[...]... translated and thereby come to have meaning within a context is not the same as holding that normative principles and entitlements are relative to cultural context or that historical context taints their value Rather, it is to make a claim that context matters because context sets the parameters of practical debates about the sort of considerations which are 4 Reasons of Identity central to a norm and. .. normative tools, such as rights, by which individuals can advance claims, obscures the group-based nature of many important claims and suitable protections People face disadvantages which are structural and relational, rather than intentional and direct, and many of these disadvantages target group-based characteristics.14 The approach developed here recognizes that individuals and communities generate claims. .. and so a pragmatic need arises to develop institutions able to respond to them fairly This chapter elaborates on these reasons and then provides an overview of the theoretical framework for interpreting and assessing identity claims developed in this book It examines the meaning and ambiguities of identity in political and scholarly debates, and the widely held position that identity and identity claims. .. with Barbara Arneil, Monique Deveaux, and Rita Dhamoon; and Diversity and Equality I am grateful to my co-editors and to all the contributors to these volumes for helping me to think about the arguments that arise in relation identity claims I want to thank Monique Deveaux and Barbara Arneil for being such good friends and wonderful colleagues for the last few years, and for the helpful initial discussions... makers mean to avoid Rather, good public decision making in democratic societies committed to equality and diversity relies on decision makers who have access to fair and transparent criteria by which to assess identity claims and to reassess the existing apparatus of public decision making to ensure that it reXects a fair-minded approach to the claims of diVerent peoples and their ways of life In addition... particularly new about the fact that public institutions assess identity claims Such assessments have been an aspect of public decision making for a long time and many approaches taken by institutions to assessing identity claims have been shaped by some of the same concerns raised by critics today But, the dramatic increase in identity claiming and the heightened awareness of how identity claims are... institutions are designed with the capacity to assess these claims fairly THE UBIQUITY OF IDENTITY POLITICS The current legal and political context is perhaps more congenial than ever to considering claims for the protection of groups on the basis of identity In the last twenty years, institutions, declarations, and conventions have emerged at the national and international levels, and many existing ones have... advanced as identity claims Therefore, a tendency exists today for identity claims to proliferate in the public sphere Groups will often choose to publicize their claims as identity claims Institutions could refuse to hear their claims or require claimants to frame their claims in terms other than identity They could treat claimants as though they are suVering from false consciousness and explain to them... individuals are stronger, often because individuals have more at stake when aspects of their identities are threatened by groups But in some circumstances, the identity claims advanced by groups might be stronger than the claims advanced by individuals and, in all cases, claims must be weighed against and compared to each other In any case, the strength of a claim is assessed on the basis of criteria which... that are already vulnerable These two challenges, essentialism and domestication, are explored in relation to approaches adopted nationally and internationally to assess identity claims advanced by Indigenous peoples This book draws upon resources from both normative political theory and from the actual practices of institutions within the public arena in developing criteria for the assessment of identity .