Myles, N.O.2013-12-092013-12-092013-12-09http://197.255.68.203/handle/123456789/4571This paper focuses on ‘cultural identity’. I ask what constitutes the notion, what conditions, if any, prevail in the determination of ‘cultural identity’ or what does the term refer to. I make this enquiry as a means of analyzing what is meant when people worry that their cultural identity will be affected, diluted or even contaminated from its ‘pure state’ when it is not preserved in a multicultural context where they are exposed to other ways of life. So-called “cultural preservationists” have advanced arguments in defense of preservation of “the authentic cultural identity of a people.” They stress that identifying with a group is crucial to the life options available to an individual, but such group identity is threatened by the presence of a medley of ethno-cultural groups, a feature characteristic of contemporary nation-states such as Ghana and Nigeria. I analyze the notion also as an attempt to respond to a concern raised about which culture the individual will identify with, the constituent culture or the larger multicultural society. I ask why the individual cannot identify with both. I will devote the final pages to ’cultural change’ and the basis of its legitimacy. I ask which change would be legitimate, and which would constitute a ‘contamination’ of one’s cultural identity given the dynamic nature of culture. My examination of the notion ‘cultural identity’ will ultimately seek to show that perhaps the concerns raised by so-called cultural preservationists are not intractable after all, if not illusory.enArticle