On (in)dispensability: Remembering Manny Schegloff

Conversation Analysis and Clinical Encounters (CACE)

July 1-3, 2024, Wolfson College, Oxford

Christopher Koenig and Ana Cristina Ostermann

A special moment to celebrate Manny Schegloff’s life, to honor his legacy and role in the creation and establishment of conversation analysis, and his indelible influence on the field of talk-in-interaction. This is what happened at a panel organized by Christopher Koenig (San Francisco State University) and Rebecca Barnes (University of Oxford), the Chair for CACE 2024 meeting. CACE attendees were invited to the podium to spontaneously share their memories and pay tribute to Manny.  

John Heritage (University of California, Los Angeles), a long-time UCLA colleague and friend of Manny’s, opened the stage with a video tribute. He reminded us that with Manny’s passing, all three founders of CA have now passed away. This is a very significant moment in the history of CA, not only because the founders are now gone, but also because their legacy of work and our memories of them and their work remain.

Galina Bolden (Rutgers University), the current president of ISCA and whose dissertation was supervised by Manny, recalled her experience as a graduate student at UCLA and having him as a teacher and mentor: an encouraging, demanding, inspiring, kind, generous, and true champion for his students. Galina reflected on how Manny taught students that CA is a serious discipline that requires daily practice and engagement with data, and how deeply committed he was to making CA accessible to anyone with a serious interest, no matter where they were in the world. Galina reminded us that Manny created an online publication archive (long before such things were common!), recorded his lectures, and made every effort to make them widely available. Both of these resources are now available on the ISCA website.

Tim Halkowski (University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point) reflected on his time as a graduate student in Santa Barbara under the mentorship of Don Zimmerman. He recounted how he delicately navigated his way through his advisor to get permission to travel from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles to attend Manny’s Conversational Structures class. He nervously approached Don, who paused for a long moment after the request and then encouraged Tim to attend with his blessing, saying that studying with Manny was “an important opportunity to study fundamental aspects of CA. The drive from Santa Barbara to LA is not short – probably an hour and a half each way. For the better part of an academic year, Tim was enriched not only by the class, but by Manny’s support throughout that time, providing Tim with an experience that was a crucial part of his education as a CA scholar.  

Anna Lindstrom (Uppsala University), instead of telling a personal story, shared the advice Manny gave her about doing CA research. The point of CA research is not to replicate findings, but to show, as part of the analysis, your understanding of how that previous analysis is relevant and part of the participants’ orientation to some phenomena. So the point is to weave in previous findings as part of the premise of the new analysis. Anna also highlighted Manny’s legacy to CA around the world: a humongous effort that allowed CA to develop, grow, and expand to different parts of the world and in so many languages.

To close the session, Christopher Koenig recounted his own history in and with CA and shared a very special moment with Manny. He was a student of Robert Hopper, who died while Chris was writing his MA thesis. Wanting to continue his work in CA, Chris sought out the UCLA scholars John Heritage, Manny Schegloff, and Chuck Goodwin, who were his mentoring team. When Chris arrived at UCLA, he remembered walking into Manny’s long office in Haines Hall. As Chris walked toward him, someone he had never met in person, Manny got up from behind his desk, and when Chris was within a foot of him, before he said a word, Manny reached out to give Chris a big, supportive hug. Chris recalls that he felt this hug acknowledged the pain of watching a mentor die and affirmed his unconditional support for him as a student and as a person.

“A twinkly-eyed Manny, looking out at us, and encouraging us to move ahead”

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