Translingual Practice & Identity Performance: a Study of Mongolian
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2016-01-01 Translingual Practice & Identity Performance: A Study of Mongolian Youth on Facebook Sara Bartlett Large University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Large, Sara Bartlett, "Translingual Practice & Identity Performance: A Study of Mongolian Youth on Facebook" (2016). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 877. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/877 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TRANSLINGUAL PRACTICE & IDENTITY PERFORMANCE: A STUDY OF MONGOLIAN YOUTH ON FACEBOOK SARA BARTLETT LARGE Doctoral Program in Rhetoric and Writing Studies APPROVED: Kate Mangelsdorf, Ph.D., Chair Maggy Smith, Ph.D. Char Ullman, Ph.D. Charles Ambler, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © by Sara Bartlett Large 2016 Dedication For my grandfather, Dana Bartlett TRANSLINGUAL PRACTICE & IDENTITY PERFORMANCE: A STUDY OF MONGOLIAN YOUTH ON FACEBOOK by SARA BARTLETT LARGE, B.A., M.F.A. DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English, Rhetoric & Writing Studies, RWS THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO August 2016 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank the five participants in this study, who dedicated their time and energy to questionnaires and interviews and opened up their Facebook pages for me to explore. They were quick to respond to my questions and engage in discussion with me, and their insights made this research possible. I am so grateful to have been able to develop deeper relationships with these bright, remarkable individuals throughout the course of the study, and I hope that we continue to find ways to connect in the future as we all grow and change. I would also like to thank my committee for their enthusiasm for the research and guidance along the way. My chair, Dr. Kate Mangelsdorf, worked closely with me throughout the process, helping me to focus my ideas, develop a data collection and analysis plan, engage with theory, and ultimately write this dissertation. Dr. Maggy Smith and Dr. Char Ullman also offered invaluable feedback that helped to shape this work and future scholarship that will come from it. I have worked closely with both Dr. Mangelsdorf and Dr. Smith throughout my career as a PhD student and candidate at UTEP, and their guidance in coursework, professional development, and the dissertation process has been a major factor in my success in this program. It is also important to thank those who provided support for this research and writing, particularly my two Mongolian-English translators, Ariunaa Enkhtur and Sainbayar Gundsambuu, who worked with an intense amount of Facebook data to provide translation and context that allowed me to understand much of what the participants posted. I’d also like to thank Sayamaa Dangaasuren, who provided me with Access program documents and offered her facility for use by the participants, should they need Internet or digital resources to participate in the study. I would also like to thank the Baker-Hernandez grant that provided funding for the translation services. I must also give credit to the UTEP Graduate School, who provided support in the form of the Dissertation Studio, which got me writing. Finally, I must thank my family and friends who supported me throughout the PhD program, especially my husband, Colin Large, who not only supported me financially, but also v listened to my frustrations, celebrated my successes, and spent many weekends baby-wrangling while I wrote. He always understood my need to work, and ungrudgingly offered me the space I needed to complete this project specifically and the doctoral program in general. My mother, Maureen Horrigan, and my sister, Megan Bartlett Rice offered invaluable emotional support throughout my long years as a graduate student, and my in-laws, Marilyn Large and James Large were always there for me during my time as a PhD student. My colleagues Audrey Cisneros’ and Betty Lang’s friendship, encouragement, and sympathetic ear helped me through some challenging moments with this work. They have always been in the front row, cheering me on. Finally, I want to thank my two children, Fiona and Oliver, who made earning this degree more challenging, but who also provided me with the most important reason for doing so. vi Abstract This study explores the translingual practices and identity performances of five participants on the social networking site, Facebook. The participants in this study are five young adults from Mongolia who participated in the U.S. State Department sponsored English Access Microscholarship program, an intensive English language program for disadvantaged youth in developing countries, from 2009 – 2011. Using a qualitative methodology based on constructivist grounded theory and relying on interviews, questionnaires, and observations of the participants’ Facebook pages, this study considers the participants’ use of translingual practices to build and maintain capital – linguistic, cultural, and social – as they develop cosmopolitan dispositions, practice the capacity to aspire (Appadurai, 2013), and explore what it means to be Mongolian in a globalizing world. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................v Abstract ................................................................................................................. vii Table of Contents ................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................1 1.2 Research Questions & Methodology .....................................................6 1.3 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................11 1.5 Limitations of the Study and Avenues for Additional Research .........21 1.6 Outline of Chapters ..............................................................................22 Chapter 2: Literature Review & Theoretical Background .....................................23 2.1 The Global ...........................................................................................23 2.2 The Local .............................................................................................26 2.3 Identity and Performativity ..................................................................29 2.4 Cultural Identity and Cosmopolitanism ...............................................32 2.5 Identity Performance Online ................................................................44 2.6 Language and English(es) ....................................................................50 Chapter 3: Methodology ........................................................................................76 3.1 Constructivist Grounded Theory ..........................................................76 3.2 Selection of Participants ......................................................................78 3.2.1 A Note on Alias Selection ....................................................................80 3.3 Data Collection ....................................................................................84 3.4 Data Analysis .......................................................................................88 3.5 A Note on Translation ..........................................................................91 3.6 Position of the Researcher ...................................................................92 Chapter 4: Social Capital, Audience, and Translingual Practices on Facebook ..101 4.1 Social Capital .....................................................................................101 4.2 Audience ............................................................................................104 4.3 Participant Experiences: Social Capital and Audience ......................107 4.4 Social Capital and Identity Performance on Facebook ......................122 viii Chapter 5: Popular Culture & Identity Performance ...........................................130 5.1 Media, Culture, and Imagination .......................................................133 5.2 Taste Statements and Liking Behavior ..............................................141 5.3 Vernacular Spectacles ........................................................................148 Chapter 6: Performing Mongolian National Identity in a Globalizing World .....154 6.1 Background of Mongolia: From Communism to Democracy ...........154 6.2 Participant Experiences: Migration to Ulaanbaatar & Life in the Ger District 156 6.3 National Identity: A Sense of Mongolness ........................................160 6.4 Mongolian Language and the Preservation of Authentic Mongolian Culture 171 Chapter 7: English, Access, and Neoliberalism in Post-Communist Mongolia ..177 7.1 Linguistic Capital & English as a Commodity