
































Communication and Articulating Identity: A Cultural Approach 

Review by Rafal Kleczek 

Language and Identity across Modes of Communication 

by Dwi Noverini Djenar, Ahmar Mahboob, and Ken Cruickshank (eds)

De Gruyter Mouton, 2015

The anthology Language and Identity across Modes of Communication is an excellent publication, both

for those looking for an introduction to contemporary research focusing on its central themes, and for

those attracted by a particular subject covered by one of the chapters. A broad range of subjects treated

by fifteen contributors makes the publication of interest to scholars from a diverse range of fields, not

only linguistic anthropology, but also the anthropology of modernity, education, and impact of modern

communication techniques on social behaviour.

The skillful arrangement of the anthology makes it accessible also for beginners in the field.

The  first  three  chapters,  dealing  respectively  with  communities  of  practice,  style  and  quantitative

research methods, provide basic information necessary to access the more intricate, research-oriented

chapters. The chapter written by Brian Paltridge relates the theory of communities of practice to the

subject matter of identity and language. The chapter by Mary Bucholtz analyzes style, its construction

and transformation, and interprets it as a mode of social action. An account by Miriam Meyerhoff on

the use of quantitative research methods presents an analysis of data gathered by the researcher during

her  recent  fieldwork  on  a  Caribbean  island  Bequia,  simultaneously  reflecting  on  the  place  of

quantitative methods in sociolinguistic research.

Ken Cruickshank, in his chapter, presents research on community language schools in Australia,

a point of departure for a reflection on the hybrid identities of transnational families. The chapter of

Linda Tsung is concerned with the subject of second language learning in Hong Kong, with a particular

focus on South Asian immigrant children, their identity and struggle against discrimination. Antonia



Rubino  analyzes  code-switching  of  an  intergenerational  conversation  in  a  multilingual,  Sicilian-

Australian family.

Chapters written by Ahmar Mahboob, Nerida Jarkey and Wei Wang analyze the publishing

industry as a means of promoting certain ideologies, identities and lifestyles. Mahboob's research is

concerned with Pakistani  school  textbooks,  particularly with biographies  presented therein and the

limited  number  of  models  offered  to  students.  Research  of  Jarkey  is  concerned  with  identity

management by  The Housewife's Companion, a Japanese women's magazine, largely responsible for

promoting the image of “professional housewife.” Wang also presents an analysis of the contents of a

magazine, the Chinese Duzhe, popular mostly among the underpriviledged. The researcher undertakes

analysis of narration and of formation of narrative identity.

Dwi Noverini Djenar looks at teen literature in Indonesia through the theoretical lens of style

analysis. The main point of focus is authorial identity of teen literature writers. The chapter written by

Sue Starfield is concerned with negotiating identity in academic writing in English, with particular

attention to the use of the first person singular, “I”. The piece is based largely on the author's own

publishing and teaching experience and explores the theme of presence and absence of academic author

in text. The chapter by Caroline Lipovsky is focused on the subject of professional identity constructed

through  Curriculum  Vitae.  Research,  gathered  in  France,  underlines  importance  and  analyzes

techniques of linguistic creation of identity in the process of applying for job. The following chapter, by

Zuocheng Zhang, also analyzes the subject of professional identity. The focus here is the unfolding and

creation of professional identity among Business English students at a Chinese university.

Jianxin Liu presents his research on online social visibility through the case study of a Chinese

female blogger. The researcher analyzes the blog through the lens of performativity and indicates how

the blog assists  the user in  creating identity  beyond social  class.  The anthology is  concludes with

Cynthia D. Nelson's chapter, devoted to the subject of stage identity. The author states the need for

linguists to explore other modes of communication, presenting the idea of “performed research.”

One could expect  that an anthology comprising such a broad variety of subjects  is  a work

lacking consistency. It is true that many authors did refer to different theories, and their research was

based on different varieties of data. It comes as a pleasant surprise, though, that the editors put much

effort  into  making  the  anthology  accessible.  Articles  concerned  with  similar  subjects  are  grouped

together, in a manner which may at first appear counterintuitive. Chapters are not grouped according to

the geographic or cultural region they are concerned with, and so, for example, several chapters based

on Chinese data appear in several places of the anthology, but turns out to be well thought of, given

structural  or  theoretical  similarities.  What  could  make  the  book  more  accessible  is  distinguishing



thematic sections. Abandoning these was a conscious decision of the editors, who wanted to maintain

the conversational style of meetings and workshops in which the anthology was conceived. It should be

added, that the introductory chapter explains the structure of the anthology in a very lucid manner.

Editors of the anthology, given the common subject of language and identity, possibly had to

deal with instances of repetitive paragraphs between chapters. It would not be uncommon for more than

one researcher to refer at length to the same theory. It is visible, though, that information exchange

between members of the editorial team, as well as between authors themselves, was kept at a very high

level. Not only are there no repetitions, authors often refer to works published in the same volume,

whenever a theory proposed by another author is of significance.

Authors contributing their chapters are, with no exception, experts in their fields, and base their

contributions on very sound research. Fieldwork, being the method of obtaining data for some chapters,

was conducted recently, a circumstance that makes the publication of much value to anthropologists

interested in respective fields. Competence of authors, whose contributions are based on analysis of

literary  sources,  is  also  obvious.  Chapters  based  on  literary  data  contain  valuable  historical

introductions.

Rafal Kleczek is a Sanskritologist pursuing his PhD in Indian theories of cognition at the University of

Hyderabad. Besides Sanskrit,  his interests include Tamil, linguistic and political anthropology, and

comparative mythology.

© 2015 Rafal Kleczek


