Abstract

Drawing on American and Latin American philosophers such as John Dewey, Alain Locke, and José Martí, this chapter articulates a thoroughgoing pluralistic view of ethnic identity in general and of Hispanic identity in particular. The chapter argues that the best way of elucidating ethnic experiences and identities without relying on essentialist assumptions is offered by a radical pluralism that we can find in the pragmatist tradition. This radical pluralism understands ethnic identity as intrinsically heterogeneous, that is, as necessarily containing inner diversity.