Narrative Identity Research Articles

The things students don’t say: theorising Narrative Identity to understand non-traditional students’ experiences in higher education

AbstractA persistent challenge for Australian higher education policymakers and researchers has been to understand why policies and practices have met with limited success in widening the participation and attainment of non-traditional students. This paper explores theorising Narrative Identity as a constructive methodological framework for understanding non-traditional students’ experiences in higher education. Using this approach, I critically analyse the contrasting experiences of three non-traditional students who successfully transitioned to university via an enabling program but who had significantly different (and unanticipated) levels of engagement and success in their studies. ‘Transformation’ emerged as a recurring theme in students’ perceptions of becoming academically capable students. Applying a social constructionist lens, I explore the intersections and interactions between discourses of disadvantage and transformation within the context of neoliberal higher education structural discourses. Interview data conveys students’ changing values and behaviours, revealed in their rejection of prior ‘not capable’ identities and performance of their new ‘capable student’ identity. Students’ understandings of self provide insights relevant to the sustainability of their ‘capable student’ identity and, therefore, the quality of their engagement and success. The paper concludes with a consideration of Australian higher education policy and urges greater consideration of identity challenges faced by non-traditional HE students.

The experiences that define us: Autobiographical periods predict memory centrality to narrative identity.

The experiences that define us: Autobiographical periods predict memory centrality to narrative identity.

Hybridity of Narrative Identity in Post-Arab Spring Novels

Hybridity of Narrative Identity in Post-Arab Spring Novels

The “fragmentation” of emotions and the fragmentation of narrative identity in borderline personality disorder.

The “fragmentation” of emotions and the fragmentation of narrative identity in borderline personality disorder.

Measuring narrative identity: rater coding versus questionnaire-based approaches

ABSTRACT Narrative identity – how individuals narrate their lived and remembered past – is usually assessed via independent rater coding, but new methods relying on self-report have been introduced. To test the assumption that different methods assess aspects of the same underlying construct, studies measuring similar components of narrative identity with different methods are needed. However, such studies are surprisingly rare. To begin to fill this gap, the present study compared the narrative variables, temporal coherence, causal coherence, and thematic coherence, measured via rater coding of participants’ self-generated narratives of the remembered past and via subscales of the self-report measure Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ). The results showed that the ANIQ subscales did not correlate significantly with their corresponding rater-coded dimension, and that the ANIQ subscales were generally unrelated to the other rater-coded dimensions. Furthermore, an exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the ANIQ subscales loaded together on a factor that did not include any rater-coded variables. The findings suggest that the narrative variables share little empirical overlap when assessed via the ANIQ and rater coding of self-generated narratives.

Analyzing Identity Storytelling for On-site Learning in Museums

This research investigates the specific designs of on-site identity storytelling in city museums, made of three case studies with an Identity Education (IdEd) framework proposed in an early conference paper by the author. Conclusions of the case studies are reached on how the city museums take advantage of different contextual factors to engage the visitors of five motivational types, whether there is any gap between the target identity expected by the city and the identity narratives presented by the city museum, and if any, how huge the gap is. The subsequent discussion, comparing the three cases, makes this research a comparative study and provides suggestions for each city museum. In general, this research sets an example of how the IdEd framework could be applied to the evaluation of on-site learning materials and opportunities in museums, thereby helping better the instructional design on the part of curators and offering guidelines for observing the museum visitors’ learning experiences in future field studies with similar educational concerns.

Major Depression as a Disorder of the Narrative Self: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Abnormal self-experiences are a common feature of major depression despite their absence from current diagnostic manuals. Current diagnostic criteria leave us with an impoverished conception of depressive disorders, and they fail to exploit the diverse experiential alterations that might be useful for understanding and diagnosing patients, and last but not least for explaining the aetiology of these disorders. Although some phenomenological descriptions of abnormal self-experiences in major depression are available, further research is needed to validate these through detailed clinical interviews. Methods: To characterize these phenomena in more detail and to verify and consolidate previous accounts, we conducted a qualitative study using the Consensual Qualitative Research method. Results: Our findings identified three categories of abnormal self-experiences: (1) impossibility to project oneself forward, (2) not recognizing one’s self, and (3) losing control on one’s self. Conclusion: Before delving into these results, we briefly described how the self is conceptualized in phenomenological psychopathology and explored in the literature on the self-experience in major depression. After discussing our results in the light of recent and contemporary phenomenological literature, we suggest that the inability to recognize otherness as part of oneself – which is the core of depressive experiences – ends in specific symptoms of depersonalization that differ from schizophrenic ones. We conclude that the self-experience, and in particular narrative identity, is central to the development and maintenance of depression.

