Identity in Narrative

“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.”

“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.”