I am a student at the University of East Anglia researching a PhD in Philosophy, having completed my Masters of Research in Philosophy and my undergraduate BA English Literature and Philosophy. My primary philosophical interests are in questions of identity, which include its political, cultural and moral aspects. The focus of my PhD is on an understanding of identity through the lens of Hegelian recognition - noting that this recognition is a spatialised process that occurs within a political world. Over the course of my undergraduate degree, I studied modules in Political Philosophy, Ethics and Aesthetics, as well as a dedicated module in philosophical and literary aspects of identity formation. Throughout my Masters, I worked on various projects connected to these areas. This culminated in my Masters dissertation which examined contemporary feminist critiques of the modern conception of gender identity. My third-year undergraduate dissertation was also focused upon philosophy of identity, drawing on the work of G.W.F. Hegel and Hannah Arendt in order to produce a recognition based theory of identity. I have further philosophical interest in post-structuralist philosophy, particularly queer and feminist thinkers, such as Judith Butler, bell hooks and Michel Foucault - as well as critical race theory and post-colonial / subaltern studies. The focus of my work intersects with both phenomenology and existential philosophy - both of which I have taught at undergraduate level multiple times.Beyond academia, I am highly interested in the arts, which include (but are by no means restricted to) visual arts, literature and theatre. I occasionally work backstage at theatrical productions as a chaperone for performers under the age of sixteen. Furthermore, I have a passion for language. Currently, I have reasonable proficiency with French and Italian which I am seeking to build upon through daily use and practice. Throughout my degrees I have accumulated a working knowledge of Latin and both Classical and Modern Greek. This year, I am attempting to familiarise myself with German. A collection of my publicly available essays - primarily focused on philosophy and video games - can be found here: https://medium.com/@benjaminjjcarpenter