My research interest lies in the connection between storytelling and emotions for purposes of identity work. More specifically, when we talk about past (or imagined) events, we connect the there-and-then of the story-world, with all its emotionality, with a here-and-now of the story-telling situation – again with all its emotionality.

To accomplish this successfully, we rely on (borrow) repertoires that assist the construction of an emotionality of the there-and-then and connect these repertoires with those that assist the construction of an emotionality in the here-and-now. That is, for the purpose of identity construction, we need to successfully navigate those two 'worlds' and their (often different) emotionalities.

Currently I am involved in two projects in which I investigate this navigation process in more detail: i) politicians' public confessions of personal wrongdoing (e.g., John Edwards in 2008, and more recently Gov. Mark Sanford), and ii) a ten-minute videotape of a twice-told story of an elderly woman ("Betty Tells Her Story"). In both of these projects I rely on a particular type of 'Positioning Analysis' that colleagues and I have developed over the last years.