Нарратив как смыслообразующий элемент политической символизации

The article deals with a theoretical analysis of the concept of political narrative as a political reality, which is not reducible to a set of positivistically established facts. In the context of political symbolization, narratives as elements of interpretation of politics implicate political meanings through verbal situations that develop as an interaction of judgments. Political narratives function as mediators in social activities and not only communicate information, but do it incrementing new meanings, as political narratives are conveyed through deliberation. The “narrative identity” is formed as a reference to metanarratives and their creators. The author shows that any symbolic political reality is a constellation of involvement narratives that create verbal situations of interactions between community members and the collective history as a narration. Therefore, a narrative introduces individuals into a political context. This enables to fix the narrative “footprint” of joint social practices that are named “culture”, “nation”, “country”, etc. At the same time, the author substantiates that the form and the content of political narratives have the meaning of retrospective inner causality, since the inherited array of political interpretations is constantly «retold» in the present reality. It is concluded that in the context of political symbolization, narrative can be an analytical solution of the problem of interaction between individual consciousness and a society.

Becoming who I always was: The role of holding environments in maintaining identity narratives

How are identity narratives maintained over one's lifetime when neither the enactment of one's work role nor the organised holding environments can be assumed? In his autobiography, Ahluwalia continues to narrate himself as a mountaineer, despite the end of his mountaineering career following a war-induced disability. Locating his account alongside the existent literature on identity work within holding environments, I clarify the processes through which different holding environments – the interpersonal and the relatively impersonal – can facilitate the maintenance of individuals’ identity narratives and how the environments themselves may be shaped over time.

Harmonizing Political and Marketing Aesthetics: Insights from The Chess Olympiad 2022

This article explores how the Government of Tamil Nadu, India, utilised strategic mass communication methods that emerged from a fusion of political and marketing strategies to create an aesthetic approach that elevated Chess Olympiad 2022, an event typically less in the public eye, into a spectacle that captured widespread attention by focusing on the event’s impact on their cultural identity and the subsequent construction of a narrative of global cultural leadership. The marketing strategy of the Government of Tamil Nadu, India may be considered an aesthetic application of the theory of symbolic interactionism, as it employed literary, musical arts and visual arts across Chennai, that ensured active engagement of individuals in the city with the government's aesthetic representations. These visual representations acted as symbolic cues, inviting interaction and sparking the curiosity of the the whole host city, the Government of Tamil Nadu, India succeeded in turning Chess into a spectator sport, and by doing so, forged a key place in the national identity for Chess by building a narrative of collective linguistic and cultural identity. Since all citizens do not have an expert level knowledge on government policies, the media narrative that is built around any government policy determines its perceived success. The media narrative of Chess Olympiad 2022 was the narrative of India emerging as a global leader in cultural diplomacy - a soft power approach that is shaped by aesthetics. In dissecting the intricate interplay between mass communication, aesthetics, and societal identity formation, this study elucidates the transformative role of these strategies during the Chess Olympiad 2022, highlighting their profound implications within the socio-cultural landscape.

Navigating the currents of coastal narratives in search of sustainable futures

In the face of rapid, consequential changes in coastal conditions, coastal communities and regions must make decisions to address these changes and negotiate pathways towards more sustainable futures. Making just and equitable decisions requires engaging the affected population and influential stakeholders in the process. These processes can be improved by considering and engaging with shared narratives present across both time and location. This paper reviews exemplary instances in which narratives have been employed in facilitating decisions in coastal regions, in particular, future-facing-narratives that reflect the social landscape and dynamics operating in parallel with environmental and geographical conditions. Recognizing and learning from these narratives deepens and facilitates making informed, meaningful decisions on complex, contested, value-laden issues facing coastal communities. This paper argues that decisions at scales from local-to-national can be improved by considering shared narratives of sustainability and social identity as central pillars of the negotiation around both governance processes and desirable outcomes.

Sacred and Cursed Bodies: The Necropolitics in the Suharto Regime’s Politics of Memory

ABSTRACT The article investigates the Suharto rule regime’s use of necropolitics to construct Indonesia’s memory of the 1965–66 mass murders. These memory politics were based on the anti-communist myth, which was the basis of the memory formation and creation of positive and negative heroes closely related to political changes. The regime used the bodies of generals who were killed during the attempted coup for political purposes, thus permanently anchoring this image in Indonesian society’s space and memory. Herein, the image of the generals’ bodies is juxtaposed with that of the victims’ bodies, which are still cursed and excluded from official Indonesian history. These necropolitics served the Suharto regime’s various interests of power, knowledge, and the clash between sacred and cursed bodies. Thus, the generals’ and victims’ bodies enhanced Suharto’s credibility. In this context, the generals’ bodies are treated as sacred, while the victims’ bodies are considered to be cursed, but both are causative agents of the development of the regime’s historical narrative, collective memory, and national identity.

