American Educational Research Association
Telling Identities: In Search of an Analytic Tool for Investigating Learning as a Culturally
Shaped Activity
Author(s): Anna Sfard and Anna Prusak
Source: Educational Researcher, Vol. 34, No. 4 (May, 2005), pp. 14-22
Published by: American Educational Research Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699942
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I
I
Telling Identities: In Search of an Analytic Tool for
Investigating Learning as a Culturally Shaped Activity
by Anna Sfardand Anna Prusak
Inthis article,the authors makean attemptto operationalizethe notion of identityto justifythe claim about its potential as an analytic
tool for investigatinglearning.They define identityas a set of reifying,
significant,endorsable stories about a person. These stories, even if
individuallytold, are products of a collective storytelling.The authors' mainclaimis that learningmaybe thoughtof as closingthe gap
between actualidentityand designatedidentity,two sets of reifyingsignificant stories about the learner that are also endorsed by the
learner.Empiricalillustrationcomes from a study in whichthe mathematicallearningpractices of a group of 17-year-oldimmigrantstudents from the former Soviet Union, newly arrived in Israel,were
comparedwith those of native Israelis.
eT
vhese
days, the term identity is prominent in both schol-
arly and public discourses. The time-honored notion is
experiencing an obvious renaissance, with its comeback
even more impressive than its original appearance. Once a part
of specialized psychological vocabularies, it now enjoys the attention of researchersin a wide range of social and humanistic
sciences, including sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, and
history. Educational research is no exception. As aptly stated by
Diane Hoffman, "Identity has become the bread and butter of
our educational diet" (Hoffman, 1998, p. 324).
This article is devoted to reflections on the emerging educational discourse on identity. We focus on the reasons for its
current popularity, on its present shortcomings, and on the
conceptual work that has yet to be done before the notion of
identity can fulfill its promise as an "analyticlens for educational
research"(Gee, 2001). The decision to engage in this conceptual
debate has been spurred by our own experience. While reflecting
on the results of the recent empirical study in which the mathematical learning practices of a group of 17-year-old immigrant
students from the former Soviet Union were compared with those
of native Israelis (Prusak, 2003), we opted for speaking in terms
of identity to make sense of salient differences between the two
groups. And yet, after many hours spent in libraries and on the
Web, we concluded that we would not be successful unless we
came up with a definition of identity more operational than
those to be found in the current literature. Lengthy deliberations
EducationalResearcher,Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 14-22
I|
EDUCATIONALRESEARCHER
led us to the decision to equate identities with storiesabout persons. No, no mistake here: We did not say that identities were
finding their expressionin stories-we said they were stories.
In what follows, we precede the more detailed presentation of
this definition and its subsequent justification with an analysis of
the reasons for our dissatisfaction with other current approaches.
Later,we argue that the narrativerendering of identity, while not
as "reductionist"as it may sound, leads to immediate theoretical
insights inspired by the burgeoning researchon human communication. Finally, we use our own cross-cultural study on learning to demonstrate that equating identities with stories makes the
notion well suited to its designated role as a tool for educational
research.
While doing all of this, we do not aspire to say what has not
been alreadysaid, or at least hinted at, by others. Rather,we wish
to make things more explicit and fully operational, so as to be able
to use the language of identity in a responsible way, while following the theoretical consequences of this use all way down.
At present such action seems to be urgently needed. Far-reaching
ramifications of the identity upheaval may easily be overlooked
because our language tends to resist innovations. Because of their
transparency, vocabularies and grammars refuse to lend themselves in a timely manner to our attempts to de-familiarizethe familiar. To be able to address conceptual pitfalls that are likely to
arisewhen new ideas are already under way but the old ones have
not yet disappeared,we have to pause for a moment and turn our
attention to the discourse itself.
Defining Identity as Narrative
Why Talk About Identity?
The new prominence of the old concept of identity raises many
questions: Why this sudden revivalof the long-standing interest?
How is the notion of identity different from more traditional
terms, such as character,nature,andpersonality,and how is it connected to other notions, such as attitudes,conceptions,and beliefs?
Why one needs identity depends on the researcher'squestions,
and these questions may not be the same for a sociologist, a cultural theorist, and an educational researcher. This said, all of
these types of researchhave one overarching theme in common:
The focus of the investigator's attention is on human beings in
action and on the mechanisms underlying human action. More
specifically, the leading queries are as follows: Why do different
individuals act differentlyin the same situations?And why, differencesnotwithstanding,do differentindividuals'actions oftenreveal
a distinctfamily resemblance?
It is reasonableto assumethatthe presenttendencyto answer
the latterquestionin termsof identityis relatedto the general
socioculturalturnin the humansciences.The notionsofpersonality, character,and nature,being irrevocablytaintedwith connotationsof naturalgivensand biologicaldeterminants,are ill
suitedto the socioculturalproject.In contrast,identity,which is
thoughtof as man-madeandasconstantlycreatedandre-created
in interactionsbetweenpeople(Holland& Lave,2003; Bauman,
1996; Roth,2004), seemsperfectforthe task.Togetherwith the
acceptanceof identityas the pivotalnotion of the new research
discoursecomes the declarationthat human beings are active
agentswho playdecisiverolesin determiningthe dynamicsof social life and in shapingindividualactivities.
Naturally,thisemancipatory
messagedoesnot comewithouta
The
freer
we
are
to
make
decisions
aboutourselvesand the
price:
worldsaroundus, the greaterour responsibility.
In sociologyand
in culturaltheory,the notionof identityproveshelpfulin dealing
with issuesof powerandof personalandcollectiveresponsibilities
for individuallives. In particular,identityfeaturesprominently
wheneverone addressesthe questionof how collectivediscourses
shapepersonalworldsandhow individualvoicescombineinto the
voiceof a community.In thiscontext,the termidentijyingisto be
understoodasthe activityin whichone usescommonresourcesto
createa unique,individuallytailoredcombination.
