肯认为美国代表着变化，在各种可能性面前，身份是可变的。约翰认为这听起来像是肯在读海德格尔;我们没有这样的自由来确定自己的身份。我们将会发现，Ken对文化遗产的概念也有更深层次的承诺——John和我们的客人似乎认为有些东西不需要保存(或者，它们应该被放在博物馆里)。

Out guest was born in Calcutta, India, and came to Europe at age 8 (she knew no English at the time). She came to America to get an M.F.A. at the University of Iowa, where she met her future husband. Her work has focused on the role of identity in a globalized world. Her first note is an ironic one: her native tongue Bengali has no exact translation of ‘identity’; only in our language is there such concern with identity ‘politics’ or ‘crisis’.

Mukherjee begins by comparing American to a “basement full of clothes”, where one discover and exchange identity. She recognizes that this phenomenon is much less the case with ‘ghetto’ identities, such as Indian communities around San Jose; one has less room to negotiate, as one is more quickly stereotyped.

John spots a paradox: we may reject an old identity in favor of a new one, but isn’t there some identity thatchoosesto make the switch? Ken rearticulates as: even if we see ourselves differently, there is aframeor afacticitythat remains? Mukherjee sees facticity in color, race, and mother tongue – and recognizes again that being a novelist in Berkeley gives more freedom than would be elsewhere allowed.

An audience member follows this point, that cosmopolitanism and universalism have historically been reserved for wealthy Europeans. Ken agrees, asking about people who are ‘stuck’ with certain identities. Our guest thinks the ascription of identity is a politicization, that education will solve these issues, and that American elite should direct their philanthropy towards the inner-city.

肯认为文化“家”的概念有更重要的内涵。他觉得自由既令人兴奋又令人眩晕;慕克吉“支持尽可能地遗忘”。慕克吉明白这一代价，但他欢迎它作为入学的代价。约翰认为我们可能是在“承认”我们自己的同质“美国化”。一位观众问道:“我们最终会不会都长得像老虎伍兹?”慕克吉承认这一趋势，但认为这不是同质化，而是“混血化”(肯笑了，并确认她“挪用”了这个词)。

The discussion concludes with stories from audience members. One talks about the purported importance of multiculturalism in Canada; Mukherjee, who lived there, describes Canadian multiculturalism was a “bureaucracy created in the 1970s”. Another argues that African-Americans have had their identities stripped in every sense (kidnapped, separated and converted), yet retain race as a locus of identity.

• Roving Philosophical Report(seek to 5:46):凯特琳·埃施(Caitlin Esch)探究了移民儿童返回父母故土的趋势。接受采访的华裔美国女性凯特琳(Caitlin)说，尽管她的父亲认为这是一种倒退，但她感觉离自己的根和父母更近了，她现在可以流利地与父母交谈。
• Sixty-Second Philosopher (seek to 49:33): Ian Shoales knows that his identity is frozen, but he can’t pin it down. It mostly reveals itself to him as precisely what he isn’t (as in, he’s “not a Mustang guy”)