The Usage of Space in Dialogical Self-Construction: From Dante to Cyberspace

It is commonly acknowledged that Western modernization has changed the outlook on identity, from the ascribed identity in premodern times to the identity management in our late-modern times. Dante's Divina Commedia and the usage of Internet by visitors of a Dutch hip-hop site are analyzed to come to a more differentiated conclusion. Both examples clearly illustrate the dialogical nature of self-construction. The differences are to be found in the spatial distribution of the voiced positions. In the case of the Divina Commedia, self-construction is situated in a narratively defined space where the distribution of dialogical positions obeys the preordained moral structure of the medieval cosmology. The medium of the Internet, on the other hand, facilitates a relatively open exchange between positions that are not bound by time and space, resulting in a more tentative self-construction. However, both examples have in common that exploration as well as demarcation are necessary to guide the process of self-construction.