Proceedings of the International Conference on Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory into Research, November 2005 Page 313 The Discursive Construction of Identities: A Critical Analysis of the Representation of Social Actors in Conflict ® María Labarta & Rosana Dolón University of Valencia (Spain) Abstract Starting from a context of controversial urban planning, which conveys the transformation of a residential area in Valencia (Spain) into a leisure area, -a project which meets the residents’ opposition-, the discourse practice here focuses on the dialectics encouraged between the two parties: on the one hand, the supporters of the urban plan and, on the other hand, the residents’ defensive attitude of exclusion avoidance. We look into identity construction and exclusion as related to a discourse practice of resistance. Our research will allow us to highlight the ways in which the different social actors are represented, to witness the dialectics of conflicting discourse practices, and reveal its underlying mechanisms. Historical background The interior reform plan for the Carmen Quarter around the Arab wall, which was submitted in 2002 and affected 200 people (40% of the population of the area), anticipated the demolition of 16 buildings and the reuse of 17 construction sites. The plan, which was originally meant for the construction of public equipment and some houses, was in fact a way of getting rid of the neighbours, a way of demographic cleansing, since the type of equipments that were to be set up in the area was not specified at all. In other words, the plan meant throwing around 200 people out of the district through expropriation or purchase of the affected properties, and did not consider rehousing the affected neighbours. Introduction The study of discursive practices between confronted groups because of an urban plan will allow us to gain an insight into the dynamic construction of identity as a means of representing social actors that favour the public opinions’ acceptance of the proposal of the new urbanistic project. Our research will allow us to highlight the ways in which the different social actors are represented; to witness the dialectics of conflicting discourse practices, and reveal its underlying mechanisms. Methodological framework We start from Critical Discourse Analysis as a methodological framework, relying as well on the contributions of Social Psychology. Construction of discourse, we understand, implies active selection: by giving an account, language users ‘construct’ reality. As stated by Davies & Harré (1990), the discursive practice refers to all the ways in which we actively produce social and psychological realities. Likewise, we relate identity to the construction of subjectivity, to the production of social actors and to self-presentation activity. We share, as well, a conception of identity understood as a set of culturally available performances, which are sanctioned through power relations (see e.g. Wetherell 2001, Fairclough 1992). More specifically, we have resorted to the methodological tools provided by Fairclough's (2003) categorisation, and van Leeuwen’s (1996) sociosemantic categories for the representations of social actors.