Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 31:2 (2021) ► pp.311–337
Interpreter and Aboriginal Liaison Officer identity construction and positioning
Published online: 8 June 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19090.kar
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19090.kar
Abstract
This study employs small story theory ( (2006). Stories: Big or small: Why do we care? Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 139–147. ; Bamberg, M., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377–396. ; Georgakopoulou, A. (2006). Thinking big with small stories in narrative and identity analysis. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 122–130. , (2015). Small Stories Research: Methods – Analysis – Outreach. In A. De Fina & A. Georgakopoulou (Eds.), The Handbook of Narrative Analysis (pp. 255–271). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , (2017). Narrative/Life of the Moment: From Telling a Story to Taking a Narrative Stance. In B. Schiff, A. E. McKim & S. Patron (Eds.), Life and narrative: the risks and responsibilities of storying experience (pp. 29–54). New York: Oxford University Press. ) and narrative
positioning analysis (Bamberg, M., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377–396. ) to explore stories that are
told by interpreters of Aboriginal languages and Aboriginal Liaison Officers (ALOs) when they discuss how they do their work and
the challenges they face when interpreting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients in hospital settings. Findings
indicate that the interpreters and ALOs draw on stories to contribute their understanding of complexities of interpreting for
Aboriginal patients and do so through the multiple, shifting positions they attribute to themselves as other social actors in the
stories they narrate. These positions are reinforced in the ongoing interaction but are also located across the dataset,
illustrating that capital-D discourses or master narratives are invoked to frame the role, skills and attributes
of the professionals in this study.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Small stories and big stories
- Identity construction
- Narrative positioning analysis
- Methodology
- Data collection
- Data coding and analysis
- Results: Narrative positioning analysis
- Us and them dichotomy
- ‘You need a Kriol interpreter’ story
- Level I positioning – at the level of the story
- Level II positioning – at the level of the interaction
- Level III positioning – addressing the question “Who am I?”
- ‘Unofficial Kriol interpreting’ story
- ‘We’ll ring you when we need you’ story
- Discussion and conclusion
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