Alienated in my hometown: pro-official family language policies and identity conflict in the city of Tabriz

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines identity construction and conflict in the case of a woman whose parents replaced the local language with the official language at the home in the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, where the local language, Azerbaijani, is overshadowed by Persian as the official language of the state. In such contexts, Shifting away from the local language at the home could endanger the minority languages and affect children’s identity construction and socialisation into the community. To trace the participant’s identity construction over different periods of her life, her narrative accounts including autobiographical narratives and small stories were collected through multiple interviews, complemented by ethnographic observation of her interactions. Data was analyzed through extended three-level positioning and sociocultural linguistic approaches. The findings of the study revealed that the participant had an affinity to Persian over her childhood and early teens, though until then, she had felt no sense of conflict within her community. However, facing strengthening pro-Azerbaijani ideologies in the city, her struggle to maintain both identities was in vain, and she ended up feeling excluded from both communities. Findings are discussed in the light of larger sociopolitical and ideological discourse in place in northwest Iran.