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Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 31:2 (2021) ► pp.311–337

Interpreter and Aboriginal Liaison Officer identity construction and positioning

ORCID logo | The University of Melbourne

This study employs small story theory (Bamberg, 2006; Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008; Georgakopoulou, 2006, 2015, 2017) and narrative positioning analysis (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008) to explore stories that are told by interpreters of Aboriginal languages and Aboriginal Liaison Officers (ALOs) when they discuss how they do their work and the challenges they face when interpreting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients in hospital settings. Findings indicate that the interpreters and ALOs draw on stories to contribute their understanding of complexities of interpreting for Aboriginal patients and do so through the multiple, shifting positions they attribute to themselves as other social actors in the stories they narrate. These positions are reinforced in the ongoing interaction but are also located across the dataset, illustrating that capital-D discourses or master narratives are invoked to frame the role, skills and attributes of the professionals in this study.

Keywords: small story research, narrative inquiry, narrative positioning analysis, interpreting, sociolinguistics
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Small stories and big stories
  • Identity construction
  • Narrative positioning analysis
  • Methodology
    • Data collection
    • Data coding and analysis
    • Results: Narrative positioning analysis
  • Us and them dichotomy
    • ‘You need a Kriol interpreter’ story
    • Level I positioning – at the level of the story
    • Level II positioning – at the level of the interaction
    • Level III positioning – addressing the question “Who am I?”
    • ‘Unofficial Kriol interpreting’ story
    • ‘We’ll ring you when we need you’ story
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • References
Published online: 8 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19090.kar
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