The questionof the mechanismsthroughwhich the collective and the common enter individualactivitiesalso lies at the
centerof educationalresearchon learning.Cross-culturaland
cross-situationalinvestigationson what and how people know
as a resultof learninghavefurnishedampleevidencefor the existence of culturaldifferences(on mathematicallearning,see,
e.g., Lave,1988; Saxe, 1991; Nunes, Schliemann,& Carracher,
1993; Beach, 1995; Cole, 1996; Stigler& Hiebert, 1999; Ma,
1999). Accordingto John Ogbu (1992), "[w]hatthe children
bringto school-their communities'culturalmodelsof understandingof "socialrealities"and the educationalstrategiesthat
they, theirfamilies,and theircommunitiesuse or do not use in
seekingeducationareasimportantaswithin-schoolfactors"(p. 5).
This said,educationalresearchhasyet a long way to go beforeit
answersthe questionof howthe culturalshapingof learningtakes
place.While speakingabout "culturalproductionof educated
person,"Levinsonand Holland (1996) observedthat in spite of
the recentadvancesin the researchon learning,culturaldiversity,
and equity,the "deeper,structuralcontext of culturalproduction of schoolfailureremainedobscureandlargelyunaddressed"
(p. 8). The same can be said about the productionof success,
which was the focus of Ann Prusak's(2003) study.Her interest
in the questionof how the broadlyconceivedsocioculturalcontextaffectsindividuallearningwasoccasionedby the recentmassiveimmigrationfromthe formerSovietUnion to Israel.1More
specifically,it was triggeredby a spontaneous,yet-to-be-tested
observationthat a disproportionately
largesegmentof this particulargroupof immigrantscould prideitself on impressiveresultsin mathematics,and not just in school but alsoin national
and internationalmathematicalcompetitions.2The researcher
beganaskingherselfwhethertherewas anythingunique about
the immigrantstudents'mathematicslearningand if therewas,
how this uniquenesscould be accountedfor.
We believethat the notion of identityis a perfectcandidate
for the role of "themissinglink"in the researchers'
storyof the
complexdialecticbetweenlearningandits socioculturalcontext.
We thus concurwith the increasinglypopularidea of replacing
the traditionaldiscourseon schoolingwith the talkabout"constructionof identities"(Lave& Wenger, 1991, p. 53) or about
the "longer-termagendaof identitybuilding"(Lemke,2000; cf.
Nasir & Saxe,2003). And yet we also believethat the notion of
identitycannotbecometrulyusefulunlessit is providedwith an
operationaldefinition.
What Is Missing in the CurrentEducational
Discourseon Identity?
As preparationfor the criticalanalysisof the currentdiscourse
on identity, it may be useful to give thought to certainwelldocumented weaknessesof widely used motivationalnotions
suchas beliefior attitudeswhich, on theirface,can competewith
identityfor the role of conceptualbridgebetweenlearningand
its culturalsetting.
Fundamentalobjectionsto the notion of beliefwereraisedby
manywriters,notablyby Geertz(1973), who assertedthe unacceptabilityof this conceptwhen claimingthat it "[married]extremesubjectivism
to extremeformalism,withthe expectedresult:
an explosionof debateas to whetherparticularanalyses... reflectwhat [people]"really"think"(p. 11). The issueat stakewas
that of the essentialistvision of beliefs,one that assumedtheir
discourse-independentexistencewithout specifyingwhereand
how one could get hold of them.A similarcomplaintseemedto
underlieHerbertBlumer's"criticalassessmentof the conceptof
attitude as a tool for study and analysisof human conduct"
(Blumer,1969, p. 90). Accordingto Blumer,whateverone'sapproachto the notionof attitude,thatnotionwasnot operational.
That is, it regularlyfailedto meet the threenecessaryconditions
for the concept'sapplicabilityin research:The availabledescriptions did not specifywhatone shouldlook at whiletryingto pinpoint attitudes,did not saywhat should not be consideredas a
memberof the class,and did not enableaccumulationof knowledge.The immediatereasonforall thesefailingswas,once again,
a certainessentialisttenet,namely,"thatthe tendencyto act [precedesand] determinesthat act"(p. 90). As in the caseof belief,
the assumptionthat an intention (or tendency)exists in some
unspecified"pure"formindependentlyof, andpriorto, a human
actionwas a dubiousbasisfor any empiricalstudy.
Returningto our theme,we now wish to claimthatthe notion
of identity,althoughpromisingandpotentiallybettersuitedto the
roleof a "toolforthestudyof humanconduct,"cannotbe declared
freefromsimilarweaknessesunlessits definitionis spelledout and
provedoperational.Sucha definitionhasyet to be found.In the
currentliteraturethe useof the wordidentityis rarelyprecededby
any explanations.In the absenceof a definition,the readeris led
to believethat identityis one of those self-evidentnotions that,
whetherreflectively
or instinctively,arisefromone'sfirsthand,unmediatedexperience.The influentialpublicationsby Laveandby
in thisrespect.Althoughidentityis one
Wengerarerepresentative
of thesewriters'pivotalideas,no conceptualpreparations
precede
sentencessuchas "Learning
... impliesbecominga differentperson [and]involvesthe constructionof identity"(Lave& Wenger,
1991, p. 53), or "Theexperienceof identityin practiceis a way
of beingin the world"(Wenger,1998, p. 151).
A few defining attempts that can be found in the recent literature may be a promising beginning. For instance, Gee (2001)
says: "Being recognized as a certain 'kind ofperson,' in a given
context, is what I mean ... by 'identity"' (p. 99, italics added).
Later, the author offers a more elaborate description:
Discoursescangiveus one wayto definewhatI calledearliera person's "coreidentity."Each person has had a unique trajectory
through"Discursivespace."Thatis, he or shehas,throughtime,in
a certainorder,had specificexperienceswithin specificdiscourses
(i.e., been recognized,at a time and place, one way and not another),some recurringandothersnot. This trajectoryand the person'sown narrativization
(Mishler,2000) of it arewhatconstitute
his or her(neverfullyformedor alwayspotentiallychanging)"core
identity."(p. 111)
The motif of a "person's own narrativization"recurs in the description proposed by Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain
(1998), even if formulated in different terms:
People tell otherswho they are,but even more importantly,they
tell themselvesand they tryto act as thoughthey arewho theysay
they are.These self-understandings,
especiallythose with strong
emotionalresonancefor the teller,arewhat we referto as identities. (p. 3)
If we said that these are "promising beginnings" rather than
fully satisfactory definitions, this is because of one feature common to them all: They rely on the expression "who one is" or its
equivalents. Even Gee's second offering cannot be understood
without it: The words "being a certain kind of person" are used
in the author's explanation of the term Discourse,which is pivotal to his second definition.3 Unfortunately, neither Gee nor
Holland and her colleagues make it clear how one can decide
"who" or "what kind of person" a given individual is.
