.1971-8853/22524

Authors

Robin Wagner-Pacifici Department of Sociology, The New School, New York; Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5542-2751

Robin Wagner-Pacifici is a University Professor Emerita at the New School and a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). She has written five books on historical events, conflict, and its termination: The Art of Surrender: Decomposing Sovereignty at Conflict’s End (2005), Theorizing the Standoff: Contingency in Action (2000), Discourse and Destruction: The City of Philadelphia vs MOVE (1994), The Moro Morality Play: Terrorism as Social Drama (1986), and What is an Event?(2017). Current collaborations draw from both hermeneutic and computational approaches to textual analysis and have generated several publications.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.1971-8853/22524

Keywords:

A unified self, Democracy and individual appearance, Failed anonymity, Philanthropy, Hannah Arendt

Abstract

Thomas DeGloma’s book Anonymous: The Performance of Hidden Identities (2023) astutely illuminates anonymity, but also provides an opportunity to explore wider theoretical and societal issues, including democracy and conceptions of the self. This essay takes the book’s theoretical ambitions seriously and, in doing so, identifies several ways the overall project could be pushed forward. The essay’s reflections thus revolve around issues such as the morality of anonymity, the book’s methodology, the relationship between community and individualism, and the dynamic relationship between democracy and individual appearance.

References

Arendt, H. (1960). Freedom and Politics: A Lecture. Chicago Review, 14(1), 28–46. https://doi.org/10.2307/25293600

Arendt, H. (2006). Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought. Introduction by J. Kohn. New York, NY: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1961).

DeGloma, T. (2023). Anonymous: The Performance of Hidden Identities. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Goldstein, J. (2024). 1$ Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School. New York Times, February 26. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/nyregion/albert-einstein-college-medicine-bronx-donation.html?searchResultPosition=1.

Anonymity’s Constructions and Deconstructions of the Self

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