Gendering migration narratives
a qualitative inquiry on language use and agency in adaptation stories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v10i1.17495Keywords:
narrative, gender, agency, Turkish immigrants, United KingdomAbstract
The present study is an attempt to explore gendered construction of agency in and through personal narratives in the context of migration with a group of young Turks in the UK. Narratives relating the initial phase of migration were analysed via a systematic comparison regarding the construction of themes, the structure of narratives and performance in male and female migration stories. In men’s narratives, protagonists’ personal agency -their capacity to act on resources to adapt- appears to centre on their ability to distance themselves from vulnerabilities. However, preserving the protagonist from vulnerabilities to assign him an agentic position restricts the narrator’s ability to tell varied stories. In young women’s narratives, vulnerabilities are constructed as the main basis for their present identities and capabilities. Although this construction provides young women with a flexible position as a narrator and a protagonist, personal agency is constructed in a split manner.
References
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Coates, J. (1996) Women Talk: Conversation between Women Friends. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
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Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Herbert, J., Evans, Y., May, J. and Wills, J. (2009) Men on the move: narratives of migration and work among low-paid migrant men in London. Social and Cultural Geography 10(8): 853–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649360903305809
Davids, T. (2011) The micro dynamics of agency: repetition and subversion in a Mexican right-wing female politician’s life story. European Journal of Women’s Studies 18(2): 155–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350506810395437
De Jong G. F. (2000) Expectations, gender, and norms in migration decision-making. Population Studies: A Journal of Demography 54(3): 307–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713779089
Devine, D., Kenny, M. and Macneela, E. (2008) Naming the ‘other’: children’s construction an experience of racism in Irish primary schools. Race, Ethnicity and Education 11(4): 369–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13613320802478879
Edley, N. and Wetherell, M. (1997) Jockeying for position: the construction of masculine identities. Discourse and Society 8(2): 203–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926597008002004
Enneli, P., Moddod, T. and Bradley, H. (2005) Young Turks and Kurds: A Set of ‘Invisible’ Disadvantaged Groups. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Ferreira, V. A. (2008) Complaint stories revisited: the ‘masculine’ performance of a ‘feminine’ narrative genre in a conversation among Galician men. Sociolinguistic Studies 8(2): 185–220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/sols.v2i2.185
Fi?ek, G. O. (2010) Relationality, intersubjectivity and culture: experiences in a therapeutic discourse of virtual kinship. Studies in Gender and Sexuality 11(2): 47–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15240651003666292
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Gee, J. P. (2005) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (2nd edn). New York: Routledge.
Hoang, L. A. (2011) Gender identity and agency in migration decision-making: evidence from Vietnam. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 37(9): 1441–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2011.623618
Holmes, J. and Meyerhoff, M. (2003) Different voices, different views: an introduction to current research in language and gender. In J. Holmes and M. Meyerhoff (eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender 1–17. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942.ch
Khosravi, S. (2009) Displaced masculinity: gender and ethnicity among Iranian men in Sweden. Iranian Studies 42(4): 591–609. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00210860903106311
Kostakopoulou, D. (2010) Matters of control: integration tests, naturalisation, reform and probationary citizenship in the United Kingdom. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36(5): 829–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691831003764367
Kyratzis, A. and Tar?m, ?. D. (2010) Using directives to construct egalitarian or hierarchical social organization: Turkish middle-class preschool girls’ socialization about gender, affect, and context in peer group conversations. First language 30(3–4): 473–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0142723710370547
Lewis, G. and Neal, S. (2005) Introduction: contemporary political contexts, changing terrains and revisited discourses. Ethnic and Racial Studies 28(3): 423–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0141987042000337821
Lutz, H. (2010) Gender in the migratory process. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36(10): 1647–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2010.489373
Mehmet Ali, A. (2001) Turkish Speaking Community and Education: No Delight. London: FATAL Publication.
Mills, S. (2004) Discourse: the New Critical Idiom (2nd edn). London: Routledge.
Mishler, E. (1986) Research Interviewing: Contact and Narrative. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Nagel, C. R. and Staeheli, L. A. (2008) Integration and the negotiation of ‘here’ an ‘there’: the case of British Arab activists. Social and Cultural Geography 9(4): 415–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649360802069019
Ni Laoire, C. (2011) ‘Girls just like to be friends with people’: gendered experience of migration among children and youth in returning Irish migrant families. Children’s Geographies 9(3–4): 303–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2011.590713
Ni Laoire, C., Carpena-Méndez, F., Tyrrell, N. and White, A. (2010) Introduction: childhood and migration: mobilities, homes and belongings. Childhood 17(2): 155–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0907568210365463
Nowak, J. (2009) Gendered perceptions of migration among skilled female Ghanaian nurses. Gender and Development 17(2): 269–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13552070903009742
Phoenix, A. (2008) Analysing narrative contexts. In. M. Andrews, C. Squire and M. Tamboukou (eds) Doing Narrative Research 64–77. London: Sage.
