Laura as Writer: Exploring the Identity Positions of an Adolescent Author

• In Event: Public Writing: Performing Writing Identities Across Contexts

Abstract

In response to calls for research theorizing adolescent writing in technology-mediated contexts (Alvermann, 2008; Moje, 2009), our work examines the complexity of writerly identity as adolescents traverse school, home, and online writing spaces. We are conducting a longitudinal inquiry with Laura, a 15-year-old who writes for a variety of reasons: to complete school assignments, display her Broadway musical fandom, and become a novelist. We ask: How does Laura position herself as a writer in multiple contexts? How do these contexts shape her practices and perspectives as a writer?

Perspectives
We view literacy as a social practice (Street, 1984) and are interested in how identity mediates and is mediated by literacy practices across contexts (Lewis & del Valle, 2009). Informing our understanding of identities as multiple, social, and fluid is the metaphor of identity as position (Moje, Luke, Davies, & Street, 2009). This metaphor recognizes that social positioning is central to producing subjects and subjectivity. It is always through social construction in relation to others that an identity is “offered” or “afforded” (p. 430). Thus, our analysis pays particular attention to Laura’s relationships with those who shape her writing practices. This metaphor requires that we look at ways Laura takes up or rejects, in part or whole, the identities offered, allowing us to uncover evidence of her agency within contexts.

Methods
In the second of four years of data collection, we aim to construct an instrumental case study (Stake, 1995) that represents the particularity and complexity of Laura as a writer. Qualitative data are being generated via connective ethnographic methods (Leander & McKim, 2003) as we trace Laura’s writing practices. Data analysis follows Erickson’s (1986) analytic induction, developing and testing assertions based upon the data corpus, which includes transcribed interviews with Laura and her family, email interviews with some of her English teachers, several email exchanges with Laura, and our reflective research memos. We also analyzed written artifacts, including a draft of her novel, classroom writing assignments, and her published stories, reader reviews, and participation on FanFiction.net.

Findings
Our analysis explores how Laura positions herself, and is positioned, as an advanced English student at school, fan fiction writer online, and aspiring professional novelist at home. This paper highlights the tensions Laura experiences as she writes in these contexts. In brief, the school writing context frustrates Laura because her peers do not appreciate the professional writerly habits she brings to class. Fanfiction.net gives Laura access to a play space for her writing as she remixes Broadway musical content, yet she laments not receiving substantive reviews from readers. Finally, in writing her novel Laura takes up a perfectionist position, which feeds and corrupts her process while serving as source material for developing characters.

Significance
Laura’s case contributes to the “third wave” (Lewis & del Valle, 2009) of studies exploring the multifaceted nature of identity in networked, digital contexts. Analyzing Laura’s writerly identity as positions across contexts reveals the ways different publics impact and are impacted by her writing practices.

Authors

• Jayne C. Lammers, University of Rochester

• Valerie Lieberman Marsh, University of Rochester