Chapter published in:
Positioning the Self and Others: Linguistic perspectives
Edited by Kate Beeching, Chiara Ghezzi and Piera Molinelli
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 292] 2018
► pp. 241–262

Representations of self and other in narratives of return migration

This paper examines self and other representations in interviews conducted with second-generation Greek return migrants, (in their majority Greek Americans) who relocated to their parents’ homeland as adults within a decade prior to the interviews. Through the analysis of stories of linguistic and cultural assimilation, conflict and transition, authenticity and hybridity, we explore how return migrants construct and negotiate identity positions vis-à-vis other members of their immigrant community, native Greeks, and the interviewer through the employment of indexical devices during the interview. Return migrants constitute an understudied group, especially from a sociolinguistic perspective, and we argue that understanding the complex positioning of identities among this group may provide unique insights into the broader ideologies that mediate hybrid and hyphenated identities in general.
Keywords: identity, narratives, positioning, membership categorisation, code-switching, constructed dialogue
Published online: 17 July 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.292.11nik
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