ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE ANALYSIS: TOOLS FOR VOCATION DISCERNMENT

Anna Marie Trester Georgetown University Dept of Linguistics

Narrative and Institutions (Linde 2009)

Narration is one very important way that institutions construct their presentation of who they are and what they have done in the past.

They use these pasts in the present as an attempt to shape their future.

Narrative is also the link between the way an institution represents its past and the ways its members use, alter, or contest that past, in order to understand the institution as a whole as well as their own place within or apart from that institution.

Themes from the ethnography:

Learning how to say “yes” to things, vulnerability, discovery, learning, growth

Narrative: “No, I don’t say “no” to things”

Improv Theater Ethnography

Business School Ethnography

Themes from the ethnography:

“Healthy” & “friendly” competition, constructing authority

Narrative: Bull in a China Shop

Narrative & Identity (DeFina 2003: 19) cultural ways of telling through the

articulation of linguistic and rhetorical resources.   

negotiation of social roles (both local and global) that conform or oppose the ones attributed to narrators by communities and individuals. 

expression, discussion and negotiation of membership into communities.  Central to such process is the categorization of self and others and the negotiation of beliefs and stances that help narrators identify themselves as members of groups or distinguish themselves as members of other groups.

The (virtual) ethnographers

A professional development course for M.A. students in sociolinguistics:using virtual ethnography to collect narratives from organizations of interest

As linguists, we can approach the job search by analyzing the organization we want to work for in terms of the stories it tells about itself

The idea

Engagement with the field

Reading Academic literature on industry Trade publications Websites / Blogs / listservs / Twitter

Networking Professional organizations Conferences Meetings LinkedIn

Interviewing (Informational - with key individuals)

Occasions for remembering

(Linde 2009: 47)

Narratives

Discovery Where do the narratives live in your

organization? What do they DO? What stories are not told? Why?

Analysis What cultural “ways of telling” can you discern? What unique perspective do you have about

how the company is presenting itself? Positioning in the narratives:

How do texts position you as audience? How do texts position the organization? Does it resonate with your values? Do you see yourself

in this narrative?

Data

Websites (Peace Corps, BAH, Topos, Agha Khan)

TV Commercials (Nike) Videotaped Data collection interviews

(Practica) Blog (State Dept) Newsletter (OAR) Twitter (#oilspill) Research White Papers (Ideo)

3 organizations, 3 narratives

Peace Corps Creation of Kenyan sign

language resource, from website Organization for Autism

Research “What a month it has been”

newsletter by the Executive Director

State Department DipNote blog entry by the NZ

embassador about engaging with Social Media

Insight into Peace Corps

From ethnography: from networking event and Informational Interview -the value they place on being able to recognize problem, innovate and collaborate a solution

As reflected in the Narrative: Abstract features verbs like “observed,”

“became aware” celebrate moment of recognition

Phrases like “after months of late nights and long weekends” highlight the value of HARD WORK (working in spare time, despite many challenges)

Collaboration seen through the introduction of many figures in story world (reinforced in photos)

Organization # 1: Peace Corps (Website)http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatlike.interactivefeatures.ksl

Insight into OAR: Cheerleading From ethnography:

This student was able to secure an internship within the organization and knew firsthand how challenging and demanding the workload was

What he saw in narrative: Almost every paragraph ends with cheers,

praise

Organization #2 Organization for Autism Research (Newsletter)

Insight into the organization: many constituencies as reflected in multiple audiences (shifts in footing) in narrative

As I told the runners, their families, and friends, the dollars we count in October fund the new research studies and continuing research we will begin funding on January 1. Congratulations, and again thanks!

Each of the applicants deserves high praise for advancing research related to autism.

To the winners, congratulations!

As you will read elsewhere in this newsletter, from an initial, record field of 101 proposals, seven rose to the top as the most outstanding.

And to Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., the chairman of the Scientific Council, the members of that group, and our adjunct reviewers, another “Wow!” Thank you and well done!

http://www.researchautism.org/resources/newsletters/2010/November_2010.aspIn the course of the next few days, more than 200 people parents, teachers, autism professionals. Members of OAR’s board and Scientific council and representatives from sponsoring organizations and agencies

Types of intertextuality

And stances taken towards it: A-Team “I love it when a good plan comes

together” Military: “walking the terrain” as we used to

say in the marines

DipNote blog – somewhat defensive stance towards adoption of social media Constructed Dialogue: Back in 2010, Secretary

Clinton stated, " …we find ourselves living at a moment in human history when we have the potential to engage in these new and innovative forms of diplomacy and to also use them to help individuals be empowered for their own development." She was right, and the empowerment aspect was and is revolutionary, as current events continue to show.

Here at U.S. Embassy Wellington we didn't need to be pushed or cajoled. We instinctively recognized the potential to engage using social media, and have been using social media for the past two years.

Organization #3: State Department

DipNote blog

Insights into organization

Performance of engagement with social media A presupposition of incredulity “yes, I

tweet” Framing it as "21st Century Statecraft" and

referring to the originator of this term through use elaborated referring expression: “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton” – striking, given that this is the blog of the State Department, and most readers could be presumed to be very familiar with who she is. Borrowed prestige for the medium.

Through discourse, people: Represent the world, organize thought

into communicative actions Arrange information so that it is

accessible to others, engage in actions and interactions

Convey their identities, relationships, and values

Narrative: identity par excellence Johnstone (1996) and Schiffrin (1996) in

narrative that people’s individuality is most clearly expressed. The ability of narrative to verbalize and situate personal experience as text encourages the display of self/identity.

A Linguist’s Toolkit

Positioning: speaker’s identity construction relative to what is said “Positioning can be understood as

the discursive construction of personal stories that make up

personal stories that make a person’s actions intelligible and relatively determinate as social

acts” (van Langenhove and Harre 1999: 16).

Deixis: “pointing elements.” give info about the vantage point of the speaker: go/come; went/came

Negation: where are the “no”s in the data? What is not said? Identity construction is often as much of a question of what you say you are not as what you say you are.

Referring Expressions: Who are the people in the story world? What are they called? What categories? Who a member? Excluded? options? Identities?

 Footing: the shifting alignments that participants are continually taking up toward one another and to the ideas and topics discussed as interaction unfolds.

The assignment

What linguistic choices can you discern which contribute to positionings which construct and convey institutional values, personal relationships, and individual and group identities?

Thank you!

amt23@georgetown.edu