With closer examination, the talk about "being a certain kind
of person" may be pushing us into precisely the trap that most of
the authors who use the notion of identity want to escape:
Through its very syntax, the expression implies that one's present
status is, in a sense, extra-discursiveand independent of the one's
actions. Sentences built around the idea of "being a kind of person" sound timeless and agentless. As such, these sentences seem
to be saying that there is a thing beyond one's actions that stays
the same when the actions occur, and also that there is a thing
beyond discourse that remains unchanged, whoever is talking
about it. Such an essentialist vision of identity is as untenable as
it is harmful. It is untenable because it leaves us without a clue as
to where we are supposed to look for this elusive "essence"that
remains the same throughout person's actions. It is potentially
harmful because the reified version of one's former actions that
comes in the form of nouns or adjectives describing this person's
"identity" acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy. As agents of continuity and perpetuation, the descriptors that outlast action exclude
and disable just as much as they enable and create (Ben-Yehuda,
Lavy, Linchevski, & Sfard, 2003).4 Although contrary to the intentions of the authors quoted above, these interpretations cannot be barredas long as the words "being a kind of person"remain
the centerpiece of the definition of identity. The question we are
now facing is how to define identity so as to make the notion operational, immune to undesirable connotations, and in tune with
161 EDUCATIONALRESEARCHER
the claim about identities as man-made and collectively shaped
rather than given.
How to Define Identity?
The definitions of identity set forth by Gee and Holland et al.,
although rather unlikely to pass Blumer's test of admissibility,
have an important insight to offer: By foregrounding the "person's own narrativizations"and "telling who one is," they link
the notion of identity to the activity of communication, conceived broadly as including self-dialogue-that is, thinking. Together with many others (e.g. Hall 1996; Gee, 2001; Gonzales,
1999), we readily embrace the idea of identity-making as a communicational practice and thereby reject the notion of identities
as extra-discursive entities that one merely "represents"or "describes"while talking.
Perhaps the most obvious identifying technique consists in replacing the talk about actions with talk about states or, more
specifically, in replacing utterances about doingwith reifying sentences about being or having.5The reifying effect follows directly
from the particular syntax of the "is-sentences,"such as
She is an able student (has a gift).
This brief proposition can be "unpacked" into the following
sentence:
In the majority of school tests and activities so far, she has
regularlydone well and attained above-averagescores.
In modern societies we have an unbounded arrayof institutional
means for describing "who one is": We do it with the help of
grades, test results, certificates, passports, diagnoses, licenses,
diplomas, titles, ranks-and this is just the beginning of the long
list. In fact, almost any social situation seems to be a good opportunity for reifying.
Why this overpowering proclivity for "is-sentences"?Paradoxically, the reason may be exactly the same as the one that formerly
evoked our concern: We cannot do without the is-sentences because of their reifying quality. Our relations with the world and
with other people change continually, sensitive to our every action. Metaphorically speaking, identifying is an attempt to overcome the fluidity of change by collapsing a video clip into a
snapshot. The use of is-sentences, which do the job of "freezing
the picture" and turning properties of actions into properties of
actors, is grounded in the experience-engendered expectationindeed, hope-that despite the process of change, much of what
we see now will repeat itself in a similar situation tomorrow.
Based of this assumption, identity talk makesus able to copewith
new situations in termsof our past experienceand gives us tools to
plan for thefiture.
In concert with the vision of identifying as a discursive activity, we suggest that identities may be defined as collections of stories about persons or, more specifically, as those narrativesabout
individuals that are reifying,endorsable,and significant.The reifying quality comes with the use of verbs such as be, have or can
rather than do, and with the adverbs always, never, usually, and
so forth, that stress repetitiveness of actions. A story about a person counts as endorsable if the identity-builder, when asked,
would say that it faithfully reflects the state of affairsin the world.
A narrativeis regardedas significantif any change in it is likely to
affectthe storyteller'sfeelingsabout the identifiedperson.The
most significantstoriesare often those that imply one's membershipsin, or exclusionsfrom,variouscommunities.
As a narrative,everyidentifyingstorymay be representedby
the tripleBAC,whereA is the identifiedperson,B is the author,
and C the recipient.Within this renderingit becomesclearthat
multipleidentitiesexistfor anyperson.Storiesabouta givenindividualmay be quite differentfrom one another,sometimes
even contradictory.Althoughunifiedby a familyresemblance,
theydependboth in theirdetailsand in theirgeneralpurporton
who is tellingthe storyandforwhom the storyis intended.What
a personendorsesas true about herselfmay be not what others
see enacted.To ensurethatthislastpoint would neverdisappear
fromour eyes,we distinguishedbetweenan individual'svarious
identitiesauthoredby differentpeople with the help of names
that indicatethe relationbetweenthe identifiedperson,the storyteller,and the recipient.
AAC = an identifyingstory told by the identifiedpersonherself.This storywe callA'sfirst-person
identity(1st P).
BAA= an identifyingstorytold to the identifiedperson.This
identity(2nd P).
storywe callA's second-person
BAc= a story aboutA told by a third partyto a third party.
This story we call A's th,ird-person identity (3rd P)
Among these, thereis one specialidentitythat comprisesthe
reifying,endorsable,significant1st P storiesthat the storyteller
It is this last type of storythat is usuaddressesto herself(AAA).
the
when
word
intended
identityis used unassistedby addially
tional specifications.Being a partof our ongoing conversation
with ourselves,the first-personself-told identitiesare likely to
havethe most immediateimpacton our actions.
WhatAre the Merits and PossiblePitfalls
of the Narrative-DefinedIdentity?
