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The point of departure for this article is narrative gerontology's conceptualization of life as storied and the assumption that identity development and meaning making do not cease at any age, but rather continue throughout life. We suggest that if identity construction is considered to be a lifelong project, narrative gerontology would benefit from applying analytical perspectives focused on the situated activity of narration. In this article, we apply a three-level positioning analysis to segments of interviews with two elderly Sami women concerning missed opportunities or roads not taken and, more specifically, to narrations about missed opportunities for education. We argue that such narrations should not necessarily be considered expressions of regret or processes of reconciliation but rather as pivotal in here-and-now identity constructions. Narrations about missed opportunities demonstrate that what narrators choose to insert into their life stories is chosen for a purpose and for an audience in a specific interpersonal and discursive context. We suggest that narrative gerontology would benefit from a broader focus on the diversity of sites of engagement in which older adults perform identity constructions. This shift implies moving beyond traditional studies of older adults' life stories and biographical narratives as related in the context of qualitative research interviews (of which the present study of Sami older adults' life stories is indeed an example). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The point of departure for this article is the commitment in Indigenous research to reflect Indigenous contexts and worldviews. Based on an analysis of a story from my research, I argue that Indigenous contexts (rather than being things-unto-themselves that pre-exist description) are complex constructions comprised of social structures, historical events, and cultural meta-narratives that are rendered relevant in local interview contexts by both the interviewees and the interviewers. Such contexts are relevant for the interviewers’ performances as insiders and outsiders in interview situations. I argue that as a consequence of applying a performance perspective to Indigenous research, one must accept that the complex question regarding insiderness and outsiderness cannot be finalized. Rather, the researcher’s identities are performed continuously in every interview situation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]