Dialogue and Narration

Abstract

In this article, we would like to give implications to analyze biographical narratives by using the concept of dialogue. Therefore, we like to show how dialogue and narration are connected in biographical narratives. We will introduce different levels of dialogue within a narration by choosing passages of interview-transcriptions out of our studies. These levels (interactional level, historical level or processual level and locational level) shall serve as an analytical tool in order to identify the narration’s specific dialogical character. We do this based on two research projects in which each of us has been involved and which represent different cultural, geopolitical, and social contexts. Our research projects are concerned with two different minority groupings: People of Color22 in Germany and Chinese entrepreneurs in Romania. Keywords: Biographical Research; Exclusion; Migration; Narrative Interviews; Dialogue; Discourse Analysis; Sociology of knowledge; Interpretative paradigm