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11 - Cultural Identity and Emigration: A Study of the Construction of Discourse about Identity from Historical-Cultural Psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2009

By
Beatriz Macías Gómez Estern ,
Josué García Amián  and
José Antonio Sánchez Medina
Edited by
Bert van Oers ,
Wim Wardekker ,
Ed Elbers  and
René van der Veer
Beatriz Macías Gómez Estern
Affiliation:
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
Josué García Amián
Affiliation:
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
José Antonio Sánchez Medina
Affiliation:
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
Bert van Oers
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Wim Wardekker
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Ed Elbers
Affiliation:
Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
René van der Veer
Affiliation:
Universiteit Leiden
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Summary

In this chapter we try to offer both a conceptual and a methodological proposal for the study of cultural identity from historical-cultural psychology. First, we develop a conceptual framework in which we define acts of identification as a suitable unit of analysis for cultural identity. Acts of identification dynamically integrate social and individual components, both of which are necessary in the explanation of cultural identity. Second, we present an empirical research project based on these conceptual ideas. In this project we analyze the acts of identification performed by various groups of Andalusian people from southern Spain that differ in their experience of migration. We study how this experience of “otherness” shapes their acts of identification when talking about Andalusia as a cultural group.

CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES

The study of cultural identity connects concepts that concern the individual and the social planes in psychological functions. The first problem in the study of cultural identity is whether it should be attributed to the individual or to the group (Ferdman, 1990). Different answers have been given to this question. For instance, some works in the social sciences attribute the concept of identity to the group and consider that the individual assumes this cultural identity as a member of that group (Ball, Giles, & Hewstone, 1984). When talking about a collective identity in a given social group, these scholars search for a set of constant traits possessed by all individuals in the group.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Transformation of Learning
Advances in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory
 , pp. 201 - 218
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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