Coulmas' masterful coverage of a diverse range of literature, from philosophy, law and psychology to linguistics, anthropology, and politics, makes this short introduction a treasure trove for anyone who wishes to understand or research issues of identity in history as well in the contemporary world. An invaluable guide to a fascinating field.
Florian Coulmas is Professor of Japanese Society and Sociolinguistics at the IN-EAST Institute of East Asian Studies at Duisburg-Essen University. Prior to this, he has held research and teaching positions at Georgetown University, the National Institute of Japanese Language and Linguistics, and Chuo University. He has published numerous books, including An Introduction to Multilingualism (OUP, 2017) and Writing and Society: A Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2013). For the past three decades he has served as Associate Editor of the International Journal of the Sociology of Languages, during which time he has observed the steadily increasing use of the concept of identity in both general and scholarly publications.