Tensions, ambivalence, and contradiction: a small story analysis of discursive identity construction in the South African workplace
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Marcelyn Oostendorp
Marcelyn Oostendorp is Lecturer in the Department of General Linguistics at Stellenbosch University. Her research interests include discourses and other (multimodal) meaning-making resources in the multilingual context of South Africa.
and
Tamiryn Jones
Tamiryn Jones completed her PhD at the Department of General Linguistics at Stellenbosch University. Her research investigated performance assessment discourses as a genre as well as identity construction and membership within the South African workplace.
Abstract
Recently there has been an increased focus on narratives produced within or about the workplace. A number of different analytical approaches to narrative exist and there has been quite a vigorous debate between researchers interested in life stories (or so-called big stories) and those researchers proposing an increased focus on small stories. This paper will use small story analysis (SSA) to examine workplace identity in discourses on organizational processes in one workplace in South Africa. The data for this study were collected by conducting interviews and focus group discussions with 19 members of a large South African retail company. We find that participants often introduce small stories which offer discourses that contradict or contest “official” company discourses (or the so-called sanctioned grand narrative stories). We argue that small stories can be a valuable resource to investigate organizational discourses, as participants often introduce questions of identity which do not necessarily fit the dominant organizational discourses through small stories. Small story analysis seems to be an ideal tool to investigate contradictions and inconsistencies which occur in all discourses but are typical of contexts of diversity and transformation such as the South African workplace.
About the authors
Marcelyn Oostendorp is Lecturer in the Department of General Linguistics at Stellenbosch University. Her research interests include discourses and other (multimodal) meaning-making resources in the multilingual context of South Africa.
Tamiryn Jones completed her PhD at the Department of General Linguistics at Stellenbosch University. Her research investigated performance assessment discourses as a genre as well as identity construction and membership within the South African workplace.
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©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Announcement
- Wax on, wax off: mediatized Asian masculinity through Hollywood martial arts films
- Tensions, ambivalence, and contradiction: a small story analysis of discursive identity construction in the South African workplace
- Evaluative Stances in Persuasive Essays by Undergraduate Students: Focusing on Appreciation Resources
- An exploratory comparison of the use of modifiers by native speakers of English and Mandarin Chinese in academic lectures
- Young adult literacy learners describe the text–orality nexus
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Announcement
- Wax on, wax off: mediatized Asian masculinity through Hollywood martial arts films
- Tensions, ambivalence, and contradiction: a small story analysis of discursive identity construction in the South African workplace
- Evaluative Stances in Persuasive Essays by Undergraduate Students: Focusing on Appreciation Resources
- An exploratory comparison of the use of modifiers by native speakers of English and Mandarin Chinese in academic lectures
- Young adult literacy learners describe the text–orality nexus