With the narrativedefinition,human agencyand the dynamic
natureof identityarebroughtto the fore, and most of the disof traditionalapproaches
seemto disappear.The focus
advantages
of the researcher's
attentionis now on thingssaidby identifiers,
and no essentialistclaims are made about narrativesas mere
"windows"to an intangible,indefinableentity.As stories,identities are human-madeand not God-given,they have authors
and recipients,they are collectivelyshapedeven if individually
told, and they can changeaccordingto the authors'and recipients' perceptionsand needs.As discursiveconstructs,they are
alsoreasonablyaccessibleand investigable.
Despite these obvious advantages,one may claim that "reunderminesits potentialasa senseducing"identityto narratives
a
is
tool.
but
text,the criticwouldsay,and identity
Story
making
is predominantlyan experience.Perhapsthe most outspoken
proponentof this positionis Wenger(1998), who saysthatidentity "isnot, in its essence,discursiveor reflective."And he adds:
"Weoften think about our identitiesas self-imagesbecausewe
talkaboutourselvesand eachother-and eventhink aboutourselvesandeachother-in words.Thesewordsareimportant,no
doubt, but they arenot the full, lived experienceof engagement
in practice"(p. 151).
Althoughwe agreethat identitiesoriginatein daily activities
and in the "experienceof engagement,"it would be a category
mistaketo claim that this fact disqualifiesour narrativerender-
ing of identity.Indeed,it is our visionof our own or otherpeople's experiences,and not the experiencesas such, that constitutesidentities.Ratherthanviewingidentitiesasentitiesresiding
in the worlditself,our narrativedefinitionpresentsthem as discursivecounterparts
of one's lived experiences.(That said, it is
importantto stressthat we do not claim that identities"faithfully recount"the identity-engenderingexperiences;together
with Wittgenstein (1953), we considerthe very idea of "conveying an experience"to be not only unworkablebut also
conceptuallyuntenable.)
Furthermore,while we readilyadmit that some very realexperiencespromptpeople to say that they havea "senseof identity,"we alsowish to reversethe causalrelationimpliedby such
a saying:We claim that the experiencethat one describesas a
"senseof identity"is not the primarysourceof identifyingstorytellingbut ratheris that activity'snaturaloutcome.The ubiquity and repetitivenessof identifying narrativesone tells and
hearsaboutherselfmakethem so familiarand self-evidentto her
that she eventuallybecomesable to endorseor rejectnew statementsabouther in a direct,nonreflectiveway. Suchimmediacy
is necessaryto makeone cerof decision,whenno rationalization
of the
tain of one'schoices,is the generaldefiningcharacteristic
situationsin wnich peoplesaythat they have "asenseor something.In the caseof decisionsregardingphysicalactivity,thisimmediacyresultsfromthe familiaritywith the materialobjectson
which the actionsareperformed.Thus, for example,one claims
having "a good sense of a terrain"if he is able to find his way
througha givenphysicalspacein an instant,"withoutthinking."
The use of the expression"senseof' in conjunctionwith "identity"is an act of metaphoricalprojectioninto a discourseon experiencesthatcannotbe accountedfor by a referenceto material
objects.The phrasecomes to this latterdiscoursetogetherwith
all its objectifyingentailments:The implieddichotomybetween
the "sense"and its objectmakesone believein the existenceof
the entitycalled"identity"andin its primacyoverthe experience
of immediacy,familiarity,and directrecognitionthat accompanies this person'sidentifyingstorytelling.
Anotherquestionto explorewhileassessingthe proposeddefinition is whetherour narrative-defined
identitycan be usefulin
do not
researchin spiteof the factthatdifferentidentity-builders
self-referential
remarks
alwaystell the samestory.Indeed,actors'
maybe at oddswith thosemadeby an observerandmayvarydependingon the listener,sometimescontradictinga versionpresentedby, or to, somebodyelse (adjustingone'sstoryto listeners
is not a sign of insinceritybut ratherstemsfromthe needfor solidarityand effectivecommunication).Let us thus clarifythat it
is the activityof identifyingratherthanits end productthat is of
interestto the researcher.In studiesthatmakeuse of the notion,
the focus is not on identitiesas such but ratheron the complex
dialecticbetweenidentity-buildingand other humanactivities.
Thus, while lettingourselvesbe guidedby the narrativevision of
identity,we arenot afraidof missinganythingthatis "outthere"
or of not being able to pin down the "truereferent"of the term
"identity."Narrativesthatconstituteone'sidentity,beingan important factor in shaping this person's actions, will be useful in
researchevenif theycommunicateone'sexperiencesonly aswell
as humanwordscan tell.
Toward a Narrative Theory of Identity
Becausequestions about identity can now be translatedinto
andbecausethe dynamqueriesaboutthe dynamicsof narratives,
areamenableto empiricalstudy,the narrativedeics of narratives
finition may be expectedto catalyzea rich theory of identity.
Much can now be said about identitiessimply by drawingon
what is known abouthuman communicationand on how narrativesinteractone with another.In this sectionwe presentsome
initial,analyticallyderivedthoughtson how identitiescomeinto
being and develop.
Actual and DesignatedIdentities
The reifying,significantnarrativesabout a personcan be split
into two subsets:actualidentity,consistingof storiesabout the
actualstateof affairs,anddesignated
identity,consistingof narrativespresentinga stateof affairswhich,forone reasonor another,
is expectedto be the case, if not now then in the future.Actual
identitiesusuallyaretold in presenttenseand formulatedas factualassertions.Statementssuch as "Iam a good driver,""Ihave
an averageIQ," and "I am armyofficer"are representativeexamples.Designatedidentitiesarestoriesbelievedto havethe potential to become a part of one's actualidentity. They can be
recognizedby their use of the futuretense or of wordsthat expresswish, commitment,obligation,or necessity,suchasshould,
ought,haveto, must,want,can, cannot,and so forth.Narratives
such as "Iwant to be a doctor"or "Ihaveto be a betterperson"
aretypicalof designatedidentities.
The scenariosthatconstitutedesignatedidentitiesarenot necessarilydesiredbut alwaysareperceivedas binding.One mayexpect to "becomea certaintype of person,"that is, to havesome
storiesapplicableto oneself,forvariousreasons:becausethe person thinksthatwhat thesestoriesaretellingis good for her, becausethese are the kinds of storiesthat seem appropriatefor a
personof her socioculturalorigins,or just becausethey present
the kindof futurethatshe is designatedto haveaccordingto others,in particularaccordingto peoplein the positionof authority
and power.Moreoften than not, however,designatedidentities
arenot a matterof deliberaterationalchoice.A personmay be
led to endorsecertainnarrativesabout herselfwithout realizing
that theseare"juststories"and that therearealternatives.
