reviewed by dharshi santhakumaran

8/10/2019 Reviewed by Dharshi Santhakumaran

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Gender

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Language

doi : 10.1558/genl.v1i2.315 . ,

Review

Discourse and identity.

Bethan Benwell and Elizabeth Stokoe.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. pp 314.

Reviewed by Dharshi Santhakumaran

Te discursive construction of identity has become a central concern amongst

researchers across a wide range of academic disciplines within the humanities

and social sciences, and there are a number of different, sometimes conflicting,analytic approaches used by researchers in theorising and analysing identity.

Most existing work either concentrates on a specific identity category, such asgender, sexuality, or national identity, or else offers a broader discussion of howidentity is theorised. In Discourse and identityBethan Benwell and Elizabeth

Stokoe provide an overview of some of the main analytic methods and theoreti-cal perspectives used in the study of identity, including conversation analysis

(CA), membership categorisation analysis (MCA), discursive psychology, criti-cal discourse analysis (CDA) and narrative analysis. However, what sets this

book apart from much of the previous work on the discursive construction

of identity is its practical focus on how researchers identify and analyse theprocesses of identity construction as they occur in different discursive contexts.Te book is divided into seven chapters, six of which are devoted to a different

discursive environment, such as everyday conversation or institutional talk. In

each of these chapters Benwell and Stokoe discuss and evaluate existing work

in the area, and use a variety of data examples to demonstrate how researchers

can apply different methods to analyse how identity work is done in different

contexts. Te books chapters are also divided into two sections. Part I com-

Affiliation

Dharshi Santhakumaran, Linguistics and English Language, University of Edinburgh, UK

email: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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prises Chapters 1 to 4, and combines a practical guide to analysis with critical

discussion of relevant methods, and the theoretical debates surrounding them.

In Part II Benwell and Stokoe look at commodified, spatial and virtual identi-ties, which are increasingly becoming the focus of identity research. Tis part

focuses less on methodology, and more on the discursive contexts concerned.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of how different theories of identity have

developed over time, contrasting essentialist theories of the self with a social

constructionist viewpoint. Tis chapter also introduces the different analytic

methods used in the later chapters, drawing attention to the difference betweenmacro- and micro-level approaches. Tis chapter serves as a useful introduction

for students, but will be of less value to those already familiar with different

discourse analytic methods.Chapters 2 and 3 deal with conversational and institutional identities.

Chapter 2 demonstrates how conversational identities can be identified and

analysed using either a performativity/social constructionist approach or the

ethnomethodological approach of CA and MCA. Chapter 3 looks at institu-

tional identities and addresses the problem of how to define institutional talk

as opposed to ordinary talk. Tis chapter also contains further explanations ofCA and MCA, and elaborates on the contrast between CA and CDA. Benwell

and Stokoe also discuss some of the criticisms which have been levelled at eachof these approaches, including the issue of what counts as permissible context,which has sparked an on-going debate amongst conversation analysts and

CAs detractors. Tese debates have been well-rehearsed elsewhere, and will be

familiar to most language and gender researchers. Benwell and Stokoes main

contribution is in giving readers a clear illustration of what these different typesof analysis actually look like, which they do by taking a stretch of university

tutorial interaction and analysing it using first CA and then CDA.

Like discourse analysis, narrative analysis is not a single unified approach,

but rather an umbrella term which covers the varied approaches of researchersin an interdisciplinary field. Chapter 4 looks at how researchers in differ-ent disciplines have analysed the relationship between narrative and identity,

flagging both the commonalities and differences between approaches, and

again providing illustrative examples and practical advice on how researchers

go about collecting narrative data. As in the previous chapters, Benwell and

Stokoe pay particular attention to the tensions between micro- and macro-levelforms of analysis. In Chapter 4 they look at how Scott Kiesling (forthcoming)

combines the two levels when analysing an extract from an interview with amember of an American college fraternity, and then go on to discuss issues andproblems involved when combining top-down and bottom-up approaches.

Chapter 5 draws on critical discourse analysis and critical discursivepsychology to explore the concept of commodified identities, looking at the


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identities of consumers, the process of identity commodification through acts

of consumption, representations of identities in commodified contexts, and

self-commodifying discourses such as CVs and job applications. One of thebenefits of Benwell and Stokoes approach is that they look at how identities

are constructed at both the sites of production and consumption, for example

by comparing textual analysis of mens lifestyle magazines with analysis of

interviews with male consumers.

Chapters 6 and 7 address spatial and virtual identities. Tese aspects of iden-

tity have been relatively under-explored by identity researchers until recent

years. Spatial identities in particular have been neglected by discourse analysts,who have tended to focus purely on linguistic practices, without taking into

account the embodied, visual aspects of identity. Chapter 6 uses both visualand textual data to explore the role of space and place in identity construction,

looking for example at the context of the beach, and what peoples location

within this context can tell us about identity practices, particularly regarding

group identity. Benwell and Stokoe trace the development of the spatial turn

across the humanities and social sciences, and briefly discuss how work done

by feminist geographers theorizes the relationship between gender and public

and private space.

Perhaps the most illuminating part of this chapter is the section in whichBenwell and Stokoe use both visual and linguistic data to explain and illustrate

the spatial basis of neighbour relations, and specifically the way in whichcomplaints against neighbours tend to be based on perceived breaches of the

spatial moral order.

Chapter 7 deals with the growing field of work on computer-mediated com-

munication (CMC). In this chapter Benwell and Stokoe use MCA to analyse

the ways in which different identity categories are invoked and negotiated in

online chatrooms, and apply politeness theory to the category Newbie and

its associated characteristics, rights and obligations. Tey also problematisethe concept of virtual identity, as defined in opposition to authentic or real

identity.

Tis book provides an engaging and accessible overview of a broad and varied

field which will be of use to all identity researchers. Furthermore, Benwell

and Stokoes judicious use of examples and clear demonstration of different

analytic methods make the book an essential practical guide for students and

newcomers to the field of identity research.

Although the book deals with identity in general, much of the analysis focuseson gender identity, a point which is acknowledged by the authors. Tis is a

reflection not only of the research interests of the authors, but also of the fact

that the majority of existing work in the field of language and identity is con-

cerned primarily with gender. As such, much of the research and the analytical


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approaches discussed, particularly in Part I of the book, will be familiar to

language and gender researchers. However, the authors are particularly strong

in their analysis and practical demonstration of the tensions between top-downand bottom-up approaches to discourse, and they make a persuasive case forthe advantages of using conversation analytic and other ethnomethodological

approaches in the study of identity. Tis discussion will be of interest to lan-

guage and gender researchers as these issues continue to inspire considerable

debate within the field.

Reference

Kiesling, Scott Fabius. (forthcoming). Hegemonic identity-making in narrative. In Annade Fina, Deborah Schiffrin and Michael Bamberg (eds). Discursive construction ofidentities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

reviewed by dharshi santhakumaran

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