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Who am I in English? Language as the Face of Identity in Bilingual Individuals
Date
2018-08-31
Author
Advisors
Wicker, Kent
Zapf, Donna
Jawad, Abdul Sattar
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Abstract
How does switching to a life in a foreign language and culture affect one’s identity?
Specifically, I ask: Do I have a true self unaffected by language and culture, or
am I merely a construct of my environment?
Studies in sociolinguistics overwhelmingly point to our sense of self as being largely
informed by our place in the world: language, culture, gender and society weave together
the intricate fabric of our being. The social and linguistic constructs available
to us at any given time form the margins to who we think we are. For bilinguals like
me, life in a foreign culture and language stretches these margins, as new experiences
and linguistic concepts gradually alter accessible constructs and impact our sense
of self. To many of us immigrants, living in an unfamiliar place and speaking in a
foreign tongue can also pose a threat to our identity: the fabric of our being comes
apart, forming gaping holes where cultural and linguistic concepts have fallen away
and new ones have yet to be discovered.
This two-part project examines the connection between language and identity creatively
as well as academically. In an extended personal essay, I consider how my immigration
experience and linguistic assimilation affected my sense of self. Loosely connected
memories and reflections weave together into a cohesive storyline of being and changing
and becoming, thus documenting the simultaneous sense of lightness and loss, of reinvention
and confusion frequently felt by immigrants. The second part of this project consists
of an academic research paper examining the unique qualities and struggles of bilingual
individuals’ identities and how they are echoed in literature by immigrant, exiled
and translingual writers.
Type
Capstone projectDepartment
Graduate Liberal StudiesPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17379Citation
Larson, Andrea J. (2018). Who am I in English? Language as the Face of Identity in Bilingual Individuals. Capstone project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17379.Collections
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