REFLEXIVE POSITIONING AND CULTURE

The concept of ''positioning'' provides a dynamic alternative to that of ''role'' and highlights the creative, negotiable, and fluid aspects of social interactions, as well as the mutual reciprocity of position s which people occupy relative to each other. The first contribution o f this paper is to extend the positioning concept from the interperson al to the intrapersonal or ''reflexive'' level. Through the discursive construction of personal stories, speakers also make dynamic and cons tantly changing positions available to themselves to privately take up , negotiate, and refuse. Our second contribution to the ongoing debate is to show that positioning practices are culturally imbedded. Cultur al variations in reflexive positioning are explored using the ideal se lf, through illustrative cases such as American transcendentalism and Islamic Sufism. Other aspects of positioning that vary culturally are preferred forms of autobiographical telling, and the selective use of particular dimensions to describe oneself. In conclusion, reflexive an d other forms of positioning are best understood in the context of cul tural ideals and practices.