This study investigates the construction of identity that emerges in the consumers' discursive production of a conciliation hearing in a kind of Brazilian Small Claim Court (Juizado especial de relações de Consumo) in Minas Gerais state. Based on theories of interactional Sociolinguistic and on Conversation analyses techniques, we recorded four conciliation hearings and analyzed the identity construction of the consumer through their accounts. The data analysis confirmed the richness of identity construction in the narratives we analyzed. We perceived that consumers construct their identities in order to align themselves in the role of victim and align their opponent in the role of villain. For that, the most used strategies are: the exploration of a great number of repetition, the use of extreme terms, and the incorporation of different identity categories.
identity; discursive production; conciliation hearing; interactional and discursive strategies
