In moments of "dispersion, diaspora, and reterritorialization" (Amy Shuman 2006), the personal, the interactional, and the improvised (the "micro") cannot be separated analytically from circulating ideologies, institutional norms, or cultural flows (the "macro"). With a focus on the emergence of identities within social interaction, specifically within the qualitative research interview, this article examines the power of the micro to transform regularities in ways that are locally relevant and globally influenced at the same time.