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Culture & Psychology
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`Being Canadian' and `Being Indian': Subject Positions and Discourses Used in South Asian-Canadian Women's Talk about Ethnic Identity

Rebecca L. Malhi

University of Calgary, Canada, rmalhi{at}ucalgary.ca

Susan D. Boon

University of Calgary, Canada, sdboon{at}ucalgary.ca

Timothy B. Rogers

University of Calgary, Canada

Ethnic identity descriptions can be viewed as `subject positions' (Davies and Harré, 1990) that are dynamically adopted and discarded for pragmatic purposes through the medium of socialinteraction.Inthe present paper, we use positioning theory to explore the multiple ways our participants—South Asian-Canadian women—positioned themselves and others in conversations about their ethnic identity. A discourse analysis of participants' talk revealed a tendency to privilege a `hybrid' Canadian/South Asian identity over a unicultural one. Moreover, in the rare instances when participants positioned themselves with a unicultural identity, subtle social pressure from conversational partners seemed to induce them to reposition themselves (or others) with a hybrid identity. We conclude by giving possible reasons for such a preference and by discussing the ways in which the current study corroborates and expands on the extant literature.

Key Words: discourse analysis • ethnic identity • multiculturalism • positioning theory • South Asians • visible minorities

Culture & Psychology, Vol. 15, No. 2, 255-283 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1354067X09102893
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