5 - Multiculturalism, multiple identifications and the dialogical self: shifting paradigms of personhood in sociocultural anthropology

Summary

The emergence of transnational networks has far-reaching implications for the transformation and differentiation of culture, cultural identities, and the self of individuals. The multiple identifications of individuals living in multicultural circumstances raise new questions regarding the relationship between the various cultural dimensions of their self. This chapter examines the fundamental question of how individuals connect various cultural identifications and different representations thereof within the self. It focuses on the mediation of multiple identifications within individual constructions of self in the context of migration that is characterized by rapid social and cultural change. The chapter discusses the implications of a dialogical perspective on the multiple identifications of multicultural persons for the concept of the individual. The main question is whether an increasing number of cultural positions in multicultural societies may destabilize the dialogue between various identifications that is required for a successful balance between different dimensions of the self.