Pulkkinen, M.-L. and Aaltonen, J. (2003) Sense of agency in narrative processes of repeatedly convicted drunk drivers. Counselling Psychology Quarterly 16(2): 145–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0951507031000151525
Riessman, C. K. (2008) Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. London: Sage.
Seidler, V. J. (2006) Young Men and Masculinities: Global Cultures and Intimate Lives. London: Zed Books.
Smith, J. A. and Osborn, M. (2003) Interpretative phenomenological analysis. In J. A. Smith (ed.) Qualitative Psychology 51–80. London: Sage.
Suarez-Orozco, C. and Carhill, A. (2008) Afterword: new directions in research with immigrant families and their children. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 121: 87–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cd.224
Sunderland, J. (2010) Language, Gender and Children’s Fiction. London: Continuum International Publishing.
Sunderland, J. and Litosseliti, L. (2002) Gender identity and discourse analysis. In L. Litosseliti and J. Sunderland (eds) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis 1–39. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamin. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.2.01sun
Tanyas, B. (2012) Making sense of migration: young Turks’ experiences in the United Kingdom. Journal of Youth Studies 15(6): 693–710. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2012.671931
Truong, H. C. (2009) A home divided: work, body, and emotions in the post-Doi Moi family. In M. Barbieri and D. Belanger (eds) Reconfiguring Families in Contemporary Vietnam 298–328. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Yurtda?-Tekdemir, G., Atakan, M. and Tezeri?ir, A. (2011) Sözel etkile?imlerde cinsiyetle söz kesme ve çak??ma aras?ndaki ili?ki. Psikoloji Çal??malar? Dergisi 31: 105–17.
Zeyrek, D. (2001) Politeness in Turkish and its linguistic manifestations: a socio-cultural perspective. In A. Bayraktaro?lu and M. Sifianou (eds) Lingustic Politeness across Boaundaries: The Case of Greek and Turkish 43–73. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pbns.88.04zey
Zipes, J. (2012) The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ahearn, L. M. (2001) Language and agency. Annual Review of Anthropology 30: 109–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.30.1.109
Baron, A. (2004) I’m a woman but I know God leads my way: agency and Tzotzil evangelical discourse. Language in Society 33: 249–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404504332045
Batnitzky, A., McDowell, L. and Dyer, S. (2009) Flexible and strategic masculinities: the working lives and gendered identities of male migrants in London. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 35(8): 1275–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691830903123088
Blommaert, J. and Verschueren, J. (1998) Debating Diversity: Analysing the Discourse of Tolerance. London: Routledge.
Brockmeier, J. (2000) Autobiographical time. Narrative Inquiry 10(1): 51–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ni.10.1.03bro
Brockmeier, J. (2009) Reaching for meaning: human agency and the narrative imagination. Theory and Psychology 19(2): 213–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959354309103540
Cameron, D. (2003) Gender and language ideologies. In J. Holmes and M. Meyerhoff (eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender 447–67. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942.ch19
Chamberlain, M. (1997) Narratives of Exile and Return. London: McMillan.
Christou, A. (2006) Narratives of Place, Culture and Identity: Second-Generation Greek-Americans Return ‘Home’. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.5117/9789053568781
Coates, J. (1996) Women Talk: Conversation between Women Friends. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Coffey, J. and Farrugia, D. (2014) Unpacking the black box: the problem of agency in the sociology of youth. Journal of Youth Societies 17(4): 461–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2013.830707
Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Herbert, J., Evans, Y., May, J. and Wills, J. (2009) Men on the move: narratives of migration and work among low-paid migrant men in London. Social and Cultural Geography 10(8): 853–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649360903305809
Davids, T. (2011) The micro dynamics of agency: repetition and subversion in a Mexican right-wing female politician’s life story. European Journal of Women’s Studies 18(2): 155–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350506810395437
De Jong G. F. (2000) Expectations, gender, and norms in migration decision-making. Population Studies: A Journal of Demography 54(3): 307–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713779089
Devine, D., Kenny, M. and Macneela, E. (2008) Naming the ‘other’: children’s construction an experience of racism in Irish primary schools. Race, Ethnicity and Education 11(4): 369–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13613320802478879
Edley, N. and Wetherell, M. (1997) Jockeying for position: the construction of masculine identities. Discourse and Society 8(2): 203–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926597008002004
Enneli, P., Moddod, T. and Bradley, H. (2005) Young Turks and Kurds: A Set of ‘Invisible’ Disadvantaged Groups. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Ferreira, V. A. (2008) Complaint stories revisited: the ‘masculine’ performance of a ‘feminine’ narrative genre in a conversation among Galician men. Sociolinguistic Studies 8(2): 185–220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/sols.v2i2.185
Fi?ek, G. O. (2010) Relationality, intersubjectivity and culture: experiences in a therapeutic discourse of virtual kinship. Studies in Gender and Sexuality 11(2): 47–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15240651003666292
Gedalof, I. (2009) Birth, belonging and migrant mothers: narratives of reproduction in feminist migration studies. Feminist Review 93: 81–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/fr.2009.23
Gee, J. P. (1991) A linguistic approach to narrative. Journal of Narrative and Life History 1(1): 15–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.1.1.03ali
Gee, J. P. (2005) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (2nd edn). New York: Routledge.
