Language and Identity

1 Course Unit

If language lies at the heart of what it means to be human, then our everyday linguistic and communicative practices lie at the heart of our communal and individual identities. This seminar examines the relationship between ‘language’ and ‘identity,’ while also unsettling our preconceived notions about these sociocultural phenomena. We explore a number of interrelated questions: What does what we say (and how we say it) say about who we are? Is it true an individual can ‘choose’ their identity, and if so, how and why? What is the ‘self’ and how is it expressed through spoken communicative interaction? How does being a speaker of a language mean being a member of a community? How do fashions of speaking relate to forms of life? We will address these and other issues, drawing on anthropological and transdisciplinary scholarship and ethnographic examples from across the globe. Fall, odd numbered years only 1 Course Unit