SYMBOLIZING IDENTITY AND THE ROLE OF TEXTS: PROPOSALS, PROSPECTS, AND SOME COMMENTS ON THE EUCHARIST MEAL

Abstract: Where does text fit into a theory of social identity? Social groups consistently emerge and maintain their existence in relation to (sacred) texts: Christians with their Bible, Muslims with the Qu'ran, or socialists with Das Kapital. This is neither new nor surprising information. Critics are intensely aware of how individuals and groups engage in ongoing processes of identification in relation to the sacred text. In this article, I explore the relationship between social context and text and the constructive potential between the two. What are mechanisms that trigger and maintain social change vis-à-vis text and how can these dynamics be productively analyzed? It has become popular to invoke certain constructivist views of social dynamics and, in particular, to marshal the notion of "identity" as a powerful means for social-boundary maintenance and change. In relation to that propensity, this article is meant as an assessment of methodologies that may be equal to this task, touching on various theories of language and the construction of social identity, followed by exploration of a particularly promising avenue developing from theories of ecosocial semiotics. (Article