Self-Definition is erudite and enchanting! It lures the readers to dive into the philosophical depth of the East and the West, finding out ontologically the definition of Self. In this monograph, Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian philosophies are given as much attention as Western philosophers like Descartes, Foucault, and Sartre. Finally, the author's original interpretation of the philosopher Paget Henry's philosophical reasoning to equate Brahman with African notion of Ego sets the foundation stone for the Global South in self-definition.

Ashmita Khasnabish, Lasell College

Against commentators asserting that attention to identity corrupts politics and individuals’ lives, Teodros Kiros brilliantly argues that identity and processes of self-definition are essential to the political realm and to our understandings of self. Self-Definition rejects the Eurocentrism underlying numerous volumes on the subject. It examines figures, movements, and scholarship from the Global South and Global North. It also explains the who, what, where, when, why, and how of human self-definition across a range of eras. Upon finishing Kiros’s book, all readers will have to reevaluate their prior conceptions of universality, particularity, and notions of race, gender, sex, and sexuality, especially as a result of the often silenced and disavowed philosophical heritages forged by Global South actors. Human beings are protean. So too, as Kiros demonstrates, are the ways humans define the self and perform identity.

Neil Roberts, Williams College