Literacy and the Formation of Cultural Identity

Abstract

In this article we offer both a conceptual and a methodological proposal for the study of cultural identity by cultural-historical psychology. First we will develop a conceptual framework in which we define acts of identification as a suitable unit of analysis for cultural identity. Acts of identification integrate dynamically social and individual components, both of them necessary in the explanation of cultural identity. To study identity empirically we adopt a rhetorical perspective: we can study cultural identity through the analysis of the discursive processes that people use to persuade an audience and themselves. Secondly, we will present empirical research based on the conceptual ideas explained previously. In this research we will analyse the acts of identification performed by various groups of Andalusian people who differ in their literacy experience. Results of this empirical research are presented, concluding that literacy affects the way people discursively construct their cultural identity.