Topic negotiation in intercultural discourse : a case study on a series of three interviews between a Himba oral historian and a German anthropologist

Abstract

Employing the tools of a micro-linguistically oriented discourse analysis, this paper examines a series of three interviews between a German Anthropologist, his local research assistant and a Himba oral historian. The particular focus is on the participants’ moment-to-moment work in negotiating the topics of interaction in this intercultural setting. The paper argues that the intercultural setting complicates these negotiations in so far as a) the participants bring into the interaction different perceptions about appropriate participant roles in introducing and changing topics and b) participants evaluate differently what topics are relevant for the interaction and what the overall goal of the interviews is. I further seek to account for these differences by situating my observations within a more general discussion of the different discourse systems the interlocutors have been socialized into.