War of Narratives

This paper explores the intricate strategic narratives that China employs in its policy towards Taiwan. Through concentric analyses, it dissects China’s narratives towards Taiwan at three levels: system-level narratives, identity narratives and issue narratives. At the systemic level, China’s narrative aims to position Taiwan’s status under the broader goal of national unity and territorial integrity, emphasising the one-China policy and opposing external intervention. Identity narratives delve into shared history, culture, and nationalism to reinforce claims to Taiwan as part of China’s inherent identity and destiny. Issue narratives, on the other hand, focus on interpreting specific events, portraying reunification with Taiwan as legitimate, inevitable and a matter of national pride. This paper also mentions counter-narratives in Taiwan that emphasise Taiwan’s democratic values, unique identity and the challenges posed by China’s hard-line policies. The analysis reveals how these narratives contribute to increasing China’s international influence, undermining Taiwan’s legitimacy, and fuelling domestic nationalism, while also potentially influencing strategic responses across the region and around the world.

Becoming a Graduate in a Refugee Camp: Exploring Identity Positioning Through Higher Education

This article discusses the use of multiple identities in narratives by refugees engaged in higher education paths at Kakuma camp (Kenya). Following the Positioning theory, we explored identity displays in narratives collected through semi-structured interviews. The analysis deepens 5 narratives which had been considered exemplary to showcase the transformative valence of higher education. Different identity positioning was analyzed looking at before and after graduation as a crucial episode. Results showed three different narratives, and a range of diverse identity positions: the first narrative is about becoming a community leader, which responds to the very aim of the diploma course; the second narrative is about becoming successful, prevalently as professionals and as community members; and the third one concerns women perspective about an emancipatory and empowering educational path that challenges the status quo. This study contributes to the analysis of refugees’ identities from a critical perspective that challenges stereotyped notions by showing the use of narratives to mobilize and display multi-faceted selves.

An "integration" of professional identity formation among rural physicians experiencing an interplay between their professional and personal identities.

The present understanding of professional identity formation is problematic since it underrepresents minority physicians and potentially excludes their professional identity formation experiences. Rural physicians are expected to have similar underrepresented aspects as minority physicians because of their specific sociocultural contexts and consequent private-professional intersection, which lead to ethical complexities. Therefore, to bridge this research gap, we interviewed 12 early- to mid-career Japanese physicians working in rural areas and explored their experiences. Through a narrative analysis guided by Figured Worlds theory, we analysed the data by focusing on the vocabulary, expressions, and metaphors participants used to describe their experiences. A central theme emerged concerning how the rural physicians configurated their personal versus professional participation in their local communities. Further, their identity narratives varied regarding how they constructed their identities, rural communities, and relationships as well as their identity formation ideals and strategies to achieve them. Informed by 'Big Questions' concerning worldview framework, we delineated four identity narratives as prototypes to describe how they participated in their communities. These identity narratives provide a preliminary understanding of how diverse identity formation is for rural physicians. In addition, our findings exposed the current professional identity formation framework as potentially biased towards single forms of participation in monolithic communities, overlooking complicated forms of participation in multiple communities. We argue that applying frameworks and concepts to capture these multiple forms of participation as well as revisiting the 'discourse of integration' are necessary steps to overcome the limitation of the current understanding of professional identity formation.

“You’re free from just a girl or a boy”: Nonbinary children’s understanding of their gender

Background In recent years, research on gender diversity in early childhood has increased significantly. However, much of the published literature still focuses on children whose experiences align with binary gender norms, inadvertently excluding nonbinary experiences from analysis. Aims We seek to explore how nonbinary children, aged five to eight, perceive and understand their gender modality and experiences. Methods Nine American nonbinary children were interviewed using a semi-structured approach, which included two book readings, a drawing activity, and approximately 23 pre-determined questions. Inductive reflexive thematic analysis was utilized for developing, analyzing, and interpreting patterns across a qualitative dataset. All authors engaged in various aspects of reflexivity throughout the process, including personal, functional, and disciplinary reflexivity. Analysis We constructed five themes, which were evident across the accounts of participating children. The first one, Being nonbinary has different meanings for different people, illustrates the diverse interpretations of nonbinary identities. Gender is hard to describe but my pronouns help me make sense of it, highlights the challenges of explaining gender, yet pronouns help participants lucidly put their and others’ gender into words. People can change their gender for good or just for a little while, reflect participants’ view of gender as dynamic and fluid. “I have the agency to decide who I am with a little help of others”: feeling, learning, choosing and telling, explores participants’ journey in adopting the label “nonbinary”. Lastly, Being nonbinary is both easy and hard: easy because I am myself, hard because of other people, depicts the multifaceted experiences of being nonbinary, from the affirmation to bullying. Discussion In an era marked by a contentious political climate and ongoing debates about trans/nonbinary individuals, these young children defy conventional norms and establish themselves as active architects of their identity narratives, driven by their agency and self-determination.

