Identity Politics and Tragedy: Terence’s Call for Shared Humanity

The image is of the art installation “Shibboleth" which was created by Doris Salcedo in 2007 at the Tate Modern Museum in London. The term 'shibboleth' originates from a biblical story where the Gileadites used the pronunciation of the word to identify and kill fleeing Ephraimites whose dialect lacked the 'sh' sound. As a result, 'shibboleth' has come to symbolize a marker of power—power to discriminate, exclude, and destroy. For Salcedo, the crack symbolizes the pervasive history of racism intertwined with modernity—a divide between wealth and poverty and the global north and south. By inviting viewers to peer into the fissure, she challenges us to confront the unsettling realities of inequality and exclusion that continue to shape our world. I think Salcedo’s Shibboleth offers a poignant visual metaphor for the message of this article: a call to action to confront the fractures that divide us. The crack in the museum floor symbolizes the discomforting truths of history: the unequal allocation of power, discrimination rooted in identity, and divisions perpetuated between demographic groups that continues to persist. Like the biblical story that inspired its name, the work reminds us how identity can be used as a tool for exclusion and violence, often leaving deep and enduring scars. As we think about bridging societal divides, Salcedo’s artwork serves as a call to not only seek connection but also to remember the discomfort of these truths. Acknowledging these inequalities and their lasting impact is essential to building bridges that are genuine and lasting and rooted not just in shared humanity but also in accountability and a commitment to justice.

“Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto” (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 77)

"I am human, and nothing human is alien to me"

I believe this phrase penned by the Roman playwright Terence in Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor) in 163 B.C.E. resonates powerfully in today’s world where tragic events—once attributed to acts of God or fate—are subject to social scrutiny, blame, and intense political conflict.[1]

Recently, as I was reading through the comments on news articles reporting on one public tragedy after another, I was struck by the polarizing reactions. Instead of a common response of compassion, empathy, and organizing around collective responsibility, the discourse often devolves into anger, blame, or defensiveness. It’s unsettling to see how events that once brought people together now seem to divide us and highlight our ideological or emotional divisions. Rather than unifying around shared grief or compassion, today’s public tragedies often reveal and sometimes deepen societal rifts. Americans increasingly perceive risks and hardships as consequences of political decisions which fosters political polarization and social distrust. Recent surveys show that Americans’ confidence in institutions and even in one another is at an all-time low.[2] Political divisions seem to shape our responses to tragedy and hardship and compassion is often only extended to those who are part of our ideological community.

Last spring, I was in a course that examined the role of lived experience and narratives in research, and we read a chapter from Yascha Mounk’s The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time. Mounk delves into the complexities of identity and the ways in which our attempts to assert individual or group experiences can deepen our divides rather than foster connection. He argues that while personal narratives and identities are powerful, they can become isolating if we fail to recognize the shared humanity beneath them.[3] To me, this is where Terence’s words feel so vital as they remind us that no matter how different our lives or beliefs may seem, we are all united by our capacity for human experiences—for pain, for joy, for loss, and for resilience.

The question then becomes: how do we reconcile our individual perspectives with a universal human connection? How do we hold space for personal identity while acknowledging our collective humanity? This challenge feels especially urgent in an era where online platforms amplify voices and opinions that sometimes seek to divide rather than unite or confirm our own biases. Mounk suggests that part of the answer lies in recognizing the limitations of utilizing identity as the primary lens through which we see each other. When we reduce each other to our identities—racial, political, or religious—we lose sight of the nuanced and multifaceted nature of being human. The act of reducing another person to a single story makes it all too easy to see them as “other” and to dismiss their experiences as fundamentally alien to our own.

This isn’t to say that identity should be disregarded. On the contrary, our individual and collective identities are essential to our sense of self and our understanding of the world. However, as Mounk argues, identity should serve as a bridge to greater understanding, not a barrier. The identities we hold are parts of a larger, shared human experience. If we can approach others with the belief that “nothing human is alien to me,” perhaps we can begin to dismantle the divisions that seem so entrenched. Empathy becomes possible when we see each other’s humanity as connected to our own.

In a time when so many of our interactions are mediated by screens and algorithms that prioritize engagement over empathy this perspective is difficult to maintain but all the more necessary. Terence’s words are a call to view each other with a fundamental respect and understanding, even when—or especially when—we may feel that our experiences or identities make us fundamentally different than others. If we are to navigate the seemingly constant crises, conflicts, and public tragedies of our era, we must commit to recognizing each other’s shared humanity.

 Citations:

[1] P. Terentius and Anthony James Brothers, Terence: The Self-Tormentor (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1988).

[2] Thomas D. Beamish, After Tragedy Strikes: Why Claims of Trauma and Loss Promote Public Outrage and Encourage Political Polarization (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2024).

[3] Yascha Mounk, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time (London: Penguin Books, 2024).