Displacement identity in transit
A Nauru case study
Based on Darvin and Norton’s (2015) reconceptualization of identity theory highlighting the recursive relationship between identity, capital, and ideology, this study posits that refugee and asylum seeker adolescents and adults in transit on Nauru are ascribed a ‘displacement identity’ through externally imposed normative ideologies. In addressing the issue of normative ideologies, this article draws on my experience as an English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher at the Nauru Regional [refugee] Processing Centre and employs KhosraviNik’s (2010a) systematic model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the representations of ‘displacement’ inherent in a corpus of texts accessed by those displaced on Nauru. This analysis suggests that an externally ascribed displacement identity is evident in normative ideologies. As Darvin and Norton’s identity theory situates language learning investment at the dynamic intersection of identity, capital, and ideology, further qualitative research on internally inhabited displacement identity formation and symbolic capital affordances is now required. Such research would aid in the development of pedagogical approaches to enable education in sites of transitory settlement to be a re-humanising and transformative experience that engages marginalized language learners, promotes positive identities and thus optimizes language learning investment.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Conceptual Framework
- Methods and Design
- Autoethnography
- Critical Discourse Analysis
- Methodological synergy
- Corpus design
- CDA: Results and Discussion
- Topicalization
- Social Actors
- Social Action Attributions
- Text 1: A Current Affair goes to Nauru: Facile questions and lingering shots of flat screen TVs
- Texts 2, 3 & 4: Facebook screenshots
- Text 5: A Current Affair’s rare look inside the Nauru detention centre
- Text 6: Inside Nauru: ‘You make a nice prison, it’s still a prison’
- Texts 7 & 8: Articles about boat turnbacks
- Text 9: Australian news report on Nauru ‘sanitised’
- Text 10: Only ‘respectful and objective’ media outlets are welcome, says Nauru
- Argumentation
- CDA implications and limitations
- Conclusion and implications for further research
- Note
-
References
References
Amnesty International
(
2016)
Island of despair: Australia’s “processing” of refugees on Nauru. London: Amnesty International.
Anderson, L.
(
2006)
Analytic autoethnography.
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 351, 373–395.
Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., KhosraviNik, M., Krzyzinowski, M., McCenery, T., & Wodak, R.
(
2008)
A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press.
Discourse and Society, 19(3), 273–306.
Block, D.
(
2006)
Identity in applied linguistics. In
T. Ominiyi &
G. White (Eds.),
The sociolinguistics of identity (pp. 34–49). London: Continuum.
Block, D.
(
2007)
The rise of identity in SLA research, post Firth and Wagner (1997).
The Modern Language Journal, 91(1), 863–876.
Block, D.
(
2012)
Class and SLA: Making connections.
Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 188–205.
Blommaert, J.
(
2001)
Investigating narrative inequality: African asylum seekers in Belgium.
Discourse and Society, 12(4), 413–449.
Blommaert, J.
(
2005)
Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Blommaert, J.
(
2006)
Language policy and national identity. In
An introduction to language policy: Theory and method (pp. 238–254). Oxford: Blackwell.
Bourdieu, P.
(
1991)
Language and symbolic power. (
B. Thompson, Ed.,
G. Raymond, &
M. Adamson, Trans.) Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Brekke, J., & Brochmann, G.
(
2014)
Stuck in transit: Secondary migration of asylum seekers in Europe, national differences, and the Dublin regulation.
Journal of Refugee Studies, 28(2), 145–162.
Cameron, D.
(
2006)
On language and sexual politics. London: Routledge.
Canagarajah, S. A.
(
2004)
Reclaiming the local in language policy and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Canagarajah, S. A.
(
2012)
Teacher development in a global profession: An autoethnography.
TESOL Quarterly, 461, 258–279.
Commonwealth Network
(
2015)
Nauru. Retrieved from
[URL]
Darvin, R., & Norton, B.
(
2014)
Social Class, Identity, and Migrant Students.
Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 13(2), 111–117.
Darvin, R., & Norton, B.
(
2015)
Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics.
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 351, 36–56.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
(
2012, August 29)
Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Nauru and the Commonwealth of Australia, relating to the transfer to and assessment of persons in Nauru, and related issues. Retrieved from
[URL]
Doherty, B.
(
2015)
Call me illegal: The semantic struggle over seeking asylum in Australia. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Duff, P.
(
2002)
The discursive co-construction of knowledge, identity, and difference: An ethnography of communication in the high school mainstream.
Applied Linguistics, 231, 289–322.
Duff, P. A.
