Dislocations/ Relocations: Narratives of Displacement

The centrality of narrative analysis in the investigation of social processes and practices has become an established fact in the human sciences. The focus on narrative and displacement in this volume provides a starting point for a reflection on current issues in narrative theory as well as a timely interrogation of the role of narrative in illuminating social phenomena that are central to modernity such as migration and displacement.

At the centre of the analyses presented in the book are stories that are ignored, silenced and othered by contemporary public discourses on displacement, migration and settlement. Drawing on insights from narrative theory, linguistic ethnography, sociolinguistics and cultural studies, contributors to the volume examine both how migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and marginalized minorities position themselves through narrative practices and how they are positioned in institutional and official narratives.

A sociolinguist by training and applied linguist by af filiation, Mike Baynham’s research interests lie in the application of insights from sociolinguistics to a range of educational and social issues, particularly literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). He is currently Professor of TESOL at the University of Leeds. Anna De Fina is Assistant Professor of Italian Language and Linguistics and Coordinator of the Italian Language Program at Georgetown University, Washington D.C.