By Jan Blommaert and Piia Varis

Introduction

This short paper intends to sketch an empirical theory of identity in a context of superdiversity. It adds to the development of new approaches to language and semiotics in superdiverse environments (Blommaert & Rampton 2011), and intends to offer a realistic, yet generalizable, approach to inquiries into the complexities of contemporary identity practices. Such practices now evolve in real-life as well as in virtual contexts, and connections between both social universes are of major importance for our understanding of what superdiverse society is about.

These complexities are baffling, yet perhaps not entirely new; what is new is the awareness of such complexities among academic and lay observers. Late Modernity – the stage of Modernity in which the emergence of superdiversity is to be situated – has been described as an era of hybridized, fragmented and polymorph identities (e.g. Deleuze & Guattari 2001; Zizek 1994), often also subject to conscious practices of ‘styling’ (Rampton 1995; Bucholtz & Trechter 2001; Coupland 2007). Prima facie evidence appears to confirm this: people do orient towards entirely different logics in different segments of life – one’s political views may not entirely correspond to stances taken in domains such as consumption, education or property. So here is a first point to be made about contemporary identities: they are organized as a patchwork of different specific objects and directions of action.

Keywords: identity, superdiversity, sociolinguistics, modernity

How to quote (APA):  Blommaert J. & Varis, P. (2011) Enough is enough: The heuristics of authenticity in superdiversity. Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies.

Read the full working paper Enough is enough: The heuristics of authenticity in superdiversity