Positioningand its contributions to Identity Analysis

• Self & Identity through narrative– Narrative as action/activity

• Positioning and Positioning Analysis• example• wrap up

JPS 2005Vancouver

Stories versus Narrating• Stories & Life as ‘resource’

– We HAVE a life/story (to tell) (as resource)

– “Life is meaningful coz it’s a story”

• Narrative as activity <narrating>– stories-in-interaction (= “small stories”) as

‘navigating’ through ‘interactive trouble’

– stories are situated actions <with selves in interaction> where selves (identities) come to existence Ritualized performances - sedimented through time -

hailing subjects into being

Analysis ofstories versus narrating (as an activity)

• Analysis of STORIES– Themes (partic. how ‘self’ is “thematized”)– Coherence (underlying ‘sense’ of a unified self)

• Analysis of NARRATING <as mundane activity>

– interactive operations – <as “identity confrontations/negotiations”>

– discursive resources – <the rhetorical means to CONSTRUCT stories>

– Discursive POSITIONS <positioning analysis>

Open Questionswhere small stories might be worthwhile

• How does this unified sense of self come to existence (issue of development + acculturation)?– how does the person in his/her particular culture and

socio-historical context learn to “sort out” what is called life - and what makes life “worth living” (=what constitutes a ‘good’ life)

• Overemphasis of stories about ‘the self’– Underplaying/-theorizing stories we tell about others

• Overemphasis of ‘long stories’ (interviews)– cutting out/devaluating everyday, small stories

Identifying + Analysing ‘small stories’“narratives-in-interaction”

• Three levels of POSITIONING– Characters are positioned vis-à-vis one another

• Who is doing what to whom?

– Speaker and audience are positioning each other• Lecturing, advice giving, accounting, etc

– Speaker positions ‘a self’ / his/her ‘identity’• Expert identity, hetero-sexual self, masculine identity

• Positions as interactively accomplished (in and through the use of discourse)

expl 1: people have different ‘tastes’versus: judgments as ‘identity claims’

• Positioning a self vis. Ms Spears– Britney Spears as ‘cute’

– Britney Spears as ‘yuck’

Why + when and HOW do we attribute ‘cuteness’

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expl 2:“It wasn’t me, hey, I’m Shaggy”

• Same group of ten-year-olds + adult moderator

• Moderator question: “what do YOU boys find attractive in girls?”– borrowing ‘a friend’ and ‘a girl’

• positioning level 1

– borrowing another speaker• positioning level 2

– borrowing ‘Shaggy’• positioning level 3

‘Shaggy’• It wasn’t me

Honey came in and she caught me red-handed

it wasn’t me

CHORUS:

but she caught me on the counter

it wasn’t me

saw me banging on the sofa

it wasn’t me

I even had her in the shower

it wasn’t me

she even caught me on camera

it wasn’t me

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are needed to see this picture.

Moderator question: “what do YOU boys find attractive in girls?”– borrowing ‘a friend’ and ‘a girl’ <characters IN the story>

<positioning these characters vis-à-vis each other>• Positioning level 1

– borrowing another ‘speaker’ <turning to audience + positioning them as ‘speakers’> <letting THEM ‘voice’ and perform the problem/trouble>

• Positioning level 2

– borrowing ‘Shaggy’ <claiming + performing Shaggy’s identity> <but why?>

• Positioning level 3

• simple explanation:– Attraction talk is “trouble talk”:

• Getting caught admiring girls (by ‘whooing’ or talking ‘about’ with self as ‘attracted’) makes you vulnerable

• “borrowing” the Shaggy persona seems to be a way out of this <navigating vulnerability>

• more complex issues:• There are cues orienting toward the project at work

that this isn’t meant to be taken seriously <false compliance - parody -- detaching himself - mimicking>

• as such, these types of ‘double-edged’ discursive practices are quite common and very difficult to challenge

Two examples of ‘identity displays’

• Britney Spears example (two attitudes) - independently

– different strokes…

• Shaggy example (different attitudes “within the same person”)

• Different identity positions “WITHIN the same speaker” <work with contradictions>

What can we take from all this?

• Emergent identity

• Identities as plural

• Identities as always ‘hedged’ or ‘double-edged’

• SMALL STORIES is where the action is

Kind of conclusion• So rather than assuming the existence of

identity + sense of self <as resources> --- and viewing narratives as reflections thereof

--- I am suggesting to study the

Emergence of a sense of selfby way of studying the SMALL STORIES

people tell in their EVERYDAY interactions

Identity Development as Process�

For anyone who is in search for his/her real self

Problems with Small Stories

Generalizability– from few instances of ‘small stories’ to larger

insights <‘sensitivity’>

Indexicality– language cues pointing toward identity are

often subtle, indirect, and multi-dimensional– they can’t be “read off” the data

Performance– iterative + audience oriented