Advancing the funds of identity theory: a critical and unfinished dialogue

Abstract

Since the notion of funds of identity was first proposed, a large number of related works have followed, most of which have been reviewed recently by Hogg and Volman (2020). This special issue is a step forward both in the conceptualization of the construct, and in its educational applications. Three developments in particular are considered. The first deals with the directive and prospective nature of funds of identity, linked to the higher psychological processes, such as imagination, agency or creativity. Second, there is the idea of establishing identity work as a curricular subject in itself, and as a vehicle for the critical understanding/transformation of oneself and of one’s surrounding reality. Third, the range of methodological resources and educational practices that are used to identify, generate and exploit funds of identity is increasingly. The notion of funds of identity is furthermore re-conceptualized in two ways: first as an ongoing, subjective, social and cultural, generative-directive process, grounded in our embodied experience of the world and in social interactions, and second, as symbolic resources that are used to give meaning to oneself and help to project, plan and organize life projects, and a critical understanding of reality