La rilevanza delle narrazioni e dei posizionamenti nello studio dell’interculturale
The Relevance of Narratives and Positionings in the Study of the Intercultural
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to contribute to the study of the intercultural by associating the intercultural with the concepts of narrative and positioning. In the last decades, the analysis of intercultural communication has privileged an essentialist understanding of culture, identity and cultural differences. Following a non-essentialist approach, this paper focuses on the intercultural rather than the more common label of ‘intercultural communication’ in order to pull away from an established perspective which sees individuals as guided, in their behaviour and choices, by their national and cultural belonging. By doing this, the concepts of narratives and positionings become extremely relevant as they permit to observe interactions as contingent events where individuals make choices on the basis of contextual interactional elements and personal needs. Moreover, these concepts permit to look at culture as a set of meanings under ongoing changes and which are related to the negotiations occurring between participants in a specific social event. In these negotiations, the agency of participants is a key element for the (inter)cultural everyday creativity.
References
Amadasi, S. (2014). Beyond belonging. How migrant children actively construct their cultural identities in the interaction. Interdisciplinary Journal of Family Studies, IXX, 1/2014. https://ijfs.padovauniversitypress.it/system/files/papers/19_1_09.pdf
Amadasi, S. (opera non pubblicata). Bambini in viaggio nel presente. Narrazioni di mobilità transnazionale a scuola. Tesi di dottorato, ottobre 2015, Università degli Studi di Padova.
Amadasi, S. (2020). “He was as if on the moon”. The Relevance of Narratives Told by
Teachers in the Understanding of Transnational Experiences Lived by Children. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 12(1), 226-248. doi: 10.14658/pupj-ijse-2020-1-13
Amadasi S., & Baraldi C. (2020). Facilitare la narrazione di culture di bambini migranti. Mondi Migranti, 2/2020, pp. 203-226.
Amadasi S., & Holliday A. (2018). ‘I already have a culture.’ Negotiating competing grand and personal narratives in interview conversations with new study abroad arrivals. Lan-guage and Intercultural Communication, 18 (2), 241-256 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2017.1357727
Amadasi, S., & Iervese, V. (2018). The right to be transnational. Narratives and Positionings of children with migration background in Italy. In C. Baraldi & T. Cockburn (Eds.), Theorizing Childhood: Citizenship, Rights and Participation, (pp: 239-262), Palgrave Macmillan.
Amadasi S., & Holliday A. (2017). Block and thread intercultural narratives and positioning: conversations with newly arrived postgraduate students. Language and Intercultural Communication, 17 (3), 254-269, DOI: 10.1080/14708477.2016.1276583
Baker, M. (2006). Translation and conflict. New York, NY: Routledge.
Bamberg, M. (2010). Who am I? Narration and its contribution to self and identity. Theory and Psychology, 21(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.11770959354309355852
Baraldi, C. (2009). Empowering dialogue in intercultural settings. In C. Baraldi (Ed.), Di-alogue in Intercultural Communities: Form an Educational Point of View, (pp: 3-28). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.4.
Baraldi, C. (2015). Intercultural Communication Systems and Discourses of Cultural Identity. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(1), 49–71. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0003
Baraldi, C. (2014). Facilitare la comunicazione in classe. Suggerimenti dalla Metodologia della Narrazione e della Riflessione. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Baraldi C., & Iervese V. (2017). Narratives of memories and dialogue in multicultural classrooms: Analysis of workshops based on the use of photography. Narrative In-quiry, 27(2), 398-417. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.27.2.10bar
Barker, C., & Galasiński, D. (2001). Cultural Studies and discourse analysis: A dialogue on language and identity. London: Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446219249.
Belotti, V. (ed.) (2010). Costruire senso, negoziare spazi. Ragazze e ragazzi nella vita quotidiana. Quaderni del Centro nazionale di documentazione e analisi per l'infanzia e l'a-dolescenza.
Bhatia, S. (2007). Rethinking culture and identity in psychology: Towards a transnational
cultural psychology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 27-28(2-1), 301-321. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0091298
Fisher, W. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a philosophy of reason, value, and action. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
Giddens, A. (1990). La costituzione della società. Milano: Edizioni di Comunità.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Anchor.
Gudykunst, W. B. (1997). Cultural variability in communication an introduction. Communication research, 24 (4), 327-348. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365097024004001.
Hannerz, U. (1999). Reflections on varieties of culturespeak. European journal of cultural studies, 2(3), 393-407.
Hannerz, U. (1990). Cosmopolitans and locals in world culture. Theory, culture and society, 7(2): 237-251. https://doi.org/10.1177/026327690007002014.
Harré, R., & Van Langenhove, L. (Eds.) (1999). Positioning Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
Henriksen, T. D. (2008). Liquidating roles and crystallising positions: Investigating the road between role and positioning theory. In F. M. Moghaddam, R. Harré, N. Lee (Eds), Global conflict resolution through positioning analysis (pp. 41-64). New York: Sprin-ger.
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organisation across Nations. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00184-5.
Holliday, A. R. (1999). Small cultures. Applied Linguistics, 20(2), 237-264. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/20.2.237.
Holliday, A. (2010). Complexity in cultural identity. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(2), 165-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708470903267384.
Holliday, A. R. (2011). Intercultural Communication and Ideology. London: Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446269107.n6
Holliday, A. R. (2013). Understanding intercultural communication: negotiating a grammar of culture. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203492635.
Holliday A.R. (2016). Revisiting intercultural competence: Small culture formation on the go through threads of experience. International Journal of Bias, Identity and Diversities in Education, 1(2), 1-14. doi: 10.4018/IJBIDE.2016070101
Holliday AR (2019) Understanding intercultural communication: negotiating a grammar of culture (2a ed.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351139526.
Holliday, A. R., & Amadasi, S. (2020). Making sense of the intercultural: finding deCentred threads. London: Routledge.
Kim, Y. Y. (2008). Intercultural personhood: Globalization and a way of being. International journal of Intercultural Relations, 32(4), 359-368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2008.04.005.
Moghaddam, F. M., Harré, R., & Lee, N. (2008). Positioning and conflict: An introduction. In F. M. Moghaddam, R. Harré, N. Lee, (Eds.), Global conflict resolution through positioning analysis (pp. 3-20). Springer, New York, NY.
Omoniyi, T. (2006). Hierarchy of identities. In T. Omoniyi, G. White (Eds.), The sociolinguistics of Identity, (pp. 11-33), London: Continuum. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00397_6.x.
Piller, I. (2007). Linguistics and Intercultural Communication. Language and Linguistic Compass, 1(3), 208-226. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00012.x.
Somers, M. R. (1994). The Narrative Constitution of Identity: A Rational and Network
Approach, Theory and Society, (23), 605-649.
Somers, M., & Gibson, G.D. (1994). Reclaiming the epistemological ‘other’: narrative and
the social constitution of identity. In C. Calhoun (ed). Social Theory and the Politics of
Identity, (pp. 37- 99). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Ting-Toomey, S. (2012). Communicating across cultures. Guilford Press.
Van Langenhove, L., & Harré, R. (1999). Introducing Positioning Theory. In R. Harré, & L. Van Langenhove (Eds.), Positioning Theory, (pp. 14-31), Oxford: Blackwell.