Designatedidentitiesgive directionto one's actionsand influenceone's deedsto a greatextent,sometimesin waysthat escapeany rationalization.Forexample,a personfor whom being
a Democratis a partof herdesignatedidentitymayrefuseto join
any activityinitiatedby Republicans,regardlessof the natureor
rationaleof the activity.Foreveryperson,some kindsof stories
have more impact than some others. Criticalstoriesare those
core elementsthat, if changed,would makeone feel as if one's
whole identity had changed:The person's"senseof identity"
would be shakenand she would lose her ability to determine,
in an immediate,decisivemanner,which storiesaboutherwere
endorsableand which were not. A perceivedpersistentgap between actualand designatedidentities,especiallyif it involves
criticalelements,is likelyto generatea senseof unhappiness.
WhereDo DesignatedIdentities ComeFrom? The Role of
SignificantNarrators
Becauseit is a narrative,the designatedidentity,althoughprobably more inert and less context-dependentthan actualidentiil| EDUCATIONALRESEARCHER
ties, is neitherinborn nor entirelyimmutable.Like any other
story,it is createdfrom narrativesthat arefloatingaround.One
individualcannotcount as the sole authoreven of those stories
that sound as if nobodyhas told them before.
To put it differently, identities are products of discursive
diffusion-of our proclivityto recyclestripsof things said by
otherseven if we areunawareof these texts'origins.Paraphrasing MikhailBakhtin,we maysaythat any narrativerevealsto us
storiesof others.6Identitiescomingfromdifferentnarratorsand
beingaddressedto differentaudiencesarein constantinteraction
and feed one into another.These storieswould not be effective
in theirrelation-shaping
taskif not for theirpowerto contribute
to the addressees'own narrativesabout themselvesand about
others.Thus the people to whom our storiesaretold, as well as
those who tell storiesabout us, may be tacit co-authorsof our
own designatedidentities.Eitherby animatingotherspeakersor
by convertingtheir storiesabout us to the first person,we incorporateour second- and third-personidentitiesinto our selfaddresseddesignatedidentities.
Anotherimportantsourcesof one's own identityare stories
aboutothers.Therearemanypossiblereasonsfor turningthem
into first-personnarrativesand incorporatingthem into one's
own designatedidentity.Thus, for example,the identity-builder
or to their
maybe attractedeitherto the heroesof thesenarratives
authors.Anotherreasonmay be one's convictionabout being
"made"in the imageof a certainperson(e.g.,of sociallydeprived
successfulmother)
parents,an alcoholicfather,or an academically
and "doomed"to a similarlife. Whethera storytold by somebody else does or does not make it into one's own designated
identity depends,among other things, on how significantthe
storytelleris in the eyesof the identifiedperson.Significantnarrators,the ownersof the most influentialvoices, arecarriersof
thoseculturalmessagesthatwill havethe greatestimpacton one's
actions.
How Do DesignatedIdentitiesDevelop and Change?
The Role of Narrative Diffusion
The fact that narrativesauthoredby othersareamongthe most
importantsourcesof our designatedidentities is perhapsthe
main reasonfor the relativeinertnessof these identities.Stories
once told tend to acquirea life of theirown and, while "changing hands,"stop being subjectto either their author'sor their
hero'screativeinterventions.Changingdesignatedidentitiesthat
havebeen formedin childhoodis a particularlydifficulttask.
Institutional"narratives"
suchas diagnoses,certificates,nomand
licenses
inations, diplomas,
(compare Gee's concept of
Gee
have
a
I-identity; 2001)
particular
capacityto supplantstories
that havebeen a partof one's designatedidentity.In addition,
althoughnarrativeosmosisgoes mainlyfrom designatedto actual identities,one cannot exclude the possibilityof influence
thattravelsin the oppositedirection.As impliedby the common
wisdom that "successbegetssuccessand failurebegetsfailure,"
storiesof victoriesand losseshavea particulartendencytoward
self-perpetuation.On theirway into designatedidentities,tales
of one's repeatedsuccessarelikelyto reincarnateinto storiesof
special"aptitude,""gift,"or "talent,"whereasthoseof repeated
failureevolve into motifs of"slowness," incapacity,"or even "permanent disability."
Learningas Closingthe Gap BetweenActual
and DesignatedIdentities
It is now not unreasonableto conjecturethat identitiesarecrucialto learning.Withtheirtendencyto actasself-fulfilling
prophecies, identitiesare likely to play a criticalrole in determining
whetherthe processof learningwill endwith whatcountsassuccessor with what is regardedas failure.
And thereis more. In these times of incessantchange,when
the pervasivefluidity of social membershipsand of identities
themselvesis a constantsourceof fearand insecurity,the role of
learningin shapingidentitiesmaybe greaterthanever.Unlike a
few centuriesago,when peoplewereborninto "whotheywere,"
everythingnow seemspossible.Only insufficienciesof imagination may accountfor the down-to-earthnatureof the majority
of storiesabout"whoone is supposedto be."
Learningis ourprimarymeansformakingrealityin the image
of fantasies.The objectof learningmay be the craftof cooking,
the artof appearingin media,or the skillof solvingmathematicalproblems,dependingon whatcountsas criticalto one'sidentity. Whateverthe case,learningis often the only hope for those
who wish to close a criticalgap betweentheir actualand designatedidentities.
Applying Identity as the "The Missing Link"
Between Learning and Its Sociocultural Context
In the remainderof this article,we put the narrative-defined
identity to work in an attempt to check whether it fulfills its
promiseas a tool for fathomingthe mechanismthroughwhich
the widercommunity,with its distinctcultural-discursive
traditions, impingeson its members'learning.This is done in the
contextof the study that involvednativeand immigrantIsraeli
mathematicsstudents.In whatfollows,we presentan "executive
summary"of severalhighlightsof this study (the full reportcan
be found in Prusak,2003).
