The Contact Zone and Dialogical Positionalities in “Non-Normative” Childhoods: How Children Who Language Broker Manage Conflict

Abstract

This article examines the processes by which different dialogical positionalities are taken in the contact zone. The contact zone provides a framework for the consideration of potential confrontations and uncertainties during intercultural contacts between migrant children, their family, and another adult. The other adult is usually someone in a position of authority. For young people who language broker, managing the uncertainties and confrontations of conflictual situations highlighted three positionalities: (a) “conflict avoider,” (b) “the neutral or passive broker,” and (c) the “active broker.” The contact zone was a sphere of experience that opened up possibilities for agentic action as well as constraints. The contact zone had the potential to foreground different aspects of their status such as “the child,” “the immigrant,” or the second-language speaker. Equally, the young people took opportunities to utilize these statuses as part of their dialogical positionalities to get the best outcome for them and/or their families. We argue that further exploration of the contact zone within the framing of dialogical positionalities can enable better understanding of critical cultural-development childhoods.