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14 - A Methodology to Examine Identity: Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis

from Part III - Methodological Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2021

By
Tui Matelau-Doherty  and
Sigrid Norris
Edited by
Michael Bamberg ,
Carolin Demuth  and
Meike Watzlawik
Michael Bamberg
Affiliation:
Clark University, Massachusetts
Carolin Demuth
Affiliation:
Aalborg University, Denmark
Meike Watzlawik
Affiliation:
Sigmund Freud University, Berlin
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Summary

Multimodal (inter)action analysis (Norris 2011) is a methodology to analyze identity production in everyday life. This methodology has strong theoretical foundations in mediated discourse analysis (Scollon 1998, 2001; Norris & Jones 2005), interactional sociolinguistics (Goffman 1956, 1974; Gumperz 1982; Tannen 1984) and social semiotics (Kress & Van Leeuwen 1996; Van Leeuwen 1999). In multimodal (inter)action analysis, identity is viewed as made up of elements, which can change on a small scale from moment to moment and on a more general scale throughout time, showing the fluidity of identity production, but also allowing for the analysis of stabilization of identity. When examining video ethnographic data, as well as interviews, and fieldnotes, the researcher examines the situated nature of participants’ production of identity elements in action and interaction through the analysis of the various kinds of mediated action on the micro level. In addition, the researcher can utilize the analytical tool, layers of discourse, in order to analyze the immediate identity element production (produced in the moment), link it to the continuous identity element production (produced within and with the networks of the participant), and link it to the general identity element production (produced within and with institutions and/or society that the performer belongs to). Thereby situated identity elements can clearly be shown to link to the concrete socio-historically and socioculturally embeddedness on the meso and the macro levels. In this chapter, we shall exemplify these analytical tools through two transcripts depicting one participant from a larger ethnographically informed study.

Keywords

Multimodal (inter)action analysisidentityvideo ethnographyvertical identity production
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Identity , pp. 304 - 323
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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