Demanding Respect: The Uses of Reported Speech in Discursive Constructions of Interracial Contact

Abstract

This investigation examines discursive uses of respect in talking about interracial contact. In discussing the documentary, Racism 101, the most frequently quoted portion by African-American and Latino participants was a segment on demanding respect from Whites. Our first study analyzes such discourse-reported speech-for what is made relevant from the original documentary segment. The participants' reported speech conveys little of the exact wording of the original, but does capture its spirit through using similar structural features: the repetition of `respect', a contrast between respect and liking, and addressing this to Whites. These uses of reported speech are participants' way of performing the power of another's words, in the sense of being able to articulate a compelling discursive position on an interracial problematic. Our second study employs focus-group interviews to further explore the meanings of respect for African-Americans. We examine narratives of disrespect during interracial contact in public places, such as during service encounters in stores. Participants' narratives told of being disrespected by being overly monitored, not receiving service, or being treated in a derogatory fashion, in short, the perception of being treated differently than Whites. Reported speech was used in these narratives to construct the White service worker's actions, how the narrator responded, what could have happened, or what in-group members say as an aggregate. Reported speech allows narrators to articulate the subtext to what is being said. Also, the evaluation of these incidents told of the emotional costs of being the recipient of disrespect.

Common-sense anti-racism in book group talk: The role of reported speech

“…This is also a generalised formulation which appeals to shared knowledge about the existence of this familiar, repeated form of racism. The recreation of direct reported speech here simultaneously lends empirical support to the observation (such questions plausibly do occur in reality), and functions to signal the negative evaluation of the reported speaker's views (see also Buttny 1997;Buttny and Williams 2000;Holt 2000;Stokoe and Edwards 2007). The functions of reported speech will be elaborated later in the paper.…”

Reported client–practitioner conversations as assessment in mental health practitioners' talk

“…Previous research shows that reported speech often serves the purpose of creating evaluative portraits of the quoted people (Buttny 1997;Hall et al 1999;Buttny and Williams 2000). Making negative evaluations of people is common for complaints accomplished through reported speech (Drew 1999;Stokoe and Edwards 2007).…”

A critical discourse analysis approach to news discourses and social practices on race in Brazil

“…What Buttny (1997) and Buttny and Williams (2000) suggest in their analysis of reported speech in focus groups discussing race can also be traced in another report, this time with a more positive assessment or positioning, though difficult again to attribute. The news is entitled Policiais militares são acusados de racismo contra garoto de 12 anos -PM teria ofendido menino negro em supermercado (Police officers are accused of racism against a 12 year old boy Police officers allegedly offended Black boy in a supermarket).…”

“…On the one hand, the collocation could have been used by the girl herself. On the other, it could be interpreted as assessment or positioning (Buttny, 1997;Buttny and Williams, 2000) of the newspaper which, I argue, underestimates the issue when framing the student s attitudes to racism as instructions in a recipe.…”