Including social discourses and experience in research on refugees, race, and ethnicity

Abstract

In Discourse & Society, there has been discussion of accounting practices involving refugees, racism, and ethnicity. Some of these articles note that discursive psychology’s emphasis on in-situ constructions leads to a situation where it does not allow us to fully grasp social discourses. This article addresses this critique by discussing conversation analysis and ethnomethodology. It then adds to this discussion by proposing that linguistically constituted phenomenological experience – a topic important in reference to refugees, racism, and ethnicity – is also bypassed by discourse analysis. It draws upon Mikhail Bakhtin’s early work and on how experience is bound to social discourse. By proposing how Bakhtin meshes with Garfinkel and conversation analysis, it is possible to approach experience using techniques put forward by these perspectives. The result is a proposed way to research social discourse and experience, thereby enhancing discursive analysis.