Similar or different? An analysis of the organisational values expressed by public and private Turkish universities

AbstractDespite the fact that organisational values play a pivotal role within organisations and allow for a broad differentiation between universities, little is known about the organisational values universities select to pursue, and the factors impacting the selection of specific values. Therefore, we aim in this study to explore what type of organisational values universities express in their identity claims, and whether the institutional control (public vs private) affects value selection. We analysed the mission statements (i.e., identity narratives) of 169 Turkish universities using an a priori coding approach. The results indicate that public and private universities express similar value profiles and address different pressures from stakeholders by communicating a hybrid set of values.

Embracing Complexity and the Need for Inclusive Belongings

ABSTRACT It is an acutely tragic time for many Jewish people who have for decades shared Eyal Rozmarin’s commitment to working for peace in Israel/Palestine. Rozmarin importantly emphasizes the many ties that bind people, often unconsciously, to collectivities, especially the ways in which nation states, or birthplaces, provide identity narratives that unite, or sometimes, discomfort, us. However, it is not so uncommon for people to have fractured belongings, as life experiences complicate our ties to past identifications and attachments. In this essay I discuss the historic complexity of Jewish ties to Israel, including my own. I note that Jewish criticisms of Israel’s dispossession of Palestinians, which have always existed from well before the creation of the state of Israel, are continually dismissed by allowing only one narrative to be addressed, that of political Zionism. All other attempts to criticize Israel’s refusal to contemplate justice for native Palestinians is spuriously undermined as antisemitism. Yet today, more Jewish people are joining with others who are not only currently devastated by Israel’s genocidal aggression in Gaza, but also demanding equal rights and freedom for everyone now residing in Israel/Palestine.

Fiona Volpe: A New Perspective on James Bond's Iconic <em>Femme Fatale</em>

While narratives of gender politics and female identity in Western visual culture have become more dynamic with the passage of time, one of the most contentious spheres of discussion in mass media surrounds that of Ian Fleming’s ultimate fictional creation, James Bond. Female sexuality and gender politics in the Bond universe has been robustly, and rightfully, scrutinised by academic and casual spectators for at least 50 of the 70 years since his inception. Yet, one of the most enduring characters in the cinematic canon has not yet been given this discerning treatment, in earnest. Originally called "Fiona Kelly" by screenwriters Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, Fiona Volpe was portrayed by Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi-Solomon in Terence Young’s 1965 film adaptation of Thunderball. In November 2017, I had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Paluzzi-Solomon for a now-abandoned book concept. As one of the few actresses from the Sean Connery-era who are still living, she was remarkably forthcoming regarding her professional and personal experiences on set. Without pride or prejudice, Mrs. Paluzzi-Solomon’s account proved to be not only to be illuminating in and of itself as an interview, but also served as a foundation to better understand the origins, development, and public reception of the gold standard femme fatale of the Bond films. This article will explore the character of Fiona Volpe, her origins, plot function, and legacy, from the unique perspective of the woman who brought her to life.

Children’s narrative identity formation: Towards a childist narrative theology of praxis

This article explores children’s narrative identity formation and the impact of adult–child relationships on shaping a child’s narrative. The formation of identity in all children is vulnerable to a culture of ‘adultism’, wherein the authority wielded by adults can potentially subject children to abuse and neglect. Consequently, adultism has the aptitude to hinder the constructive development of a life-affirming identity in children. The primary objective of this article is to develop a childist narrative theology of praxis methodology, aimed at raising consciousness and educating adults on both life-denying and life-giving ways of engaging in the process of children’s narrative identity formation.To achieve this goal, the methodology is developed by adapting Denise Ackermann’s ‘feminist theology of praxis’ to focus specifically on children. The application of feminist theory principles is deemed relevant to the social standing of children as it aligns with the broader goal of liberating oppressed groups, whether women or children. Additionally, John Wall’s work is employed to elucidate the terms ‘childist’ and ‘childism’ as interpretive frameworks. Positioned within the scientific domain of Practical Theology, this study seeks to transform conditions that impede human flourishing into opportunities for positive change.The research objectives determine that a literature review will be suitable to gather essential information for the formulation of a childist narrative theology of praxis. This review, characterised as explorative and descriptive, is conducted within the field of Practical Theology.Contribution: The significance of this study is underscored by its exploration and description of the pastoral functions of consciousness, awareness-raising, and education concerning adult–child relations. By scrutinising these pastoral functions, the emphasis is placed on the proactive, preventive, and universal aspects of pastoral care in the context of children, thereby contributing valuable insights to the discourse.