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My maternal home, like my mother’s place: Spatial meaning-making and narrative contestation in the asylum process
Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education, Swedish Language.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9383-3279
2026 (English)In: Narrative Inquiry, ISSN 1387-6740, E-ISSN 1569-9935Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This article explores how narratives of geographical place are constructed and negotiated in interpreter-mediated asylum interviews in Sweden. Drawing on a case study of one asylum seeker’s account, it examines how negotiations of place function as narrative resources under institutional constraints. Combining concepts of polycentricity, orders of indexicality, and interactional positioning, the analysis shows how narratives about place are co-constructed, contested, and evaluated in interaction. The data consists of two recorded interviews conducted by the Swedish Migration Agency. The study demonstrates how place is narrated relationally and experientially by the asylum seeker, yet institutionally interpreted through a narrow, cartographic lens, often via interpreter-mediated formulations. The analysis highlights the narrative consequences of this disjuncture, showing how credibility is negotiated, undermined, or reconfigured as participants engage in ongoing interactional and indexical work. In doing so, the article contributes to our understanding of narrative as shaped by institutional interaction and competing spatial frameworks.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2026.
Keywords [en]
credibility assessment, geographical place, polycentricity, indexicality, interpreter-mediated interaction, positioning, narrative analysis, asylum interviews
National Category
Languages and Literature
Research subject
Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-59199DOI: 10.1075/ni.24120.nikISI: 001676880800001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105029531918OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-59199DiVA, id: diva2:2036004
Part of project
Co-construction and recontextualisation of migrants’ narratives in the asylum process, The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 70/2016Available from: 2026-02-05 Created: 2026-02-05 Last updated: 2026-03-05Bibliographically approved

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Nikolaidou, Zoe

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf