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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1175

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

”Y como no entras dentro de ninguna de las categorías eres, pues, algo un poco exótico” Categorization and identity construction in the narratives of three Latin American migrants in Oslo.

Authors: Pájaro, Verónica
Submitted by: Pájaro, Verónica (University of Oslo, Norway)

This paper focuses on the categorization strategies used in identity construction in the narratives of personal experience in a group discussion of three highly educated Latin American migrants in Oslo. The main hypothesis, formulated on the basis of De Fina’s work on Mexican undocumented immigrants in the USA (2003) is that category labels such as “Norwegian,” “foreigner,” and “Latino” function as discourse strategies by which participants are able to construct individual, situated identities by positioning themselves in relation to the stereotypical or implicit meanings entailed by those categories. Underlying this hypothesis is a social constructionist approach to identity that conceives of it as dynamic and multiple and thus negotiated and emergent in interaction (Bucholtz and Hall 2005).

The study is an in-depth qualitative investigation of the linguistic resources deployed in a corpus of eight narratives of personal experience (Labov 1972; Ochs and Capps 2001), collected in a focus group conversation. The participants in the study, a Peruvian, a Chilean and a Mexican residing in Oslo for a five or six-year period prior to the interview, belong to the latest and biggest immigration wave to Norway (SSB 2011).

The analysis shows how the participants avoid using the categories “immigrant” and “Latino” to refer to themselves in favor of the label “foreigners.” I argue that this choice is related to the current Norwegian migration context and media Discourses regarding immigrants. Thus the participants position themselves towards the experiences represented in the narratives and vis-à-vis one another, by distancing themselves from other migration groups and from stereotypical representation of immigrants in Norway. This “middle” position is continually re-constructed in the narratives by resorting to different linguistic and ethnic categorizations, such as in the following example in which the participant uses categorizations as a means of positioning herself as a Spanish speaking Latin American “no te ves musulmán/ pero tampoco te ves noruego, (…) te escuchan y es español / y entonces eh- como que le tienen un poco más de [respeto] al español / porque (.) finalmente es un idioma:/ europeo o medio muy popular.”

The relevance of linguistic categorization in the Norwegian context illustrated in the study offers an interesting perspective for language policies at the micro level, especially in regards to the ideology of mutual equality and hence intelligibility across Scandinavian languages and that is expected of migrant communities. The study presents an interesting perspective on Latino migrant communities, as Latin Americans constitute a small, well-integrated community that is seldomly addressed in the news or media in Norway.

Bucholtz, M. and K. Hall (2005). "Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach." Discourse Studies 7(4-5): 585-614.

De Fina, A. (2003). Identity in narrative: a study of immigrant discourse. Amsterdam, John Benjamins.

Relaño Pastor, A. M. (2010). "Ethnic categorization and moral agency in 'fitting in' narratives among Madrid immigrant students." Narrative Inquiry 20(1): 85-105.