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Article published In: Categorization in multilingual storytelling
Edited by Matthew T. Prior and Steven Talmy
[Pragmatics and Society 10:3] 2019
► pp. 399–422

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Special issue section

Constructing desirable brides

Membership categorization, medium of education, and arranged marriages

 | University of Washington
Published online: 22 October 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.18014.san
Abstract
This paper utilizes Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA) and Conversation Analysis (CA) to examine the entwined relationships among interaction, storytelling, and membership categorization. While demonstrating how a storytelling event in a qualitative research interview and the categories constructed within it are skillfully wielded by the teller to meet interactional exigencies, this single case analysis shows how members do culture-in-action (Hester, Stephen, and Peter Eglin. (eds.). 1997. Culture in Action. Studies in Membership Categorization Analysis. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) related to arranged marriage negotiations in the Indian context. A close examination of the emic categories produced in the interview reveals how the interactants collaboratively co-construct the social structures surrounding arranged marriages and the notion of ‘desirable’ brides. Illustrating the salience of medium-of-education (MoE) in these emic constructions of desirable brides, the analysis reveals the marginalization of Hindi-medium-educated (HME) women in the arranged marriage sphere.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Arranged marriages in India
    • 1.2Conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis
  • 2.The study
    • 2.1The story
      • 2.1.1The pre-story
      • 2.1.2Setting the stage
      • 2.1.3The perfect match
      • 2.1.4The dogged pursuit
  • 3.Conclusion
  • References
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