Who’s the expert here? Shifts in the powerful identity in a sewing cooperative community of practice

Authors

  • Caroline H. Vickers California State University, San Bernardino Author
  • Sharon K. Deckert Indiana University of Pennsylvania Author
  • Wendy B. Smith California State University, San Bernardino Author
  • José R. Morones California State University, San Bernardino Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v6i3.421

Keywords:

power, identity, discourse, community of practice, ideology

Abstract

This paper examines the co-influential nature of macro-level power structures and microinteractionally constructed relationships in the construction, co-construction and reconstruction of the powerful identity. Using a community of practice framework, which allows for an intricate look at hierarchy and power within groups, we will demonstrate that within the context of our data, a multilingual sewing cooperative, the powerful identity is not static. Rather, the powerful identity is co-constructed and reconstructed by participants depending on the participation framework and the topic of interaction. As interactants engage with one another, the powerful identity is contingent upon the construction of an expert identity within the local micro-interactional context and how that identity is indexed within the various participation frameworks that emerge in the ongoing interactional life of the sewing cooperative community of practice.

Author Biographies

  • Caroline H. Vickers, California State University, San Bernardino
    Caroline H. Vickers is Associate Professor in the Department of English at California State University, San Bernardino. Her main research interests include language and identity, language and power, medical discourse, narrative, second language socialization and sociolinguistics. Her work has been published in The Canadian Modern Language Review, Communication & Medicine, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, Journal of Pragmatics, The Modern Language Journal, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, and English Language Teaching Journal. Caroline Vickers and Sharon Deckert’s book, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics: Society and Identity, was published by Continuum Press in 2011. In addition, Dr. Vickers has presented her work both nationally and internationally.
  • Sharon K. Deckert, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
    Sharon K. Deckert is currently an Associate Professor in the English Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include questions of how individuals construct identities that function for particular purposes. They also include language use in the legal system, narratives and identity, corpus linguistics, oral and textual discourse analysis and ethical considerations in academic research. Her publications have appeared in Language Variation and Change, Corpus Analysis: Language Structure and Language Use, Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, and Critical Inquiry in Language Studies
  • Wendy B. Smith, California State University, San Bernardino
    Wendy B. Smith is Professor of English at California State University, San Bernardino. She teaches linguistics, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. She has published in a variety of refereed journals, such as Journal of Pragmatics, Studies in Language, and Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, and is working on a book on grammar in discourse with Caroline Vickers.
  • José R. Morones, California State University, San Bernardino
    José R. Morones received a Bachelor’s Degree in English with a concentration in Linguistics and a minor in Psychology at California State University, San Bernardino in 2008. He has published in Communication & Medicine and presented his work at the annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics.

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Published

2013-08-03

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 3 (2012)

Section

Articles

License

© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

For information regarding our Open Access policy, click here.

How to Cite

Vickers, C. H., Deckert, S. K., Smith, W. B., & Morones, J. R. (2013). Who’s the expert here? Shifts in the powerful identity in a sewing cooperative community of practice. Sociolinguistic Studies, 6(3), 421-444. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v6i3.421