Dan P. McAdams
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176933
- eISBN:
- 9780199786787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176933.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter begins with an account of the life of Bob Love, a professional basketball star from the early 1970s who struggled for years with a debilitating speech impediment only to emerge, in his ...
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This chapter begins with an account of the life of Bob Love, a professional basketball star from the early 1970s who struggled for years with a debilitating speech impediment only to emerge, in his midlife years, as a corporate spokesman. Love's case provides a moving account of personal redemption and, more importantly, introduces the general idea that people tend to construct stories about their lives in order to provide their lives with unity, purpose, and meaning. Drawing from twenty years of research and theory in personality and developmental psychology, cognitive science, and the narrative study of lives, the chapter traces the development of life stories from the emergence of a sense of self in the second year of life to the revision of life narratives in midlife. The importance of the social audience for a life story is illustrated through the case of former American President Ronald Reagan.Less
This chapter begins with an account of the life of Bob Love, a professional basketball star from the early 1970s who struggled for years with a debilitating speech impediment only to emerge, in his midlife years, as a corporate spokesman. Love's case provides a moving account of personal redemption and, more importantly, introduces the general idea that people tend to construct stories about their lives in order to provide their lives with unity, purpose, and meaning. Drawing from twenty years of research and theory in personality and developmental psychology, cognitive science, and the narrative study of lives, the chapter traces the development of life stories from the emergence of a sense of self in the second year of life to the revision of life narratives in midlife. The importance of the social audience for a life story is illustrated through the case of former American President Ronald Reagan.
Dan P. McAdams
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176933
- eISBN:
- 9780199786787
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176933.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Drawing from the author's psychological research on especially generative (that is, caring and productive) midlife American adults and on a reading of American cultural history and literature, this ...
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Drawing from the author's psychological research on especially generative (that is, caring and productive) midlife American adults and on a reading of American cultural history and literature, this book identifies a prototypical story of the good life that many Americans employ to make sense of who they are, who they have been, and who they will be in the future. The central theme in this story is redemption — the deliverance from suffering to a positive status or outcome. Empirical research suggests that highly generative American adults are much more likely than their less generative counterparts to construe their lives as tales of redemption. Redemptive life stories promote psychological well-being, physical health, and the adult's commitment to making a positive contribution to society. But stories of redemption are as much cultural texts as they are individual psychological constructions. From the spiritual autobiographies composed by the Massachusetts Bay Puritans to the most recent episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show, common scripts for the redemptive self may be found in religious accounts of conversion and atonement, the rags-to-riches stories of the American dream, and canonical cultural narratives about personal liberation, freedom, and recovery. The book examines the psychological and cultural dynamics of redemptive life narratives, including the role of American religion and self-help as sources for the construction of life stories and the broad similarities, as well as the striking differences in how African-American and Euro-American adults construct redemptive stories of the self. For all their psychological and cultural power, redemptive life stories sometimes reveal important limitations in American identity. For example, some versions of the redemptive self underscore the naïve expectation that suffering will always be overcome and the arrogance of seeing one's own life as the living out of a personal manifest destiny.Less
Drawing from the author's psychological research on especially generative (that is, caring and productive) midlife American adults and on a reading of American cultural history and literature, this book identifies a prototypical story of the good life that many Americans employ to make sense of who they are, who they have been, and who they will be in the future. The central theme in this story is redemption — the deliverance from suffering to a positive status or outcome. Empirical research suggests that highly generative American adults are much more likely than their less generative counterparts to construe their lives as tales of redemption. Redemptive life stories promote psychological well-being, physical health, and the adult's commitment to making a positive contribution to society. But stories of redemption are as much cultural texts as they are individual psychological constructions. From the spiritual autobiographies composed by the Massachusetts Bay Puritans to the most recent episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show, common scripts for the redemptive self may be found in religious accounts of conversion and atonement, the rags-to-riches stories of the American dream, and canonical cultural narratives about personal liberation, freedom, and recovery. The book examines the psychological and cultural dynamics of redemptive life narratives, including the role of American religion and self-help as sources for the construction of life stories and the broad similarities, as well as the striking differences in how African-American and Euro-American adults construct redemptive stories of the self. For all their psychological and cultural power, redemptive life stories sometimes reveal important limitations in American identity. For example, some versions of the redemptive self underscore the naïve expectation that suffering will always be overcome and the arrogance of seeing one's own life as the living out of a personal manifest destiny.
