Identità, transdifferenza, intersezionalità: (con)vivere da eguali nella diversità

In order to avoid the dead-end street of the rhetoric of the clash of civilizations, it is necessary to do away with any oppositional logic of inclusion/exclusion based on clear-cut distinctions between “Us” and “the Others”. In their analysis of transdifference, Breinig and Lösch highlight how binary models of difference can be problematic, thus providing an interesting starting point for a reconceptualization of individual and collective identities. Nevertheless, their dominant focus on cultural and ethnic aspects of identity, as well as their thesis of transdifference as a transitory phenomenon, are not fully convincing. Therefore, overturning Breinig and Lösch’s perspective, the present article maintains that identities (either individual or collective) are ever-changing equilibria achieved at the intersection of a plurality of differences, and conceives the dynamic relations that occur between these differences as a constitutive and permanent element of any identity. Against this background, it thus aim to cast light on how a conception of “identity as intersection of differences” may favour the full implementation of the principle of equality in fundamental rights, which is the best guarantee of a peaceful coexistence of differences in contemporary constitutional democracies.