(
2014)
Case study research on language learning and use.
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 341, 233–255.
Dӧrnyei, Z.
(
1994)
Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom.
Modern Language Journal, 781, 273–284.
Ellis, C.
(
2004)
The ethnographic I: A methodological novel about teaching and doing autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P.
(
2006)
Analysing analytic autoethnography: An autopsy.
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 351, 429–449.
Flowerdew, J., Li, D., & Tran, S.
(
2002)
Discriminatory news discourse: Some Hong Kong data.
Discourse and Society, 13(3), 319–345.
Gaynor, T.
(
2015, December 18)
2015 likely to break records for forced displacement – study.
UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency. Retrieved from
[URL]
Haig, E.
(
2012)
A critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics approach to measuring participant power in a radio news bulletin about youth crime.
Studies in Media and Society, 41, 45–73.
Hall, C., Smith, P., & Wicaksono, R.
(
2011)
Mapping applied linguistics: A guide for students and practitioners. New York: Routledge.
Halliday, M.
(
1994)
An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). London: Arnold.
Higgins, C.
(
2009)
English as a local language. Bristol: Mulitilingual Matters.
Hood, M.
(
2009)
Case study. In
J. Heigham, &
R. Croker (Eds.),
Qualitative research in applied linguistics: A practical introduction (pp. 66–90). NY: Palgrave Macmillanu.
Ibrahim, A. E.
(
1999)
Becoming black: Rap and hip-hop, race, gender, identity, and the politics of ESL learning.
TESOL Quarterly, 33(3), 349–369.
Senate select committee into recent allegations in relation to conditions and circumstances at the regional processing centres in Nauru
(
2015, June 9)
Taking responsibility: conditions and circumstances at Australia’s Regional Processing Centre in Nauru. Canberra: Parliament of Australia.
Kanno, Y., & Norton, B.
(
2003)
Imagined communities and educational possibilities: Introduction.
Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 2(4), 241–249.
Kanno, Y., & Varghese, M.
(
2010)
Immigrant and refugee ESL students’ challenges to accessing four-year college education: From language policy to educational policy.
Journalof Language, Identity, and Education, 9(5), 310–328.
Kaplan, R.
(
2010)
The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
KhosraviNik, M.
(
2008)
British newspapers and the representation of refugees. Working paper, Centre for Language in Social Life, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University, Lancaster.
KhosraviNik, M.
(
2010a)
Actor descriptions, action attributions, and argumentation: Towards systematization of CDA analytical categories in the representation of social groups.
Critical Discourse Studies, 7(1), 55–72.
KhosraviNik, M.
(
2015)
Macro and micro legitimation in discourse on Iran’s nuclear programme: The case of Iranian national newspaper Kayhan.
Discourse and Society, 26(1), 52–73.
KhosraviNik, M., & Unger, J. W.
(
2015)
Critical discourse studies and social media: Power, resistance and critique in changing media ecologies. In
R. Wodak, &
M. Meyer (Eds.),
Methods of critical discourse studies (pp. 205–233). London: Sage.
KhosraviNik, M., & Zia, M.
King, B.
(
2008)
‘Being gay guy, that is the advantage’: Queer Korean language learning and identity construction.
Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 7(3–4), 230–252.
MacKenzie, L., & Guntarik, O.
(
2015)
Rites of passage: Experiences of transition for forced Hazara migrants and refugees in Australia.
Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 6(1), 59–80.
McKay, S., & Wong, S.
(
1996)
Multiple discourses, multiple identities: Investment and agency in second language learning among Chinese adolescent immigrant students.
Harvard Educational Review, 66(3), 577–608.
McKinney, C.
(
2007)
‘If I speak English does it make me less black anyway?’ ‘Race’ and English in South African desegregated schools.
English Academy Review, 24(2), 6–24.
McNamara, T.
(
2013)
Crossing boundaries: Journeys into language.
Language and Intercultural Communication, 13(3), 343–344.
Moffat, L., & Norton, B.
(
2008)
Reading gender relations and sexuality: Preteens speak out.
Canadian Journal of Education, 31(3), 102–123.
Morgan, B., & Ramanathan, V.
(
2005)
Critical literacies and language education: Global and local perspectives.
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 251, 151–169.
Nelson, C.
(
2009)
Sexual identities in English language education: Classroom conversations. New York: Routledge.
Nelson, C. D., & Appleby, R.
(
2015)
Conflict, militarisation, and their after effects: Key challenges for TESOL.
TESOL Quarterly, 49(2), 309–322.
Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection
(
2016)
Newsroom. Retrieved from:
[URL]
Norton Peirce, B.
(
1995)
Social identity, investment and language learning.
TESOL Quarterly, 291, 9–31.
Norton, B.
(
2013)
Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation. Bristol, UK: Mulitilingual Matters.
Norton, B.
(
2016)
Identity and language learning: Back to the future.
TESOL Quarterly, 50(2), 475–479.
Norton, B., & Toohey, K.
(
2011)
Identity, language learning and social change.
Language Teaching, 44(4), 412–446.
Refugee Council of Australia
(
2016)
Operation Sovereign Borders and offshore processing statistics. Retrieved from
[URL]
Ortega, L.
(
2009)
Understanding second language acquisition. London: Hodder Education.
Panamaki, R. L.
(
2000)
Measuring suffering: Conflicts and solutions in refugee studies. In
F. L. Ahearn (Ed.),
Psychosocial wellness of refugees: Issues in qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 105–130). New York, Oxford: Berghan Books, 105–130
Pavlenko, A.
(
2001)
‘How am I to become a woman in an American vein?’: Transformations of gender performance in second language learning. In
A. Pavlenko,
A. Blackledge,
I. Piller, &
M. Teutsch-Dwyer (Eds.),
Multilingualism, second language learning, and gender (pp. 133–174). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Pennycook, A.
(
1999)
Critical approaches to TESOL.
TESOL Quarterly, 33(3), 329–348.
Pennycook, A.
(
2012)
Language and mobility: Unexpected places. Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Scollon, R.
(
2009)
Action and text: towards an integrated understanding of the place of text in social (inter)action, mediated discourse analysis and the problem of social action. In
R. Wodak, &
M. Meyer (Eds.),
Methods for critical discourse analysis (pp. 139–183). London: Sage.
Skilton-Sylvester, E.
(
2002)
Should I stay or should I go? Investigating Cambodian women’s participation and investment in adult ESL programs.
Adult Education Quarterly, 53(1), 9–26.
UNHCR
(
2015a)
Mid Year Trends: 2015. Retrieved from
[URL]
UNHCR
(
2015b)
UNHCR: Figures at a glance. Retrieved from:
[URL]
UNHRC
(
2015c, November 3)
Nauru Review – 23rd Session of Universal Periodic Review. Retrieved from
[URL]
UNHCR
(
2016)
Figures at a glance. Retrieved from:
[URL]
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner
.
CRC – Convention on the Rights of the Child (
2016) Retrieved from
[URL]
Ushioda, E.
(
2009)
A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. In
Z. Dörnyei, &
E. Ushioda (Eds.),
Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 215–238). Bristol: Mulitlingual Matters.
van Dijk, T. A.
(
2001)
Discourse, ideology and context.
Folia Linguistica, XXX(1–2), 11–40.
van Dijk, T. A.
(
2003)
Critical discourse analysis. In
D. Schiffrin,
D. Tannen, &
H. H. (Eds.),
The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (pp. 352–371). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Van Leeuwen, T.
(
1996)
The representation of social actors. In
C. R. Coulthard, &
M. Coulthard (Eds.),
Texts and Practices (pp. 32–70). London & New York: Routledge.
van Leeuwen, T.
(
2008)
New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford: OUP.
Vandrick, S.
(
2014)
The role of social class in English language education.
Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 13(2), 85–91.
We’re better than this
(
2014, November 24) Retrieved August 29, 2016, from
[URL]
Wodak, R.
(
2004)
Critical discourse analysis. In
C. Seale,
G. Gobo,
J. F. Gubrium, &
D. Silverman (Eds.),
Qualitative research practice (pp. 197–213). London: SAGE.
Wodak, R.
(
2009)
Critical discourse analysis: History, agenda, theory and methodology. In
R. Wodak, &
M. Meyer (Eds.),
Methods for critical discourse analysis (2nd revised ed., pp. 1–33). London: Sage.
Wodak, R., & Fairclough, N.
(
1997)
Critical discourse analysis. In
T. A. van Dijk (Ed.),
Discourse as social interaction (pp. 258–284). London: Sage.
Wodak, R., Jones, P. R., & Delanty, G.
(Eds.) (
2008)
Identity, belonging and migration. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
World Humanitarian Summit
(
2016)
Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises (p. 1).
Istanbul: United Nations. Retrieved from
[URL]
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Norton, Bonny
2022.
Identity and Second Language Acquisition. In
The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
► pp. 1 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.