Individual identity emerges only within the community, like a fish in water.

Evidence

The individual cannot be realised outside of the community, the clan and the tribe (even in his personal choices). Otherwise, he would be like a fish outside of his own natural element. Thus, the meaning of the “I” (ontology of the subjectivity) emerges before others (the ontology of the collective). Communitarian pluralism is opposed to the reality of “I” or “me”. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 331

Categorization

• XREF: The fish-out-of-water imagery and I/Them priority echoes Ubuntu’s ‘I am because we are’ and contrasts with the Frankfurt School critique — links to my standing interest in collectivism vs individuality. — connects to: Identity is constituted by context and asserted only as a partial account. — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction: A…, 109