Critical discourse analysis and identity

Abstract

The concept of identity is of interest to applied linguistics for a variety of reasons. It links the level of the individual with the social and thus allows us to capture the processes by which individuals affiliate with or distance themselves from particular communities, what kind of information they aim to convey about themselves and how this information in turn resonates with the ideas others hold about them. Identity is hence, as Anna De Fina (2006: 263) describes it, ‘crucially, about conveying to one another what kind of people we are; which geographical, ethnic, social communities we belong to; where we stand in relation to ethical and moral questions; or where our loyalties are in political terms’. More specifically, and closer to one of the central concerns in applied linguistics, the concept of identity ties in with the view that language use is not only a cognitive endeavour but likewise an immanently social one. The concept sensitises us to think about the reasons for and the conditions under which people use language, the way they are perceived by others as users of language, the meanings they want to convey in particular situations and the resources they draw upon in order to do so. Identity is to a large extent a discursive phenomenon, as representations of self and other are co-constructed through language and other semiotic resources. It is also a material phenomenon in being enacted in time and space, in real settings (including when online), and as a consequence of actual events: individuals do not take up identities context free. It involves acts of embodiment as individuals perform and display their identities (e.g. through fashion, cosmetics or their latest car or avatar). Individuals, however, do not enter these subjectivities on equal terms. Apart from inter-individual differences in capabilities, they vary in terms of their social position and concomitant access to linguistic, cultural, economic and other resources – social and material – that grant them different degrees of recognition. More importantly, though, classifications of self and other are largely influenced by discourses about social groups that are produced and re-produced at different levels of society and in different social spheres, e.g. the media, education and politics. These discourses, in turn, are influenced by and impact on social structures and divisions in a variety of ways.

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