What defines who we are and who we may become? How do class, gender, race, sexuality, and other social forces shape our identities? In what ways are our identities inherent or constructed, claimed or ascribed? In this course, we explore these and similar questions through the work of creative and critical writers, artists, and thinkers. We study key concepts such as double consciousness, intersectionality, and performativity. We consider how social dynamics, power, and privilege affect the language we use and the lives we live. All along, through writing and research assignments and class discussions, we examine and interpret visual, literary, and critical texts in an effort to define, together, what identity is and why it matters.