Constructing peer identities in inclusive research encounters
| Author: | Williams, Val |
| Abstract: | |
| Inclusive and emancipatory research rely on ‘peer identity’: this paper shows how that identity has to be worked up, and is both fluid and context dependent (Antaki, 2001). As has long been noticed by analysts (Silverman, 1973), distinctive interactional rights are associated with the membership categories of ‘researcher’ and ‘researched’. This paper will add to these insights by an analysis of ‘inclusive’ contexts, where the researcher’s identity is built on the sharing of at least one membership category with the researched. The methodology is fine-grained, applied, institutional CA (Heritage, 1997 ), and the data consist of video records of two research studies in which people with intellectual disabilities (ID) were acting as researchers. The paper will focus on moments where peer identity was foregrounded, challenged or called into question. Like all social activities, inclusive research is emergent and constructed on a moment-by-moment basis from particular, situated patterns of talk. As it turns out, establishing peer identity involves some precise fine-tuning between participants, including a) collaborative work to handle pauses and other interactional trouble; b) mirroring each other’s gesture, eye gaze and body posture; c) making salient in the talk aspects of the interviewer’s personal life; d) the open in-situ analysis of ideas. The paper will conclude with brief remarks about the relevance of these findings to other social contexts involving people labelled as peers, and also to other research contexts. |
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