When I suggest to move from antagonism to agonism, it's hard to to achieve in one day. I don't have the solution. I don't have the self-ability. If not, I would earn more money than the royalties on my book if I patent the solution to all the problems in America. But as I mentioned, I have nothing against the politics of difference, which is a core element of identity politics. As I say, it can help to achieve positive outcomes, recognition, respect, justice, and so on. But I would like to argue or try to promote the politics of IN-difference, knowing that we should all have access to rights, recognition, respect. We should be part of the fight against socioeconomic inequalities, mechanisms of exclusion, but we can't pick and choose.

Professor Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia joins us in Hell to discuss her book "Violent America: The Dynamics of Identity Politics in a Multiracial Society".

Dr. Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University–Newark. She is also a Senior Researcher affiliated with the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics (Sciences Po Paris). Her research focuses on the politics of immigration and racism, management of diversity, urban/minority policies, anti-discrimination, security issues, xenophobia, extreme-right wing movements, immigrant integration, and European policies. She has taught at universities both in France and in the United States.

Image: Fraternal Twins Cubism by David S. Soriano, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons