A Multimodal Approach to Identity: Theorizing the Self though Embodiment, Spatiality, and Temporality
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-2012
Abstract
This article problematizes the theoretical assumption of communication-as-symbolic that delimits the way identity is theorized. I argue that deconstructing identity requires moving beyond the symbolic construction of social categories, and instead focusing on how a perceptual and embodied subject is constituted through communication. Informed by Merleau-Ponty's phenomenologically driven approach to critical inquiry, I present a multimodal approach that reveals how perceptual subjectivity and the reflexive body are constituted within, and constitutive of, the symbolic mechanisms of social construction. Utilizing various examples pertinent to intercultural communication, I theorize cultural identity through the perspective of communication-as-embodied.
Department
Communication Studies
Publication Title
Journal of International and Intercultural Communication
Recommended Citation
Sekimoto, S. (2012). A Multimodal Approach to Identity: Theorizing the Self though Embodiment, Spatiality, and Temporality. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 5 (3): 226-243.
DOI
10.1080/17513057.2012.689314
Link to Publisher Version (DOI)
Publisher's Copyright and Source
Copyright © 2012 Taylor and Francis Group. Article published by the Taylor and Francis Group in Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, volume 5, issue number 3, August 2012, pages 226-243. Available online on May 30, 2012: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2012.689314.
