Understanding Identities in Activities

This chapter discusses the significance of understanding teacher identitiesTeacher identity through integrating the perspectives of practice and discourse while examining the interrelated tensions caused by unequal power relations in a wider social context. Activity theoryActivity theory is adopted to explore teacher identityTeacher identity construction in the context of higher education reformHigher education reform in Mainland China. The chapter compares activity theory with Communities of PracticeCommunities of practice (CoP) and presents three subsections on activity theory, teacher identity-in-activityTeacher identity-in-activity, and the integration of understandings from an activity perspective with practice and discourse perspectives. While CoP highlights practice, community, meaning, and identityIdentity, activity theory focuses on open systems that generate disturbances, conflicts, and attempts to change the activity, driving the formation of identitiesIdentity. This chapter emphasizes the importance of adopting activity theoryActivity theory as a framework for identity interpretation in complex and ever-changing educational contexts, such as higher education reformHigher education reform in Mainland China.