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Introduction: Situating the Research City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Hall, L. (2017). Life history interviews with UK residents from Zimbabwe as a site for the discursive construction of subjects, places and relationships to places. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City, University of London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/18041/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Life history interviews with UK residents from Zimbabwe as a site for the discursive construction of subjects, places and relationships to places Laura Hall PhD thesis City, University of London Department of Sociology December 2016 1 Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................... 5 Abstract............................................................................................. 6 Introduction: Situating the research .............................................. 8 The research ............................................................................................................ 8 Outline of the chapter ............................................................................................ 10 UK residents from Zimbabwe ............................................................................... 10 Studies of Zimbabweans in Britain ........................................................................ 11 Situating the study ................................................................................................. 14 The structure of the thesis ..................................................................................... 17 The conceptual framework ........................................................... 20 The discursive approach ........................................................................................ 20 Structuralism ............................................................................................................. 21 Pragmatics ................................................................................................................. 23 The synthetic approach ............................................................................................. 24 Subjects ................................................................................................................. 26 Identity formation as a process ................................................................................. 26 The discursive construction of identity ..................................................................... 27 The role of the other .................................................................................................. 30 Place ...................................................................................................................... 32 Imaginative geography .............................................................................................. 33 Dominant representations of place ............................................................................ 34 The interactional effects of representations of place ................................................. 36 Place attachment.................................................................................................... 38 Modes of representing relationships to places .......................................................... 39 The politics of belonging .......................................................................................... 40 Micro-level effects of talk about connections to place ............................................. 41 Summary ............................................................................................................... 42 The research process: Showing my workings ............................ 47 (Re)formulating a research question ..................................................................... 48 Accessing interviewees and conducting the interviews ........................................ 51 The interviews ........................................................................................................... 53 Transcribing the interviews and exploring approaches to analysis ....................... 62 Writing .................................................................................................................. 68 2 Situating the interview talk ........................................................... 70 The uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East and constructions of Zimbabwe .............................................................................................................. 72 Zimbabwe as a state in crisis..................................................................................... 76 Zimbabwe as a state under threat from Western imperialism ................................... 78 David Cameron’s speech on immigration and representations of migrants as a threat ...................................................................................................................... 80 Migrants as a threat ................................................................................................... 82 Debates concerning whether the Matabeleland region is marginalised and constructions of the people of Matabeleland ........................................................ 86 The people of Matabeleland as long suffering victims of discrimination and persecution ................................................................................................................ 87 Summary ............................................................................................................... 90 Subjects ........................................................................................... 92 Part one: The take-up and negotiation of subject positions .................................. 94 The construction of narratives and subjects within discourse ................................... 94 Positioning within the interview ............................................................................... 97 Summary ................................................................................................................. 103 Part Two: Case studies ........................................................................................ 104 Memoirs of an exiled white Zimbabwean farmer: Steve ........................................ 104 The discursive production of an exiled white Zimbabwean farmer ........................ 106 Summary ................................................................................................................. 113 Memoirs of a traumatic childhood: Sarah ............................................................... 114 The discursive construction of a traumatised subject ............................................. 116 Summary ................................................................................................................. 124 Summary ............................................................................................................. 125 Places ............................................................................................. 127 Part one: Zimbabwe as a country in crisis .......................................................... 129 Attribution-orientated constructions of Zimbabwe ................................................. 131 Summary ................................................................................................................. 138 Part two: Racism in Britain ................................................................................. 139 Maintaining a positive self-identity whilst talking about racism ............................ 141 The minimisation of racism as a problem in the UK .............................................. 148 Summary ................................................................................................................. 153 Summary ............................................................................................................. 154 3 Place attachments ........................................................................ 156 Zweli ................................................................................................................... 158 Summary ................................................................................................................. 168 Samantha ............................................................................................................. 168 Summary ................................................................................................................. 172 Steve ...................................................................................................................
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