Repository logo
 

‘Who do you think you are?’ A Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis of Identity Production Among Sakhalin Koreans in New Zealand, Russia, and South Korea

Files

Thesis(52.19 MB)

Date

2024

Authors

Khan, Yulia

Supervisor

Norris, Sigrid
Zalipour, Arezou
Hinckson, Erica
Matelau, Tui
DuBois, Inke

Item type

Thesis

Degree name

Doctor of Philosophy

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

‘Who do you think you are?’ is a question that many might stumble upon. Not only does it assume one’s understanding of various facets that make up their identity but also how this identity is produced in everyday life. An additional layer of complexity lies in such significant events as migration and settlement, which both challenge that understanding and shape identity in (new) ways that then can be found in tangible instantiations: food that a person makes and serves, language(s) they use, the books they buy, read, and keep, and other objects that may be present in their home or work environment. The focus of this thesis is Sakhalin Korean identity and how members of this diaspora produce their identity across three countries: New Zealand, Russia, and South Korea in daily life contexts. The scholarship concerning Sakhalin Korean identity in general, to date, remains highly limited and investigating identity production among members of this diaspora beyond a single country is one of the key contributions that this thesis seeks to make. The thesis is grounded in the mediated discourse theory and multimodal (inter)action analysis (MIA) framework. Using mediated action as the key unit of analysis, I find that as the participants (inter)act with various objects they produce distinct identity elements that relate to family, their ethnicity, settlement in the new home country (New Zealand or South Korea) or life in Russia, occupation, and personal interests. A micro analysis of frozen actions, that is mediated actions embedded in the objects, yields further insight into a highly complex nature of identity production, and culminates in theoretical and methodological development. I have found that the existing methodological tools within mediated discourse theory and MIA are not sufficient to explicate how identity elements are structured (inter)action, particularly in instances when an object mediates more than one identity element. I develop and introduce three theoretical and methodological notions: identity cluster, identity elements’ convergence, and identity compound to fill this gap and show how they can be applied in the analysis. Identity cluster is a superordinate level of identity elements’ structure that can be used as a tool to determine scope, order, and scale for the analysis of relevant identity elements. Identity elements’ convergence and identity compound are two interrelated and interconnected notions. Convergence of identity elements is a notion that enables discovery of several identity elements that a social actor produces as mediated by one object. Together, those identity elements form an identity compound, which is an integral structure recognisable through the analysis of frozen actions embedded in the objects. Application of these three notions as methodological tools enables investigations into complexity of the produced identity going beyond a single cluster and contributes to the ontological discussion about objects and/as mediational means. The final chapter summarises identity production across the three countries, addresses affordances and constraints of the developed tools, and proposes areas for further research.

Description

Keywords

Source

DOI

Publisher's version

Rights statement

Permanent link

http://hdl.handle.net/10292/20118

Collections

Doctoral Theses