The Role of Narratives and Identity Construction in the Translation of Ideas

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the translation of ideas as a process of identity construction. The focus of the paper is a trade (labor) union learning initiative which was translated from the UK to New Zealand. The aim of the initiative is to empower workers through learning opportunities, hence seeking to address some of the negative aspects of contemporary capitalism. In examining how the idea of the learning representative initiative is translated over a seven year period, we focus upon how the identity of the initiative is constructed in a new context. Using narrative analysis, the various plots and narratives that constitute how interviewees understand the initiative and its translation are identified. As such we contribute to the literature on the translation of ideas, first, by employing it within an employment relations context; and second, by seeing it as an identity construction process.