Identity in narrative : a study of immigrant discourse / Anna De Fina.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Fina, Anna.

Series:

Studies in narrative ; v. 3.

Studies in narrative, 1568-2706 ; v. 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mexican Americans--Ethnic identity.

Mexican Americans.

Mexican Americans--Languages.

Mexican Americans--Social conditions.

Immigrants--United States--Language.

Immigrants.

Immigrants--United States--Social conditions.

Narration (Rhetoric).

Discourse analysis.

Physical Description:

266 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume presents both an analysis of how identities are built, represented and negotiated in narrative, as well as a theoretical reflection on the links between narrative discourse and identity construction. The data for the book are Mexican immigrants' personal experience narratives and chronicles of their border crossings into the United States. Embracing a view of identity as a construct firmly grounded in discourse and interaction, the author examines and illustrates the multiple threads that connect the local expression and negotiation of identity to the wider social contexts that frame the experience of migration, from material conditions of life in the United States to mainstream discourses about race and color. The analysis reveals how identities emerge in discourse through the interplay of different levels of expression, from implicit adherence to narrative styles and ways of telling, to explicit negotiation of membership categories.

Contents:

Identity in Narrative

Editorial page

Title page

LCC page

Dedication page

Table of contents

Introduction

Overview of the volume

Identity in Narrative

Identity in narrative

1. Narrative genre and types of narratives

2. Identity and narrative

Lexical level

Textual/Pragmatic level

Interactional level

3. Local and global contexts

The social phenomenon

1. Mexican undocumented immigrants to the United States

1.1. Number and origin of Mexican undocumented workers in the U.S.

1.2. Reasons for migrating and sociocultural characteristics of Mexican immigrants

1.3. The migration process

2. The subjects of the study

2.1. Life in the United States

3. The Intertextual domain: Public discourse on immigration

4. Notes on methodology and data

4.1. The interviews

4.2. Data selection and transcription

Identity as social orientation

1. Pronominal choice and speaker-orientation

2. Pronominal choice and cultural conceptions of the self

3. Personal and collective protagonists in narratives of personal experience

4. Pronominal distribution in story clauses

5. Pronominal switches and repair

6. Depersonalization in stories: From yo to uno and tu

7. Generalization of experience and story codas

8. Conclusions

Identity as agency

1. Reported speech in narrative

2. Chronicles as a type of narrative

3. Crossing the border

4. Reported speech in the chronicles

5. Coding of reported speech acts

6. Analysis: Individual chronicles

6.1. Reported speech and power

6.2. Interactional positioning

7. Analysis: Collective chronicles

8. Discussion

9. Conclusions

Identity as categorization

1. Categories of identification: Ethnicity.

2. Immigrants and social practices of categorization

3. Functions of orientation and detail in stories

4. Interactional world relevance of ethnic descriptions

5. Story world relevance of ethnic identifications

6. Irrelevant mentions?

7. Ethnic identities in interactional and story world contexts

Identity as social representation

1. Ethnicity: Some definitions

2. Identity as representation

3. Being Hispanic in different story worlds: The chronicles

4. Being Hispanic in different story worlds: Experiences after settlement

5. Conclusions

Conclusions

1. Social roles, agency and membership into communities

2. Storytelling, discourse, identity

3. Concluding remarks and perspectives for future research

Appendix 1. Interview log

Translation

Appendix 2.

Transcription conventions

Notes

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Bibliography

The series STUDIES IN NARRATIVE.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

90-272-9612-X

9786612255335

1-282-25533-9

1-4237-6636-9

OCLC:

65518960