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Passing
An Alternative History of Identity
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A rich social and cultural history of (un)belonging.
A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is "cancelled" for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name.
All of them have "passed", performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognised as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories – in life and in art – tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations?
Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, "Passing" is a fascinating, timely history of the self.
A rich social and cultural history of (un)belonging.
A slave woman in 1840s America dresses as a white, disabled man to escape to freedom, while a twenty-first-century black rights activist is "cancelled" for denying her whiteness. A Victorian explorer disguises himself as a Muslim in Arabia's forbidden holy city. A trans man claiming to have been assigned male at birth is exposed and murdered by bigots in 1993. Today, Japanese untouchables leave home and change their name.
All of them have "passed", performing or claiming an identity that society hasn't assigned or recognised as theirs. For as long as we've drawn lines describing ourselves and each other, people have naturally fallen or deliberately stepped between them. What do their stories – in life and in art – tell us about the changing meanings of identity? About our need for labels, despite their obvious limitations?
Lipika Pelham reflects on tales of fluidity and transformation, including her own. From Pope Joan to Parasite, Brazil to Bangladesh, London to Liberia, "Passing" is a fascinating, timely history of the self.
About the author
Lipika Pelham worked in the BBC newsroom for over a decade and also reported from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. In 2005-2013, she lived in Jerusalem, where she learnt Hebrew, made award-winning films and wrote a memoir, "The Unlikely Settler". She now works as an independent documentary maker for the BBC and other broadcasters.