This work is a systematic analysis of texts with arguments on political performance of representation and agency in education. The author critically examines discourses on the politics of difference including those of Paulo Freire, Claude Levi-Strauss, Iris M. Young, and Chantal Mouffe. Derrida's thoughts on the political as a way to understand difference and identity in education concludes the volume.

This work begins with an examination of Hegel's work on the relationship between the lord and the bondsman, which is implemented in the political discourse of Paulo Freire. It explores the methodological value of concepts of opposition; it looks at the work by Levi-Strauss on cultural differences as well as that of Iris M. Young and Chantal Mouffe on the politics of difference.

Anxious Identity calls for a consideration of Derrida's thoughts on the poltical as an approach to understanding difference and identity. In addition to work of Western philosophers and theorists, included are the postcolonial writers Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.