We present a case study of a small talk sequence in a Belgian workplace between two female colleagues with a migration background, in which they share stories with each other on racial micro-aggressions they personally experienced. We draw on the social practice approach and focus on the narrators’ identity work in this interaction. We found that the narrators construct stories in which powerless and outgroup identities are projected upon them in the storyworld, but by means of which more empowered identities and an ingroup with the interlocutor are talked into being in the storytelling world. Interestingly, these findings can be linked to the rejection-identification dynamic. This social psychological model shows that individuals who experienced discrimination are able to buffer negative consequences to their psychological well-being by identifying with the group that is discriminated against. This article adds to this earlier research by showing the crucial role of language, in particular of storytelling and small talk, in this rejection-identification dynamic.

中文翻译：

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在飞行中捕捉身份

我们展示了一个比利时工作场所中两位具有移民背景的女同事之间的闲聊序列的案例研究，她们在其中分享了他们亲身经历的种族微观侵略的故事。我们借鉴社会实践的方法，关注叙述者在这种互动中的身份工作。我们发现，叙述者构建的故事中，在故事世界中无权和外群的身份被投射到他们身上，但通过这些身份，更有权力的身份和与对话者的内群在讲故事的世界中被谈论成存在。有趣的是，这些发现可以与拒绝识别动态相关联。这种社会心理模型表明，经历过歧视的个人能够通过认同受歧视的群体来缓冲对其心理健康的负面影响。本文通过展示语言在这种拒绝-识别动态中的关键作用，特别是讲故事和闲聊的关键作用，增加了这项早期研究。