‘Identity’ is not only about human relations: the relevance of human-to-non-human interaction in ‘identity’ articulation

ABSTRACT

This paper concerns the construction of ‘cultural identity’ in the personal everyday lives of a group of high-status professionals living in the UK, who happen to be academics. The paper focuses on the relevance of non-human categories in ‘identity’ construction and advocates for broadening our understanding of this debatable term by acknowledging the relevance of human-to-non-human relations in intercultural communication. The findings demonstrate that non-human categories such as naming, death, and food are central in ‘identity’ construction. This conceptualisation of ‘identity’ broadens our understanding of this highly contested concept and acknowledges the centrality of non-human entities in its manifestation.

ملخص الدراسة

يبحث هذا المقال في بناء “الهوية الثقافية” لمجموعة من الأشخاص ذو المستوى التعليمي العالي والذين يعيشون في المملكة المتحدة. تضم المجموعة المشاركة في هذا البحث محاضرين جامعيين ويبحث هذا المقال في دور الفئات الغير البشرية: الأسماء، الموت والأكل في بناء “الهوية"، حيث يهدف هذا المقال الى الالتفات الى مركزية العلاقة بين الإنسان والفئات الغير بشرية في مجال التواصل بين الثقافات والابتعاد عن فكرة تقييد مفهوم “الهوية” من حيث العلاقات بين الأشخاص فيما بينهم. قد أظهرت نتائج المقال أن الفئات الغير بشرية المذكورة أعلاه لها دور محوري في بناء مفهوم “الهوية” لدى الأشخاص والتعبير عنها. هذا التصور يجعل مفهومنا “للهوية"، والتي هو مفهوم متنازع عليه بشدة، أكثر تحررا ويقر بمحورية الفئات الغير بشرية في تجلياته .

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural identity
• human-to-non-human relations
• post-humanism
• intercultural communication
• non-essentialism

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank all the co-participants for taking part in this research, which provided much needed insights into the subject matter. I would also like to thank Professor Adrian Holliday, two anonymous reviewers and the editor in shaping the development of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Throughout this research, I have complied with Canterbury Christ Church University formal procedures, such as Research & Enterprise Integrity & Development Office committee’s approval to pursue this research. The Study’s reference number is: 17/A&H/17C.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amina Kebabi

Amina Kebabi research associate at Canterbury Christ Church University. She has been working on cultural identity and belonging. Her interests include identity (culture, gender, ethnicity), migration and discrimination. She works with qualitative research methods and recently has started looking at media discourse.