In this monograph, the author offers a new way of examining the much discussed notion of identity through the theoretical and methodological approach called "multimodal interaction analysis". Moving beyond a traditional discourse analysis focus on spoken language, this book expands our understanding of identity construction by looking both at language and its intersection with such paralinguistic features as gesture, as well as how we use space in interaction.

The author illustrates this new approach through an extended ethnographic study of two women living in Germany. Examples of their everyday interactions elucidate how multimodal interaction analysis can be used to extend our understanding of how identity is produced and negotiated in "context" from a more holistic point of view.