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Identity, self, narrative

Abstract

By tradition many narrative researchers interested in questions about identity have focused on interview narratives and especially on their discursive organization in terms of coherence and referentiality. This paper argues that other aspects than coherence are of importance in negotiating identity. Examples are taken from narrative research to show the ways in which persons with dementia illnesses, brain injuries, and related problems actually use and tell stories in order to claim various identities. There is a special focus on the way the storytelling activity and all kinds of expressive resources are used in order to establish and negotiate identity.

Abstract

By tradition many narrative researchers interested in questions about identity have focused on interview narratives and especially on their discursive organization in terms of coherence and referentiality. This paper argues that other aspects than coherence are of importance in negotiating identity. Examples are taken from narrative research to show the ways in which persons with dementia illnesses, brain injuries, and related problems actually use and tell stories in order to claim various identities. There is a special focus on the way the storytelling activity and all kinds of expressive resources are used in order to establish and negotiate identity.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Beyond narrative coherence 1
  4. Weird stories 17
  5. Identity, self, narrative 33
  6. ‘Mind-reading’, a method for understanding the broken narrative of an aphasic man 49
  7. Broken narratives, visual forces 67
  8. Artists-in-progress 87
  9. Breaking of self-narrative as a means of reorientation? 103
  10. “There is no fear in my lexicon” vs. “You are not normal if you won’t be scared” 121
  11. Beyond narrative 147
  12. Afterword 167
  13. Index 191
  14. List of contributors 187
Beyond Narrative Coherence
This chapter is in the book Beyond Narrative Coherence
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.11.03hyd

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Beyond narrative coherence 1
  4. Weird stories 17
  5. Identity, self, narrative 33
  6. ‘Mind-reading’, a method for understanding the broken narrative of an aphasic man 49
  7. Broken narratives, visual forces 67
  8. Artists-in-progress 87
  9. Breaking of self-narrative as a means of reorientation? 103
  10. “There is no fear in my lexicon” vs. “You are not normal if you won’t be scared” 121
  11. Beyond narrative 147
  12. Afterword 167
  13. Index 191
  14. List of contributors 187
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