Small stories, big issues: tracing complex subjectivities of high school students in interactional talk

Abstract

The influences of family, religion, and social, cultural, and economic discourses are deeply inscribed in the practices of young people. This article argues that by tracing ‘small stories’ through their accounts, we can make visible ‘big issues’ in their world views, and come to a better understanding of the complexities of their subjectification processes. Poststructural inquiry and critical discourse analysis (CDA) are used to frame and analyse the positionings of a small group of 16-year-olds to show how they use ‘small stories’ to mount arguments and counterarguments, introduce ‘theories’, and gain support for their views. Their interactions provide as much insight into their identities as what they actually say; therefore, both content and interaction are key analytical foci. These findings have implications for how we choose sections of interviews for fine-grained textual analysis.

Keywords:

• young people
• critical discourse analysis
• small stories
• interview data
• poststructural inquiry