Generalizing from Case Studies: A Commentary

This commentary responds to the articles assembled for the thematic issue Self-identity on the move: methodological elaborations (IPBS, 51 (2), June 2017). The issue points in two directions. Firstly, the articles investigate the way individual self-identity develops in changing social and cultural environments, specifically in the contexts of family, youth and migration. Secondly, the special issue is also interested in methodological elaboration, more specifically the question of how one can generalize from individual case studies, especially when looking at complex, multiscale, semiotic processes. This commentary particularly addresses the second point and uses the various cases in this issue (i) to better understand something of the larger intellectual debate around the question of ‘generalizing from case studies’, and (ii) to reflect on writing as a tool for indexing generalization. The commentary highlights five textual moves the authors use to make their findings relevant beyond the specifics of the local study.