Theorising and Analysing Identity

Abstract

In this chapter, I examine the theories and concepts that have informed my thinking about the notion of identity. My approach is rooted in poststructural discourses and draws on the notion that identity is both ‘contextually situated’ and ‘ideologically informed’ (Bucholtz and Hall, 2005: 605). This underpins a view of identity as located within a particular setting, as emerging in interactions with others, as discursively constituted, as fluid and multifaceted. To relate theory and practice, it involves looking at identity at the levels of the micro and the macro and examining ways in which these are intertwined. I consider how the students’ perspectives and positions emerge from the spoken interaction in the classroom and how these evoke broader dimensions of identity. As discussed in the Introduction, my focus is on gender, which I view as interrelated with other dimensions of identity, such as life stage, occupation, ethnicity and social class. To explore these matters, I draw on Foucault’s (1974, 1991) concept of discourse and the ‘discoursing subject’. This is followed by an examination of ‘subject positions’ (Weedon, 1997) and the notion that while ‘discoursing subjects’ are positioned in discourse they are also able to take up positions in the discourses to which they have access. I consider the issue of ‘identification’ and observe how this can be treated as part of adopting an identity position.