Reframing the Concepts of Identity and Difference Through the Lens of Dialogical Transversal Politics

In this study, it is argued that identity politics produces a misrecognition of differences. Even though identity politics purports to support diversity, it actually tends to incarcerate groups within simplified categories and reified identities, while assuming an illusionary homogeneity within groups. Therefore, it has the tendency to ignore intra-group differences and contributes to the perpetuation of existing stereotypes related to the groups, which minimise the potential for interaction among those with different identities. This paper aims to present a political and conceptual tool, transversal politics, in which the emphasis is on the “message”, not the “messenger”, as a form of dialogical politics and an alternative to the limitations of identity politics. Transversal politics emphasises that it is not the identity of the messenger that is important, but the message and the communication. Establishing transversal dialogue among groups requires respecting groups’ multiple positionings and it allows us to examine those entangled issues individually and collectively, which transcends one of the central drawbacks of both identity politics and universalist ideologies. With a focus on dialogical transversal politics, this study provides an alternative approach to understand differences to some degree.