Borders, Norms, and the Dialogic Construction of Self

Borders define norms of belonging, regulating who is to be considered a legitimate member of a given socio-political space. In addition to their myriad physical manifestations, borders are also internalized by individuals, structuring the ways in which people understand the world around them and their position within it. This chapter consider how internalized borders are navigated in interaction. Integrating the tools of sociolinguistic analysis with theories of dialogical selfhood developed in psychology, the chapter discusses how subjective conflicts are broached and negotiated through talk, leading to a multidimensional presentation of self that seeks to manage subjective conflict. Arguments are based on a case study of a gay man in Greece and the strategies he deploys to minimize a perceived incompatibility between gayness and dominant discourses of Greek nationalism. The ultimate aim of the chapter is to illustrate the importance of theorizing selfhood within sociolinguistic research and the crucial role played by internalized borders in discursive enactments of self.