Interculturalities: reframing identities in intercultural communication

Abstract

This paper attempts to reframe identities as interculturalities in the multimodal ways in which language is used for identity construction, specifically as responses to questionnaires, articulations within limited narratives, on-line interactions and in community ways of speaking a localised variety of English. Relying on a framework of analysis that was initially developed for reconceptualisng culture (Nair-Venugopal, 2003a) in intercultural communication, these interculturalities in the Malaysian context are taken to refer to the ways in which identity constructions of personhood and nationhood are produced within local contexts of interaction, quite apart from demographic categorisation, organisational membership, social roles and other more traditional dimensions of identity construction. These interculturalities may be taken to be trajectories of both personhood as social identity, and of nationhood as national identities, in the intercultural encounters among members of heterogeneous groups in Malaysia. Viewed as multimodal identity constructions, they represent avenues for cross and intercultural adaptation in a plural yet seemingly multicultural country such as Malaysia that contribute to the evolving discourse on Bangsa Malaysia or national identity.

Keywords:

• multimodal language use
• intercultural communication
• identity production
• articulations
• discourse
• interculturalities

Notes

1. Mahathir Mohamed was the previous Prime Minister whose tenure in office was the longest (1981–2003).

2. Malaysia comprises the East Malaysian states of Sabah (formerly N. Borneo) and Sarawak, and the 11 West Malaysian states of the former Federation of Malaya.

3. What is deemed lawful in Islam is halal. Its antithesis is haram in Malay.

4. Obtained in 2003, the emphasis in the data examples discussed is mine.

5. Data supplied by Ong Sue Lyn in 2004.

6. Data originally obtained for a large-scale study on language choice and communication in Malaysian business (see Nair-Venugopal, 2000a).