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17 - Positioning Microanalysis: A Method For the Study of Dynamics in the Dialogical Self and Identity

from Part III - Methodological Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2021

By
João Salgado  and
Carla Cunha
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

From a dialogical and Bakhtinian theoretical stance, identity is seen a process and a product of the tensional relation between multiple perspectives or positions. Even in the midst of different dialogical approaches to the self, there is an overarching consensus that the dialogical dynamics established by these different positions are a core element for understanding how identity works. One of the main problems of the field has been the development of empirical methods enabling the study of such dynamics. Positioning Microanalysis is a method based on a dialogical approach, which aims the systematic tracing by trained observers of the dialogical dynamics of self-positions as they unfold over time. This method assumes a genetic-developmental perspective, allowing the study of self-positions taking place in the here-and-now in a moment-by-moment basis. The main unit of analysis is the emergent self-position, which is characterized by a basic triadic relation (I-Other-Object). This method, on a first level of analysis, depicts the microgenetic movements of self-positions from moment to moment, but it also allows for more macrolevels of analysis, by describing stable sequences or cycles of positions. Thus, it may be used as a tool for the study of identity in a given historical moment of the person regarding specific themes or relevant “objects.” This method will be illustrated by its application to the first session of a psychotherapy case.

Keywords

PositioningmicroanalysisI-positionsdialogical approachmultivoicedness
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Identity , pp. 366 - 387
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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