51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

Identity has become an inevitable concept in social theory. Theorizing identity and examining how identity becomes relevant in communication contributes to understanding power, culture and agency. This course looks into identity from a sociolinguistic perspective, where identities are seen as coming into being through semiotic practices entailing gender, ethnicity and class, as well as emergent blends that may have enduring consequences. We look into how identities may be generated, ratified, reformulated or resisted using tools drawn from a range of approaches to talk, text and other semiotic modes, including interactional sociolinguistics and micro-ethnography. Course projects can focus on identity work in a range of contexts, including schooling.