Language, Culture, and Identity

This chapter focuses on the historical evolution and critical debates associated with research in the area of language, culture, and identity, with special attention paid to the different social processes emphasized in representations of the relationships among and between the three concepts. The exposition starts from the premise that although debates about these representations have been at times contentious, the diverse approaches undertaken by researchers over the years reveal underlying preoccupations with different kinds of issues and questions. The larger portion of the chapter is devoted to elucidating these preoccupations and their associated relevancies in diachronic perspective. The final sections of the chapter undertake to problematize the concepts and representations under discussion by elucidating how the relationship between language, culture, and identity has been and continues to be used perniciously, to construct vulnerable individuals and groups as ‘other’. I also suggest productive avenues for future inquiry, and propose ways in which these constructs may be manipulated, or reconfigured, to empower traditionally marginalized constituencies.