A new perspective on stories in public deliberation: analyzing small stories in discussions about immigration
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Leah Sprain
Leah Sprain received her PhD in communication from the University of Washington and is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on democratic engagement, studying how communication practices facilitate and inhibit democratic action. Her work appears in the
Journal of Applied Communication Research andCommunication Theory .
and
Jessica M. F. Hughes
Jessica M. F. Hughes received her PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on problems in democratic practices, including practical dilemmas that actors face as well as larger, systemic problems that impede democratic engagement. Her current project investigates disability rights, neurodiversity advocacy, and autism acceptance discourse online.
Abstract
We analyze small stories in a focus group on immigration to understand how small stories offer resources for group interaction in zero-history groups. Our analysis reveals two new functions of stories in deliberation: through small stories participants establish interactional identities (notably the role of expert) and reveal social categories relevant to the issue. Attending to how stories are elicited by other participants also reveals how group members use ventriloquism to have their arguments voiced by people representing particular social categories as a result of their small stories. This empirical analysis raises a normative question for public deliberation scholars: If narratives are vital to public deliberation, what happens when some people have relevant stories to tell and others do not? We suggest how small stories research can help deliberative theorists consider this question.
About the authors
Leah Sprain received her PhD in communication from the University of Washington and is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on democratic engagement, studying how communication practices facilitate and inhibit democratic action. Her work appears in the Journal of Applied Communication Research and Communication Theory.
Jessica M. F. Hughes received her PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on problems in democratic practices, including practical dilemmas that actors face as well as larger, systemic problems that impede democratic engagement. Her current project investigates disability rights, neurodiversity advocacy, and autism acceptance discourse online.
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Note
This data comes from a joint research effort between Public Agenda and the Colorado State University Center for Public Deliberation in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation. Any interpretations and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, its staff, directors, or officers.
©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
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- An interactional account of discourse-connective que-constructions in Spanish
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- “Wicked” women in contemporary pop culture: “bad” language and gender in Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and Saving Grace
- The interplay between agency and constraint: some departures from the organization of talk in the classroom
- Thematic choice and progression in English and Chinese radio news texts: a systemic functional analysis
- An interactional account of discourse-connective que-constructions in Spanish
- A new perspective on stories in public deliberation: analyzing small stories in discussions about immigration
- Metaphor and the notion of control in trauma talk
