Exploring Desire, Self-Care, Recognition Toward English Language: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Identity Construction in Applied Linguistics

Exploring Desire, Self-Care, Recognition Toward English Language: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Identity Construction in Applied Linguistics

The purpose of this paper is to explore resistant and alternative models of identity construction in the field of applied linguistics and second and foreign (L2) education. Humanistic and even post-structuralist approaches to L2 identity are critically reviewed in the lens of neo-liberal governmentality and subjectivities. Theoretical resources from different fields are listed to understand how interdisciplinary approaches to identity construction have emerged from the linguistic turn and structuralist movement (e.g., Althusser’s ideology, Foucault’s power/discourse), and anthropologists’ approaches to language ideology and subjectivities, including Reddy’s emotion regime. Rationalization and legitimation of newly explored L2 identities are incorporated into ethic al subjects of Foucault and Honneth. By referring to Ancient Greek’s literature on ‘self-care’, Foucault suggests a resistant subject to subordination, as Honneth positions ‘mutual recognition’ in the motivational and justificatory basis for social struggles. There are controversies as to whether disrespect and injustice exposed to the neo-liberal society allows for opportunities to create newly conceived human characters. This study also makes suggestions for future directions, by taking identity researchers to the ‘affective turn’. It is expected that linguistic and affective turn are socio-politically interconnected with discourse, ideology, or emotion regime beyond text. This study explicates how research on desire, self-care, recognition, and affect can combine macro and micro approaches and offer a balance between power structure and interpretative agency.

The purpose of this paper is to explore resistant and alternative models of identity construction in the field of applied linguistics and second and foreign (L2) education. Humanistic and even post-structuralist approaches to L2 identity are critically reviewed in the lens of neo-liberal governmentality and subjectivities. Theoretical resources from different fields are listed to understand how interdisciplinary approaches to identity construction have emerged from the linguistic turn and structuralist movement (e.g., Althusser’s ideology, Foucault’s power/discourse), and anthropologists’ approaches to language ideology and subjectivities, including Reddy’s emotion regime. Rationalization and legitimation of newly explored L2 identities are incorporated into ethic al subjects of Foucault and Honneth. By referring to Ancient Greek’s literature on ‘self-care’, Foucault suggests a resistant subject to subordination, as Honneth positions ‘mutual recognition’ in the motivational and justificatory basis for social struggles. There are controversies as to whether disrespect and injustice exposed to the neo-liberal society allows for opportunities to create newly conceived human characters. This study also makes suggestions for future directions, by taking identity researchers to the ‘affective turn’. It is expected that linguistic and affective turn are socio-politically interconnected with discourse, ideology, or emotion regime beyond text. This study explicates how research on desire, self-care, recognition, and affect can combine macro and micro approaches and offer a balance between power structure and interpretative agency.