ABSTRACT
Whichever of these views we adopt, identity relies on a repertoire of communicative resources (e.g. rituals, texts and signs) through/by which categories of difference/individuality are perceived, maintained or resisted and these communicative resources are fundamentally social in nature. Indeed, it is the importance attached to the representational means/tools involved that underpins Blommaert’s (2005) conceptualization of identity as “semiotic potential”, a perspective that aligns closely with the mediational foci of socio-cultural and activity theories (see e.g. Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; van Lier, 2004).