The Study and Its Initial Findings
The researchprojectfocused on one 1 th-gradeclassthat followed an advancedmathematicsprogram.Nine of the 19 studentswere"NewComers"-recentimmigrantsfrombig citiesin
the formerSovietUnion, suchasMoscow,Kiev,andTbilisi.The
restwere nativeIsraelis,whom we call "OldTimers."All of the
studentscamefromwell-educatedfamilies.The secondauthor,
a one-time immigrantfrom the Soviet Union, served as the
teacher.In the courseof the entire 1998-1999 school year,all
classroomprocessesweremeticulouslyobservedanddocumented.
Numerousinterviewswith the students,theirparents,and other
teachersconstitutedadditionaldata.
The salienceof the differencesbetweenthe learningprocesses
of the two groupsexceededour expectations.We were also astonished by the strikingacross-tasksconsistencyof the intragroup homogeneityand of the inter-groupdisparities.For the
sakeof brevity,in the restof this reportwe will drawon just two
special cases that we regardas fully representativeof the two
groups:the casesof one OldTimerand one NewComer,whom
we shallcall Leahand Sonya,respectively.
Although, accordingto common measures,both girls could
be deemed successfulin their mathematicallearning,they differedsubstantiallyin the way that theylearned.Thus, for exam-
ple,whilestudyingindependentlywith thehelpof a textbookand
a worksheet,Leahtypicallyexecutedall the auxiliarytasksspecifiedby the teacherandwascarefulto producewrittenevidenceof
thiswork.Sonya,in contrast,did not botherto leaveanyrecords
of what she did. On the other hand, her self-reportsrevealeda
much more complexprocessof learning,one that includedrepeatedself-testing,self-correcting,and attemptsat finding her
own organizationof the learnedmaterial.Clearly,whatevershe
did in the courseof learningwasdoneforherself,accordingto her
own assessmentof its importance.For Leah,the teacherseemed
to be the ultimateaddressee.
These and numeroussimilarobservationsled us to the conclusion that Leah'slearningwas ritualized-that is, motivated
mainlyby a wish to adhereto the rulesof the gamewith which,
for social reasons,she felt obliged to comply. Her learningwas
thoughtof asan activitywhoseimportanceresidedin its veryperformance.In contrast,Sonyastrovetowardsubstantial
learninglearningwhose effects would outlast classroomactivitiesand
could be gaugedaccordingto criteriaindependentof the tastes
or personalopinionsof a particularteacher.Sonya'swish to attain lastingeffectscould be observedthroughoutour extensive
studyand was evidencedby her constantbacktrackingand selfexamination,by herconspicuouspreferencefor individualwork,
of her mathematicalexpresby her carefor the appropriateness
sion, andmoregenerally,by herinsistenceon followingall of the
rulesof communicationthat, accordingto her own assessment
(as opposedto that of the teacher,for example),could count as
genuinely"mathematical."
Not surprisingly,
thereseemedto be a tightcorrespondence
betweenthewaysthatthe two studentslearnedandthe effectiveness
of theirlearning.Thus, for example,on one unannouncedtest,
Sonyawas fully successfulin reproducingthe proof, which she
hadlearnedon herown a few daysearlier.In contrast,Leahfailed
even to formulatethe theorem (admittedly,this failurewas an
extremeevent in her school career;her test performanceswere
generallyrathersuccessful).Here, as almosteverywhereelse, the
two girlswerefullyrepresentative
of theirrespectivegroups,both
in the waythattheylearnedand in the resultsthatthey attained.
Linking Learning to Identity
The striking dissimilarities between the OldTimers' and
NewComers'learningcalledfor explanation.Althoughwe had
a basison which to claimthe existenceof certainsystematicdifferencesin the teachingpracticesin the formerSoviet Union
and in Israel,7these differencesdid not seem to tell the whole
story.A teachingapproachmight havebeen responsiblefor the
NewComers' acquaintancewith certain techniques, but acquaintance,per se, did not accountfor the students'willingness
to use those techniques.We felt that, to complete the explanation, we needed to clarifywhy the participantsin our study
were among the studentswho took advantageof the learning
opportunitiescreatedby their teachers.
Yet anotherobvious explanationfor the effectivenessof the
NewComers'learningwas that theirimmigrantstatusamplified
theirneed for success.8However,becausebeing an immigrantis
a part of one's identity, this conjecturebroughtus back to the
broaderquestionof how our findingscan be accountedfor on
the basisof the claimaboutlearningas closingthe gap between
MAY
2005|I9
actualand designatedidentities.This broaderconsiderationwas
certainlynecessaryif we wereto explainwhy school mathematics was singledout by the immigrantparticipantsof our study
as the mediumthroughwhich to exercisetheirpursuitof excellence. Indeed,no otherimmigrantpopulationin Israel-and Israelhasalwayshadmany-displayed a comparablepropensityfor
mathematics.
To map NewComers'and OldTimers'designatedidentities,
we listened to their stories about themselvesas told to their
teacheron variousoccasions.True,what we reallyneededwere
triculatingin thissubjectwith high gradeswould largelyincrease
herchancesfor beingacceptedby a university.In otherwords,if
Leahwas attractedto mathematics,it was mainly, perhapsexclusively,becauseof its abilityto open doors.
To summarize,the designatedidentitiesof Sonyaandherfellow NewComersportrayedtheirheroesas exemplarsof whatthe
NewComers themselvesdescribedas "the complete humans."
