There are days when I still want to dismantle this constructed self of mine. You did it so badly, I think. You lost so much time. And then I tell myself, so what? So what? Go on. Margo Jefferson at the end of her first memoir

identity, ancestry, history , nationality, region, town , street, post code, race, skin colour, hair colour, eyes, height, health, education, accent, sex, gender, shoe size, nose shape, political allegiances, gang membership, religion, favourite newspaper, books read, books unread, ……more than elderly white male

somali saying… my brothers against your borthers, our village against your village, our valley against your valley, our mountain against your mountain, …. and I really doubt outside Mogadishu anyone thinks of themselves as Somali first