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“They Took Out the Wrong Context”: Uses of Time‐Space in the Practice of Positioning
Author(s) -
Leander Kevin M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1525/eth.2004.32.2.188
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , sociology , space (punctuation) , context (archaeology) , position (finance) , social relation , social practice , social space , social psychology , psychology , epistemology , media studies , social science , computer science , history , performance art , philosophy , archaeology , finance , economics , art history , operating system
Time‐space is not merely a backdrop to social interaction; rather, individuals use particular forms of time‐space to discursively position themselves and others. This article analyzes how several adolescents interpreted a previous classroom interaction, which was rife with social positioning. Responding to a videotape of this interaction, the adolescents were in general agreement that one of them (“Latayna”) acted “ghetto.” An analysis of the interview data reveals how participants use typified forms of time‐space, or particular chronotopes, in the practice of positioning. These chronotopes index the relative changeability of the social world, the possibilities of individual agency, and the relations of social and individual development. The analysis also makes visible how individual actors, including Latanya, creatively and strategically shape subjectivities by transforming and laminating diverse chronotopes.