Intercultural Identity Positioning: Interview Discourses from Two Identity-Based Nonprofit Organizations

This study examines interview discourses from board members/volunteers, staff, and clients in two nonprofit organizations in the U.S. Southwest. Extending cultural identity theory constructs of avowal, ascription, and salience, the study used aspects of critical discourse analysis to thematically determine what the interview discourses revealed about identity positioning, negotiation of cross-status relationships and hierarchies, and how ideologies such as Asians as the model minority and individual meritocracy were implicated. The analysis demonstrated that contradictory avowals and ascriptions impacted levels of agency, and that avowals, as well as ascriptions, acted to subjugate already marginalized clients.