Dan P. McAdams
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176933
- eISBN:
- 9780199786787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176933.003.0011
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter places research and theory on the redemptive self into a larger conceptual context that links personality and culture. The redemptive self is a particular kind of life story, and life ...
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This chapter places research and theory on the redemptive self into a larger conceptual context that links personality and culture. The redemptive self is a particular kind of life story, and life stories exist as one of three different levels of human personality. At Level 1, dispositional traits (e.g., extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness) sketch out a broad outline of psychological individuality. At Level 2, characteristic adaptations (e.g., motives, goals, strategies, roles, and other socially and temporally contextualized features of personality) fill in the details of psychological individuality. At Level 3, internalized and evolving life stories (e.g., the redemptive self) spell out what a person thinks his or her life means in the overall, providing an understanding of how the person makes meaning and finds coherence in life. Culture has minimal impact on traits, substantially more impact on people's characteristic adaptations, and maximal impact on life stories, in that culture provides individuals with a menu of images, themes, plots, characters, and metaphors for constructing a narrative of the self.Less
This chapter places research and theory on the redemptive self into a larger conceptual context that links personality and culture. The redemptive self is a particular kind of life story, and life stories exist as one of three different levels of human personality. At Level 1, dispositional traits (e.g., extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness) sketch out a broad outline of psychological individuality. At Level 2, characteristic adaptations (e.g., motives, goals, strategies, roles, and other socially and temporally contextualized features of personality) fill in the details of psychological individuality. At Level 3, internalized and evolving life stories (e.g., the redemptive self) spell out what a person thinks his or her life means in the overall, providing an understanding of how the person makes meaning and finds coherence in life. Culture has minimal impact on traits, substantially more impact on people's characteristic adaptations, and maximal impact on life stories, in that culture provides individuals with a menu of images, themes, plots, characters, and metaphors for constructing a narrative of the self.
Wendy Haight, Teresa Ostler, James Black, and Linda Kingery
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326055
- eISBN:
- 9780199864461
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326055.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Communities and Organizations
In the late 20th and early 21st century United States, the production and misuse of methamphetamine was a growing and urgent public health, criminal justice, and child welfare problem affecting whole ...
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In the late 20th and early 21st century United States, the production and misuse of methamphetamine was a growing and urgent public health, criminal justice, and child welfare problem affecting whole families and communities, particularly in rural areas. Yet, child welfare professionals, social workers, educators, and others working within rural areas had little systematic, descriptive data on which to build effective interventions for the growing numbers of children affected by methamphetamine misuse. This book describes a program of mixed methods research combining strategies from developmental and child clinical psychology, psychiatry, and ethnography to examine the psychological functioning of rural children from methamphetamine-involved families. Participants were twenty-nine children in foster care because of parental methamphetamine misuse, four mothers recovering from methamphetamine addiction, seven foster parents of children from methamphetamine-involved families, and twenty-eight knowledgeable rural professionals (child welfare and law enforcement professionals, substance abuse and mental health providers and educators). Children whose parents abuse methamphetamine are often exposed to toxic chemicals, violence, criminal behavior, and neglect as well as physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Many school-aged children in foster care because of parental methamphetamine misuse have high levels of trauma symptoms and behavior problems. Descriptive information on the contexts in which children are reared, participant observation, psychological testing, and in-depth interviews with children, in conjunction with existing research were used to develop and pilot test an intervention — Life Story Intervention — for rural children in foster care because of parent substance misuse.Less
In the late 20th and early 21st century United States, the production and misuse of methamphetamine was a growing and urgent public health, criminal justice, and child welfare problem affecting whole families and communities, particularly in rural areas. Yet, child welfare professionals, social workers, educators, and others working within rural areas had little systematic, descriptive data on which to build effective interventions for the growing numbers of children affected by methamphetamine misuse. This book describes a program of mixed methods research combining strategies from developmental and child clinical psychology, psychiatry, and ethnography to examine the psychological functioning of rural children from methamphetamine-involved families. Participants were twenty-nine children in foster care because of parental methamphetamine misuse, four mothers recovering from methamphetamine addiction, seven foster parents of children from methamphetamine-involved families, and twenty-eight knowledgeable rural professionals (child welfare and law enforcement professionals, substance abuse and mental health providers and educators). Children whose parents abuse methamphetamine are often exposed to toxic chemicals, violence, criminal behavior, and neglect as well as physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Many school-aged children in foster care because of parental methamphetamine misuse have high levels of trauma symptoms and behavior problems. Descriptive information on the contexts in which children are reared, participant observation, psychological testing, and in-depth interviews with children, in conjunction with existing research were used to develop and pilot test an intervention — Life Story Intervention — for rural children in foster care because of parent substance misuse.