The termwasassumedto havea timeless,universal,generallyacceptedmeaning,which includedmathematicalfluencyas indispensableto the completeness.In contrast,Leah and the other
OldTimersexpectedto havetheirfuturelife shapedby theirown
self-addressedstories of the type AAArather than AATeacher,because
self-addressed
storiesaremorelikelyto interactsignificantlywith
wishesand needs,which, at the time, they saw as fluid and unone's actions.This preferencenotwithstanding,we were confiforeseeable.This contrastpoints,aswell, to a distinctmeta-level
dent thatthe teacher-addressed
differencebetweenthe two groups:The NewComerssaw their
designatedidentitieswouldprove
informative,especiallyif they displayeddiversityparallelingthe
highlyprescriptivedesignatedidentitiesas givenand apparently
observeddifferencesin learning.In addition,we made certain
immutable,preciselylike the mathematicsthey wantedto masdeductionsregardingwhat the NewComersand OldTimersexter,whereasthe OldTimersexpectedtheirfirst-personidentities
to evolvewith the worldin tandem.
pected of themselves,on the basis of their self-referentialreIn accordwith our expectations,all of this seemedto account,
marks,theircommentsabout others(e.g., the teacherof fellow
at leastin part,for our formerfindingsabout the differencebestudents),andour own observationsof theirbehavior.Forbacktween Leah'sand Sonya'slearning.Sonya, just like the other
groundwe used interviewswith the students'parentsand with
otherteachers.Whatwe foundwith the help of thismultifarious NewComers,neededmathematicalfluencyto close the critical
evidencedisplayedintra-groupuniformityand inter-groupdifgap betweenher actualand designatedidentities.ForLeahand
ferencescomparablein theirsalienceto thoseobservedpreviously the otherOldTimers,mathematicalfluencywassomethingto be
in the contextof the students'learning.
shownupon request,likean entranceticketthatcouldbe thrown
Again,we will exemplifythesefindingswith the representative awayafteruse,havingno valueof its own. Becausemathematical
casesof Leahand Sonya.Of necessity,we will followwith some
skillsdid not constitutea criticalelementof the OldTimers'desgeneralizations.Becauseof the limitationof space,we will talk
ignatedidentities,any absenceor insufficiencyin theirmatheabout what students said ratherthan reproducingtheir exact
maticalskillsdid not createsubstantiallearning-fuelling
tension.
words.Awareof the limitationsof suchan approach,we urgethe
Linking Identity to the SocioculturalContextof Learning
readerto rememberthatwhat followsis a storyaboutstories:It is
Wheredoes the disparitybetweenNewComers'and OldTimers'
ourstoryof theNewComers'andOldTimers'own narratives,
and
designatedidentitiescome from?This was the last questionthat
not authorlessassertionsabout"whothesestudentsreallywere."
had to addressto completeour storyof designatedidentityas
we
In other words, ours are stories of the type researchers
[AATeacher]
readers
a
link
betweenlearningand its sociocultural
setting.Morespecifand researchers
[AAA]readers) rather than of the type researchersAreaders.
we
needed
to
for
fact
that
mathematical
account
the
ically,
fluency
Probablythe most obviouscriticalelementof Sonya'svision
constitutedthe criticalelementof the NewComers'designated
of herselfin the futurewasherprofessionalcareer.Her tendency
identitiesbut did not seem to playthat role in the identitiesof
to identifyherselfmainlyby her designatedprofessionof medOldTimers.
ical doctor stood in starkcontrastto Leah'sdeclarationsof her
The first thing to say in this context is that, given the
need "to be happy"and her adamantrefusalto specifyany conNewComers'
creteplansfor the future.The professionsdesiredby Sonyaand
immigrantstatus,theirbeingwell versedin mathematics
appearedto be of redemptivevalue:The universalityof
thosementionedby otherNewComers(e.g., computerscientist,
skillswas likelyto constitutean antidoteto these
mathematical
medicaldoctor, engineer)all were relatedto mathematics,and
sense
of localexclusion.To stateit in termsof identity,
students'
this fact appearedto accountfor these students'specialmathethat
we
conjecture
maticalproclivity.Yetthereseemedto be moreto thesestudents'
althoughNewComerswereboundto identify
as
in theirlocalenvironment,mathematical
themselves
outsiders
inclinationfor mathematicsthanjust the wish to promotetheir
was
one
of
those
prowess
propertiesthatcompensatedthemwith
professionalprospects.Accordingto the NewComers'frequent
more
the
statusof "peopleof edprestigious,place-independent
remarks,the specialattractionof mathematicswasin the factthat
ucation
and
culture."9
its rulescould be seen as universalratherthan specificto a particularplaceor culture.In explainingwhy she choseto learnadClearly, the idea that education at large, and mathematical fluvancedmathematics,Sonya,like the other NewComers,spoke
ency in particular, might counterbalance the less advantageous
elements of their identity was not the young NewComers' origaboutthe knowledgeof mathematicsas a necessaryconditionfor
inal invention. In general, what the participants of our study exher becoming"afully fledgedhumanbeing."We thushavereason to claimthat mathematicalfluencyas such, and not just the
pected for themselves was not unlike what their parents and
rewardsthat could be expectedto come with it, constitutedthe
grandparentswished for them. In both groups this link could be
criticalelementin Sonya'sand other NewComers'first-person seen from the students' assertions about the full accord between
theirown andtheirparents'expectations,andfromtheirremarks
designatedidentities.In contrastLeah,in explainingher choice
abouttheirparents'impacton theirchoices.Nevertheless,there
of an advancedmathematicscourse,stressedthe fact that ma20 11EDUCATIONAL
RESEARCHER
was an important difference between our two populations. The
OldTimers' parents, unlike those of the NewComers, were described as willingly limiting the areaof their influence and leaving
most decisions about the future in the young people's own hands.
We also found it quite telling that parents were rarelymentioned
in the OldTimers' autobiographical testimonies, whereas the
NewComers' accounts were repletewith statements about their elders' authority and with explicit and implicit assertions regarding
the parents' all-important role in their children's education. Obviously, the OldTimers' parents' stories about their children's future were not as prescriptiveas those of the NewComers, nor was
the influence of the parents'stories equally significant.
Narratives about education as a universal social lever and
about knowledge of mathematics as one of the most important
ingredients of education evidently constituted a vital part of the
NewComers' cultural tradition. In their native countries, their
families belonged to the Jewish minority. According to what we
were told both by the students and by their parents, these families had typically identified themselves as locally excluded but
globally "athome," thanks to their fine education. Their limited
sense of attachment to the ambient community was likely the
reason for the young people's relative closeness to their families.
In the interviews, both the parents and the children sounded
fully reconciled to their status of local outsiders. Proud of their
cultural background and convinced about its universal value,
they seemed to consider this kind of exclusion as the inevitable
price for, and thus a sign of, the more prestigious, more global
cultural membership. It seems, therefore, that the NewComers'
identities as local outsiders who were destined to overcome their
exclusion with the help of place-independent cultural assets such
as mathematics were shaped by their parents' and grandparents'
stories prior to the students' immigration to Israel.
