Emancipatory Potential of Naming: A Study on Church Employees' Personal Stories of Negative Experiences

Abstract

To address interactionally troublesome exchanges (e.g., bullying, discrimination, or harassment) in the workplace, giving a name to negative personal experiences is crucial. Drawing on discussions of hermeneutical injustice, we explore the emancipatory potential of naming in post-hoc tellings of these experiences, with particular attention to accountability and face-work in naming practices. Our analysis of interviews with church employees illustrates how managing discrepancies between the story world and the storytelling world, as well as the degree of dependency on the teller–recipient relationship, shapes naming practices with implications for agency and accountability. While tellings can be emancipatory for the teller, agency can become jeopardized.