Browsing by Author "Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu"

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    Co-constructing identities and ideological positions in conversational storytelling among friends
    (Taylor & Francis, 2024) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu
    Research has shown that identities and ideologies result from a complex interplay between various social, cultural and psychological factors, such as socialisation, shared experiences, cultural backgrounds and institutional practices in media, education and family. However, due to this tendency to focus on macro identity categories and macro-level ideological processes, more research is needed on how these categories and ideologies are co-constructed and operationalised within micro contexts, such as between friends. In doing so, we can explore the malleability of ideologies and identities as individuals (re)negotiate their beliefs and affiliations over time, often within micro, everyday activities. Using ethnographic methods and a practice approach to narrative, this paper shows how the analysis of conversational practices, specifically storytelling, can provide a window into the granular semiotic and discursive processes through which group identities and ideologies are (re)negotiated in mundane everyday discourse. The analyses of naturally occurring conversations between friends in Cape Town, South Africa, show that, through the use of constructed dialogue and other evaluative devices, interlocutors jointly negotiate complex alignments and positions in relation to a variety of social issues and ordinary occurrences, simultaneously and implicitly (re)establishing or (re)defining their group positionalities and ideologies.
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    Doing friendship: storytelling and playfulness in casual conversational discourse
    (University of the Western Cape, 2023) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu; Bock, Zannie
    This study explores the linguistic construction of interpersonal relationships, specifically friendship. Although we have no control over which families we are born into, we can choose who can be our friend and unlike relationships formed within the workplace, there is no specific institutional context within which friendships can develop. There is also no legally binding agreement between friends as between married people, and there are no conventionalized roles that friends must play as is the case in parent-child relations. Nevertheless, friendship remains one of the most important relationships in people�s lives. Researchers have even argued that within a globalizing and increasingly mediatized world, friendships have gained more significance as more flexible and diverse ways of constructing one�s personal life become available (Spencer & Pahl 2006; Rawlins, 2017; Byron, 2021; Allan & Adams, 2007). This makes the study of the dynamics and processes of friendship within contemporary society fertile ground for harvesting insights into the ways in which the social fabric of the world is being (re)constituted.
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    �I am a queen�: (Re)fashioning African female identities in everyday storytelling
    (University of the Western Cape, 2018) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu; Bock, Zannie
    This study aims to add to the rich body of work which explores our understanding of identity performances in narratives. It explores how a close knit group of five female friends use narrative structure and strategies to fashion alternative gender identities for themselves as black women who are agentive, and who actively push back against the stereotypes used to judge and evaluate their behavior. Using an interactional approach to narrative and identity (De Fina, 2003; De Fina and Georgakopoulou, 2008, 2012), this study explores how participants, in their everyday conversations, exploit story form and narrative strategies to orient to, constitute, legitimize or resist gender ideologies. Drawing on data which consist of twenty-one hours of naturally occurring casual conversation between the five friends, I identify and group the stories in their conversations, and propose generic structures to describe them: reports, hypothetical stories and projections. With a flexible approach to structure, I show how these stories create a space for the negotiation of difference or for constructing presentations of �self� versus �the other�. I argue that through structure and other evaluative devices, praise and blame are ascribed within stories, allowing participants to take certain positions in relation to the themes explored and relevant identity options. I also show the ways in which stories enable the participants to quite literally imagine possibilities for self and others within circumstances that have not and and may never happen. This creates a space for the affirmation of dreams and ambitions, and an exploration of the type of women they see themselves becoming: successful, rich, famous, strong, and admired African women.