Hoang, L. A. (2011) Gender identity and agency in migration decision-making: evidence from Vietnam. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 37(9): 1441–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2011.623618
Holmes, J. and Meyerhoff, M. (2003) Different voices, different views: an introduction to current research in language and gender. In J. Holmes and M. Meyerhoff (eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender 1–17. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942.ch
Khosravi, S. (2009) Displaced masculinity: gender and ethnicity among Iranian men in Sweden. Iranian Studies 42(4): 591–609. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00210860903106311
Kostakopoulou, D. (2010) Matters of control: integration tests, naturalisation, reform and probationary citizenship in the United Kingdom. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36(5): 829–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691831003764367
Kyratzis, A. and Tar?m, ?. D. (2010) Using directives to construct egalitarian or hierarchical social organization: Turkish middle-class preschool girls’ socialization about gender, affect, and context in peer group conversations. First language 30(3–4): 473–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0142723710370547
Lewis, G. and Neal, S. (2005) Introduction: contemporary political contexts, changing terrains and revisited discourses. Ethnic and Racial Studies 28(3): 423–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0141987042000337821
Lutz, H. (2010) Gender in the migratory process. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36(10): 1647–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2010.489373
Mehmet Ali, A. (2001) Turkish Speaking Community and Education: No Delight. London: FATAL Publication.
Mills, S. (2004) Discourse: the New Critical Idiom (2nd edn). London: Routledge.
Mishler, E. (1986) Research Interviewing: Contact and Narrative. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Nagel, C. R. and Staeheli, L. A. (2008) Integration and the negotiation of ‘here’ an ‘there’: the case of British Arab activists. Social and Cultural Geography 9(4): 415–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649360802069019
Ni Laoire, C. (2011) ‘Girls just like to be friends with people’: gendered experience of migration among children and youth in returning Irish migrant families. Children’s Geographies 9(3–4): 303–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2011.590713
Ni Laoire, C., Carpena-Méndez, F., Tyrrell, N. and White, A. (2010) Introduction: childhood and migration: mobilities, homes and belongings. Childhood 17(2): 155–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0907568210365463
Nowak, J. (2009) Gendered perceptions of migration among skilled female Ghanaian nurses. Gender and Development 17(2): 269–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13552070903009742
Phoenix, A. (2008) Analysing narrative contexts. In. M. Andrews, C. Squire and M. Tamboukou (eds) Doing Narrative Research 64–77. London: Sage.
Pulkkinen, M.-L. and Aaltonen, J. (2003) Sense of agency in narrative processes of repeatedly convicted drunk drivers. Counselling Psychology Quarterly 16(2): 145–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0951507031000151525
Riessman, C. K. (2008) Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. London: Sage.
Seidler, V. J. (2006) Young Men and Masculinities: Global Cultures and Intimate Lives. London: Zed Books.
Smith, J. A. and Osborn, M. (2003) Interpretative phenomenological analysis. In J. A. Smith (ed.) Qualitative Psychology 51–80. London: Sage.
Suarez-Orozco, C. and Carhill, A. (2008) Afterword: new directions in research with immigrant families and their children. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 121: 87–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cd.224
Sunderland, J. (2010) Language, Gender and Children’s Fiction. London: Continuum International Publishing.
Sunderland, J. and Litosseliti, L. (2002) Gender identity and discourse analysis. In L. Litosseliti and J. Sunderland (eds) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis 1–39. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamin. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.2.01sun
Tanyas, B. (2012) Making sense of migration: young Turks’ experiences in the United Kingdom. Journal of Youth Studies 15(6): 693–710. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2012.671931
Truong, H. C. (2009) A home divided: work, body, and emotions in the post-Doi Moi family. In M. Barbieri and D. Belanger (eds) Reconfiguring Families in Contemporary Vietnam 298–328. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Yurtda?-Tekdemir, G., Atakan, M. and Tezeri?ir, A. (2011) Sözel etkile?imlerde cinsiyetle söz kesme ve çak??ma aras?ndaki ili?ki. Psikoloji Çal??malar? Dergisi 31: 105–17.
Zeyrek, D. (2001) Politeness in Turkish and its linguistic manifestations: a socio-cultural perspective. In A. Bayraktaro?lu and M. Sifianou (eds) Lingustic Politeness across Boaundaries: The Case of Greek and Turkish 43–73. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pbns.88.04zey
Zipes, J. (2012) The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Published
2016-03-17
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Tanyas, B. (2016). Gendering migration narratives: a qualitative inquiry on language use and agency in adaptation stories. Gender and Language, 10(1), 85-105. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v10i1.17495
