SKIN 2003 index

Look up a word in the dictionary and you will find it defined by other words-- which are in turn defined by still other words-- and so on. Meaning is always deferred. Definitions are derived not from something inherent within words, but from their proximity to other words in a community of words called language. Meaning is not fixed-- it is contingent, it is mutable. Human identity is like that. We define ourselves in relationship to other identities in a fluid community of identities called culture. We are as dependent upon each other for our identities, as words are upon each other for meaning. Identity, like meaning, is not fixed-- it is contingent, it is mutable.