"The Complexity of Identity: Who Am I?" by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of The Complexity of Identity: Who Am I?, defines what, in his terms, identity is, and ultimately who people are.

An interesting observation that he makes is that we classify ourselves as the things that others notice, and reflect to us. Writing about a time in which his students where asked to define who they where, Tatum observed that many of them did not mention certain characteristics that in our society would be seen as "dominant," and that instead they focused on stating those characteristics that tended to be associated as "subordinate."  The "dominant" characteristics included examples such as being White, Protestant, a male, or heterosexual, while "subordinate" characteristics included others such as being of color, Jewish, a female, or homosexual.

Personally, I think that Tatum's definition, or observation, of what a person's identity is, is quite accurate, and pretty much the ugly truth. If I were to be asked who I was, I would probably briefly state that I am a skinny Mexican-American young adult who is passionate about computers. It's pretty self explanatory, and surely something anyone can see. Thus, I agree with Tatum in the sense that identity can be defined as the things that others see, that reflect on you.