The Body as a Way of Speaking and an Approach to Identity Construction in Marginalised Groups
作者：Tang Qingye 来源：forum of semiotics 浏览量：3265 2015-04-06 09:16:25
The Body as a Way of Speaking and an Approach to Identity Construction in Marginalised Groups
Tang Qingye
Abstract: Bodies and languages mediate the dialogue between humans and the world, and thus their visible and interpretable forms represent all kinds of concepts, ideas, and emotions. The body is materialised and semiotised into a way of speaking, is crucial to identity construction, and is enacted as a social practice. This paper reviews previous studies of the body, explores the relationships between body, identity, and power, and discusses how marginalised groups in China use their bodies to construct their identity and social reality. Like discourse, the body can also be a product consumed by social actors to acquire social attention and recognition, and to express the requirements for and to guard the legitimacy of their own rights.
Keywords: body, identity construction, discourse, meaning
