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Constructing a professional identity as an in-home carer

Constructing a professional identity as an in-home carer The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which foreign live-in carers are able to construct agentive identities which counteract negative discourses regarding care work, sex and nationality.Design/methodology/approachInterviews with women working as carers in Bologna form the basis of this research which focuses on “small stories”. Using positioning analysis, both the immediate context where the narrative takes place and the wider societal discourses being referenced are examined. Subsequently, common recurrent discourses related to being a foreign carer in Italy are identified.FindingsThe interviewees make strategic use of prevailing negative discourses to construct counter narratives to avoid being positioned as low-skilled workers and to permit them to reject negative stereotypes of what it means to be a carer. In addition, more positive identities are constructed.Practical implicationsThese findings suggest that a sociolinguistic approach can help towards a better understanding of the lived-experiences of foreign care workers, as it can reveal aspects of carers’ lives which do not easily fit into the categories which are often the focus of larger-scale, thematic studies.Originality/valueThis paper combines an analysis of content together with an analysis of the construction of narrative to present a more complete picture of the reality of working as a carer today. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Working with Older People Emerald Publishing

Constructing a professional identity as an in-home carer

Blundell, Catherine Jane
Working with Older People , Volume 25 (3): 12 – Oct 13, 2021
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References (7)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
1366-3666
eISSN
1366-3666
DOI
10.1108/wwop-06-2021-0033
Publisher site
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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which foreign live-in carers are able to construct agentive identities which counteract negative discourses regarding care work, sex and nationality.Design/methodology/approachInterviews with women working as carers in Bologna form the basis of this research which focuses on “small stories”. Using positioning analysis, both the immediate context where the narrative takes place and the wider societal discourses being referenced are examined. Subsequently, common recurrent discourses related to being a foreign carer in Italy are identified.FindingsThe interviewees make strategic use of prevailing negative discourses to construct counter narratives to avoid being positioned as low-skilled workers and to permit them to reject negative stereotypes of what it means to be a carer. In addition, more positive identities are constructed.Practical implicationsThese findings suggest that a sociolinguistic approach can help towards a better understanding of the lived-experiences of foreign care workers, as it can reveal aspects of carers’ lives which do not easily fit into the categories which are often the focus of larger-scale, thematic studies.Originality/valueThis paper combines an analysis of content together with an analysis of the construction of narrative to present a more complete picture of the reality of working as a carer today.

Journal

Working with Older People – Emerald Publishing

Published: Oct 13, 2021

Keywords: Agency; Employment; Narrative; Home care; Migration; Domestic workers

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