The Self-representation Of Migrant Workers’Identity-a Study Based On Real Oral Narrative Corpus

Studies of the vulnerable group’s identity focus on groups such as refugees,beggars, women and illegal immigrants at abroad. At home, migrant workers, themost typical Chinese vulnerable group, have drawn the attention of the society inrecent years. Multidisciplinary scholars have studied migrant workers from differentviewpoints. However, the researches on discursive self-representation of migrantworkers’ identity are seldom seen. Based on the in-depth interviews on15migrantworkers from the same county—Huaining in the city of Anqing, Anhui Province, thisstudy has conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis on the self-representationof migrant workers’ identity from the perspective of three sub-systems of vanLeeuwen’s Social Actors Theory (exclusion and inclusion; functionalization andidentification; genericization and specification) and the attitudinal system ofJ.R.Martin’s Appraisal Theory.The representation of migrant workers as social actors answers the question“who am I”. The narrator, migrant workers position their self-identity byrepresenting social actors in different ways. Social actors can be divided into “US”group and “THEM” group. In this study,“US” group includes “the old generationmigrant workers group” and “the new generation migrant workers group”, whichconstitute in-group members.“THEM” group involves “the boss group” and “theintellectual group”, which constitute out-group members. Meanwhile, migrantworkers represent self-identity by narrating and appraising happenings around themand behaviors.From the representation of social actors and the distribution of attitudinalresources, we have done an empirical study on the self-representation of thevulnerable group—migrant workers’ identity. The findings are as follows:As to the system of exclusion and inclusion,“US” group members arefrequently excluded in migrant workers’ narratives, which conceal the vulnerable self-identity. As to the system of functionalization and identification,“THEM”group members are usually functionalized by occupations rather than migrantworkers.“US” group members are often represented by the inter-relationships,which show that migrant workers tend to gather the strength of in-group members toenhance their voices and represent self-identity. As to the system of genericizationand specification,“US” group is usually generalized and “THEM” group specified.Migrant workers insist on positive self-representation and negativeother-representation. Social actors are specified in positive representation, butgeneralized in negative representation.As to affect, judgment and appreciation systems in attitudinal appraisal,judgment occurs most frequently. The next is affect. The lowest is appreciation.Within the three systems, the most frequent sub-categories are respectively“unhappiness” in affect,“propriety” in judgment and “reaction” in appreciation.“Unhappiness” shows migrant workers’ hardship and vulnerability in social life.“Propriety” shows that migrant workers’ benefits can not be guaranteed completelyat present.“Reaction” shows that migrant workers’ appraisal on their work is mostlynegative.Besides, out-group members’ advantaged identity representation alsodemonstrates migrant workers’ identification of vulnerable self-identity. They showtheir fear to the boss group and the admiration to the intellectual group in thenarratives.“THEM” group members often appear as individuals and “US” groupmembers appear in groups, which indicates that migrant workers are lack ofconfidence in their self-identity. Due to the national preferential policies, migrantworkers’ economic and social situations are improving. But there is still a long wayto go before their vulnerable identity is fundamentally changed. The improvement ofthis group’s self-identity calls for the society’s great attention.Theoretically, this study constructs a framework for the self-representation of acertain group’s identity based on the oral narrative corpus, which enriches the theoretical studies of the vulnerable group’s identity. Practically, this study employsthe narrating approach to the subject so that migrant workers represent the selfthrough recounting their real experiences. They are not narrated and represented, butdisplay their real self. In this sense, this study is significant in removing the publicand the media’s bias against this group and enhancing their power of discourse; alsoit has its significance in building up a harmonious society.