Cover not available

Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 31:2 (2021) ► pp.338–357

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

“When I came to the US”

Constructing migration in gay Indian immigrants’ coming-out narratives

ORCiD logo with link
Published online: 18 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19088.wan
Abstract
From a social constructionist perspective, this study examines three gay Indian immigrants’ coming-out narratives as the locus of the discursive construction of both one’s physical and social location within the changing context. It advocates reconceptualizing “coming out” as dynamic and situated in interaction. Also, it investigates the intersection and construction of identities by analyzing coming-out narratives in sociolinguistic interviews conducted in Washington, DC. Drawing on Bamberg’s three levels of positioning (Bamberg, M. (1997). Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 71, 335–342. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the analysis highlights how narrators bring about their identities as they contrast the social constructs in India, i.e., the absence of such concept, and in the US, e.g., the acceptance of homosexuality, by reenacting dialogue before and after migration. This study adds to positioning theory and contributes to the cross-cultural dimension of research on coming-out narratives. The qualitative analysis also provides a linguistic perspective that views narrating coming out as an interactive process for constructing intersected identities.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • Reconceptualizing and recontextualizing coming-out narratives
    • Narrative, migration, and identity
    • Identity and positioning in narrative
  • Data
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (41)
References
Bacon, J. (1998). Getting the story straight: Coming out narratives and the possibility of a cultural rhetoric. World Englishes, 17(2), 249–258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bamberg, M. (1997). Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 71, 335–342. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baynham, M. (2006). Performing self, family and community in Moroccan narratives of migration and settlement. In A. De Fina, D. Schiffrin & M. Bamberg (Eds.), Discourse and Identity (pp. 376–397). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bie, B., & Tang, L. (2016). Chinese gay men’s coming out narratives: Connecting social relationship to co-cultural theory. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 9(4), 351–367. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4–5), 585–614. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cantú, L. (2009). The sexuality of migration: Border crossings and Mexican immigrant men. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carranza, I. E. (1998). Low narrativity narratives and argumentation. Narrative Inquiry, 8(2), 287–317. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cashman, H. (2018). Queer, Latinx, and bilingual: Narrative resources in the negotiation of identities. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cass, V. C. (1979). Homosexuality identity formation: A theoretical model. Journal of Homosexuality, 4(3), 219–235. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chávez, K. (2013). Pushing Boundaries: Queer Intercultural Communication. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 6(2), 83–95. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coleman, E. (1982). Developmental stages of the coming out process. Journal of Homosexuality, 7(2–3), 31–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20(1), 44–63. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guittar, N. A. (2013). The meaning of coming out: From self-affirmation to full disclosure. Qualitative Sociology Review, 9(3), 168–187.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jandt, F. E., & Darsey, J. (1981). Coming out as a communicative process. In J. W. Chesebro (Ed.), Gayspeak (pp. 12–27). New York: Pilgrim Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, K., Holtby, A., Cook, K., & Travers, R. (2015). Complicating the coming out narrative: Becoming oneself in a heterosexist and cissexist world. Journal of Homosexuality, 62(3), 297–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Korobov, N., & Bamberg, M. (2004). Positioning a ‘mature’ self in interactive practices: How adolescent males negotiate ‘physical attraction’ in group talk. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 221, 471–492. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lewis, N. M. (2014). Moving “out,” moving on: Gay men’s migrations through the life course. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 104(2), 225–233. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liang, A. C. (1997). The creation of coherence in coming-out stories. In A. Livia & K. Hall (Eds.), Queerly phrased: Language, gender, and sexuality (pp. 287–309). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindlof, T., & Taylor, B. (2011). Qualitative communication research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macías-Gómez-Estern, B. (2015). Narrative as a sense-making tool in the construction of migrants’ identities. Apprehending emotions. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1731, 168–175. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Manning, J. (2015). Communicating sexual identities: A typology of coming out. Sexuality & Culture, 19(1), 122–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Motschenbacher, H., & Stegu, M. (2013). Queer Linguistic approaches to discourse. Discourse & Society, 24(5), 519–535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ochs, E. (1992). Indexing gender. In A. Duranti & C. Goodwin (Eds.), Rethinking context (pp. 335–358). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). Constructing social identity: A language socialization perspective. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 26(3), 287–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plummer, K. (1995). Telling sexual stories: Power, change, and social worlds. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rust, P. C. (1993). ‘Coming out’ in the age of social constructionism: Sexual identity formation among lesbian and bisexual women. Gender and Society, 7(2), 50–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (2016). Migrant narratives of dis/emplacement: The alternative spatialization and ethnicization of the local urban floor. Text & Talk: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse & Communication Studies, 36(3), 269–293. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sauntson, H. (2007). Education, culture and the construction of sexual identity: An appraisal analysis of lesbian coming out narratives. In H. Sauntson & S. Kyratzis (Eds.), Language, sexualities and desires: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 140–164). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schiffrin, D. (1996). Narrative as self-portrait: Sociolinguistic constructions of identity. Language in Society, 25(2), 167–203. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tannen, D. (2007). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Troiden, R. R. (1989). The formation of homosexual identities. Journal of Homosexuality, 17(1–2), 43–74. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, F., Bih, H., & Brennan, D. (2009). Have they really come out: Gay men and their parents in Taiwan. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 11(3), 285–296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, P.-H. (forthcoming). “The words has been immigrate”: Chronotopes in context-shaping narrative co-construction about Taiwanese loanwords with Taiwanese Americans. Language in Society.
(2017a). Out of the country, out of the closet: Positioning in gay immigrants’ coming-out stories. (Master’s thesis, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, US). Retrieved from [URL]
(2017b). Out of the country, out of the closet: Coming out stories in cross-cultural contexts. Southern Journal of Linguistics, 41(2), 173–198.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wortham, S. (2001). Narratives in action: A strategy for research and analysis. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yep, G., Lovaas, K., & Elia, J. (2003). Introduction: Queering communication: Starting the conversation. Journal of Homosexuality, 45(1), 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Arnold-Murray, Katherine
2025. #transandproud. In Identity Perspectives from Peripheries [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 352], ► pp. 260 ff. DOI logo
DiDomenico, Stephen M.
2025. Analysing Narrative and Discourse Data. In The Guide to LGBTQ+ Research, ► pp. 247 ff. DOI logo
Saito, Junko
2024. The discursive manifestation of normativities in coming-out-to-family discourses in Japanese social media. Journal of Language and Sexuality 13:2 ► pp. 178 ff. DOI logo
Sandler, Elisabeth Theresa
2022. An overview of coming out research: Introducing a three‐lens typology. Sociology Compass 16:2 DOI logo
Wang, Ping-Hsuan
2022. ‘The words has been immigrate’: Chronotopes in context-shaping narrative co-construction about Taiwanese loanwords with Taiwanese Americans. Language in Society 51:1 ► pp. 73 ff. DOI logo
Wang, Ping-Hsuan
2023. Coming out for another. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 33:2 ► pp. 159 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue