Last update:
9 February 2010
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Identity in NarrativeA study of immigrant discourse
2003. xiv, 252 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Hardbound
– In stock
978 90 272 2643 3 / EUR 99.00 978 1 58811 432 7 / USD 149.00
e-Book
– Available from e-book platforms
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.
Table of contents
“The study of immigration and minorities, and of the racism and prejudice of 'white' majorities in Europe and the Americas, is increasingly being conducted in discourse analytical terms. However, the voice of immigrants and minorities themselves, also as researchers, has so far seldom been heard. In this fascinating book on the stories of Mexican immigrants in the USA, Anna De Fina presents an expert, inside, view of the social identity of the new citizens. She uniquely combines state of the art theories of language, discourse and narrative with research on ethnic identities. Anna de Fina in this work has contributed detailed and valuable insights into the study of such diverse topics as the use of pronouns, reported speech, ethnic categorization , agency and social roles and social representations in narrative. Through such subtle analyses, we also learn about the important sociocognitive aspects of immigration. The book will be very useful for discourse analysts, narrative analysts, linguists, and social scientists interested in immigration and minorities.”
Teun van Dijk, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
“De Fina's 'Identity in Narrative' clearly and eloquently establishes the power of small scale discourse analytic studies for exposing and clarifying the effect of large scale social changes on individual lives. Her study of the narratives of one group of people (undocumented Mexican workers) not only offers us glimpses into the lives and hardships of those living through periods of personal, social and cultural upheaval: it also provides an excellent model for anyone interested in how social and linguistic meanings intertwine in our narratives and, thus, in our constructions of identity.”
“"Identity in Narrative" provides a unique view of the identity construction process as shown at a lexical, textual and interactional level. Covering so much information, it is unsurprisingly a dense read, but one bound to be worthwhile for those interested in the complex relationship between our stories and our identities.”
Subject classification |
Linguistics