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Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 35:1 (2025) ► pp.70–94

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Shifting discourses of togetherness and heroism in retold earthquake stories

ORCiD logo with link | University of CanterburyChristchurch
ORCiD logo with link | University of CanterburyChristchurch
Published online: 28 April 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22107.bla
Abstract
This paper examines how disaster-related discourses are produced in storytelling, and whether and in what way these discourses may change in the second telling. We examine two sets of retold stories taken from a corpus of 123 retold stories about the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand. Findings indicate that these storytellers tell structurally similar stories, yet implement subtle linguistic changes which produce different positionings and discourses in the two tellings. We draw on positioning analysis and the ethnomethodological concept of tellability to show how, in the first telling, the storytellers orient to and produce discourses of united togetherness, whereas in the second telling they produce discourses of bravery and heroism. We argue that the positioning and discursive strategies used in disaster stories may change drastically over time, showing how retold stories of the same event change to meet the evolving realities of the teller and their post-disaster community.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Narrative analysis of retold stories
  • Narrative positioning analysis
  • Tellability
  • Data and methods
  • Percy’s story: Helping an old couple
    • Percy’s story – stanzas B and BB
    • Percy’s story – stanzas C and CC
    • Percy’s story – stanzas D and DD
    • Percy’s story – stanzas E and EE
  • Lucinda’s “helping others” story
    • Lucinda’s story – stanzas A and AA
    • Lucinda’s story – stanzas B and BB
    • Lucinda’s story – stanzas C and CC
    • Lucinda’s story – stanzas D and DD
  • Discussion: Discursive (PL-3) shifts in Percy’s and Lucinda’s stories from QB1 (2012) to QB2 (2019)
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
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2025. How stable are patterns of covariation across time?. Language Variation and Change 37:1 ► pp. 111 ff. DOI logo

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