Because significant narrators can count as voices of community, all of these findings corroborate the claim that designated
identities are products of collective storytelling-of both deliberate molding by others and uncontrollable diffusion of narratives
that run in families and communities. This assertion completes
our empirical instantiation of the claim that designated identity
is "apivot between the social and the individual" aspects of learning (Wenger, 1998, p. 145).
The key move was to equate identity-building with storytelling. The difference between identity as a "thing in the world"
and as a discursive construct is subtle. The kind of data that the
narrative-minded researcheranalyzes in her studies is the same as
everybody else's: These are stories that people tell about themselves or about others to their friends, teachers, parents, children,
and bosses, as well as to researchers.The only distinctive feature
of the present narrativeapproach is that, ratherthan treat the stories as windows to another entity that stays unchanged when "the
stories themselves" evolve, the adherent of the narrativeperspective is interested in the stories as such, accepting them for what
they appear to be: words that are taken seriously and that shape
one's actions. This scholar-while analyzing the various narratives' incessant co-molding, their dialectic interaction with people's deeds, their flow from one generation to another, and their
back-and-forth movement between the community and individual levels-is uniquely positioned to answer the time-honored
questions presented in the beginning of this article: Whydo different individuals act diferently in the same situations?And why,
diferences notwithstanding, do different individuals' actions often
reveala distinctfamily resemblance?
Concluding Remarks: The Promise
of the "Narrative Turn"
call a 'Discourse'...
Summarizing her reflections on the delicate trade-off between
the advantages and the imperfections of the notions of culture
and identity, Norma Gonzales ventured this prediction: "If I
were to engage in a prescient attempt to name the direction of
future researchin anthropology and education, my bet would be
the theory and practice of language ideologies" (Gonzales, 1999,
p. 433). One of her reasons for envisioning this particular development was the conviction that the discursive turn would increase the researchabilityof social phenomena: Questions about
intrapersonal and interpersonal mechanisms would reincarnate
into questions about the dynamics of discourses, which would be
helpful, because "people's ideas about language use are readily accessible to researchersand practitioners" (p. 434). In this article,
we hope to have started turning this prediction into reality.
NOTES
We aregratefulto the anonymousreviewersand to MicheleFosterfor
theirinsistent,friendlycriticism,whichhelpedus to makeourargument
clearerand morefocused.We alsowish to thankthe 1Ith-grademathematicsstudentswho agreedto participatein ourstudy.A previousversion of this articlewas presentedat the 2004 annual meeting of the
AmericanEducationalResearchAssociationin San Diego, CA.
1
Accordingto the leadingIsraelinewspaperHaaretz,"Approximately
200 thousandchildrenimmigratedto Israelin 11 years,most of them
fromthe formerSovietUnion;theyconstitute15%of the Israeliyouth"
(August 31, 2001).
2 This
conjectureshouldnot be misreadas meaningthat immigrants
from the formerSovietUnion aregenerallymore successfulin mathematics than the rest of the Israelipopulation.As reportedin Haaretz
(August2, 1996), "Thereare [immigrant]childrenwho arriveat the
highestplacesin internationalcompetitionsin mathematicsandphysics
and thanksto them, Israelclimbedfrom24th to 13th placein the 1995
internationalchampionship."
3 A few
pagesearlier(p.110), the authorsaid:"Anycombinationthat
can get recognizedas a certain'kind of person'(e.g. a certainkind of
AfricanAmerican,radicalfeminist,doctor,patient,skinhead)is what I
with a capital 'd'. ... Discourses are ways of being
'certainkinds of people."'
4 This concernis not unlike the one raisedby Guttirezand
Rogoff
(2003), who makea caseagainstspeakingin termsof individualtraits
andproposethat"individuals'
andgroups'experiencein activities-not
theirtraits-becomes the focus"of research(p. 19).
5
Throughthe waysthat we talk,we populateour worldswith entities supposedlyoutlastingour actions.With wordswe turn processes
into objects,into the "permanententities"to which our actionsareapplied or which resultfrom these actions(Sfard,1991, 1994); it is also
with wordsthat we reifythe discursivesubjects-the implementersof
the actions.
6 Bakhtin(1999) spokeaboututterancesandwordsratherthanstories.
7 The secondauthorof this study-on the basisof sourcessuchas her
personalexperienceasa studentandasa teacherin Belarus,hersurveyof
Russianmathematicstextbooks,and her interviewswith immigrant
mathematicsteacherswho wereaskedto comparethe teachingandlearning of mathematicsin the formerSovietUnion and Israel-claimed in
her dissertationthat in the formerSovietUnion, unlikein Israel,some
learningtechniqueswerethe explicitobjectof instruction.
8 As observedby Ogbu (1992), the statusof "minority"
is a doubleedgedsword.As shown by empiricalfindings,belongingto a minority
may, in some cases,motivatehardwork and eventualsuccess,whereas
in othercasesit mayhavethe oppositeeffect.Immigrants,whom Ogbu
calls "voluntaryminorities,"are more likely to belong to the former
groupthan arepeoplewhose minoritystatuswas imposedon them.
9 In colloquialRussiandiscourses,the word culture(kultura)is often
usedin an evaluative,normativeway, ratherthanto signifya defaultelementof the humancondition.
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AUTHORS
ANNA SFARD is Lappan-Phillips-Fitzgerald Professor of Mathematics
Education at Michigan State University, and she holds a joint appointment at that university and the University of Haifa. She can be contacted
at the University of Haifa, Education, Brazil Building, 304, Haifa 31905,
Israel;sfard@netvision.net.il. Focusing on issues related to mathematics
education, she investigatesthe implications of the assumption that human
thinking is a particular case of communicative activity.
ANNA PRUSAK is a lecturer at Oranim Teachers College. She may be
contacted at 52 Arlozorov, Haifa 33651, Israel. Her area of specialization is mathematics education. She has taught high school mathematics
for many years, first in Gomel, Belarus, and then in Israel. The empirical study presented in this article was implemented as a part of her PhD
project.
Manuscriptreceived December 21, 2003
Finalrevision received February21, 2005
Accepted March4, 2005