Bonnie McElhinny, Valerie Damasco, Shirley Yeung, Angela F. De Ocampo, Monina Febria, Christianne Collantes, and Jason Salonga
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195327359
- eISBN:
- 9780199870639
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327359.003.0006
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
For many immigrants to Canada, including Filipino Canadian immigrants, a discontinuous narrative about one's professional life is the norm; many immigrants end up working in jobs different than those ...
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For many immigrants to Canada, including Filipino Canadian immigrants, a discontinuous narrative about one's professional life is the norm; many immigrants end up working in jobs different than those for which they were trained in their homeland. In this chapter, we undertake a study of life stories told by Filipino Canadians, with particular attention paid to the ways in which they talk about their work histories, and with particular attention to what constitutes coherence for these speakers. What constitutes ‘continuous’ work experiences, ‘agency', and ‘adequate’ explanations of interest in a particular job are often different for immigrants than for native‐born middle class speakers.Less
For many immigrants to Canada, including Filipino Canadian immigrants, a discontinuous narrative about one's professional life is the norm; many immigrants end up working in jobs different than those for which they were trained in their homeland. In this chapter, we undertake a study of life stories told by Filipino Canadians, with particular attention paid to the ways in which they talk about their work histories, and with particular attention to what constitutes coherence for these speakers. What constitutes ‘continuous’ work experiences, ‘agency', and ‘adequate’ explanations of interest in a particular job are often different for immigrants than for native‐born middle class speakers.
Lowell Edmunds
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691165127
- eISBN:
- 9781400874224
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165127.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Folk Literature
This chapter turns to a comparison of the myth of Helen with “Abduction” as defined in Chapter 1. It reconstructs the myth by outlining the stages of Helen's life—her birth, her childhood, and so ...
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This chapter turns to a comparison of the myth of Helen with “Abduction” as defined in Chapter 1. It reconstructs the myth by outlining the stages of Helen's life—her birth, her childhood, and so forth—and of episodes, which contain scenes of relatively independent actions, such as her abduction. Besides the events of Helen's life, the chapter also discusses the men most closely connected to her story, above all Menelaus and Paris. In addition, this chapter takes account of variants, recording and discussing them as they bear on the outline of Helen's life story. For this purpose, the chapter is guided by the principle that what is latest in the history of the sources may be earliest in the history of the myth.Less
This chapter turns to a comparison of the myth of Helen with “Abduction” as defined in Chapter 1. It reconstructs the myth by outlining the stages of Helen's life—her birth, her childhood, and so forth—and of episodes, which contain scenes of relatively independent actions, such as her abduction. Besides the events of Helen's life, the chapter also discusses the men most closely connected to her story, above all Menelaus and Paris. In addition, this chapter takes account of variants, recording and discussing them as they bear on the outline of Helen's life story. For this purpose, the chapter is guided by the principle that what is latest in the history of the sources may be earliest in the history of the myth.
Laura A. King, Chad M. Burton, and Aaron C. Geise
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326789
- eISBN:
- 9780199870356
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326789.003.0016
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
What makes a life good has been a topic of concern for human beings throughout the ages. Good lives may be thought of as truly exemplary in some way in terms of fulfillment, moral character, health, ...
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What makes a life good has been a topic of concern for human beings throughout the ages. Good lives may be thought of as truly exemplary in some way in terms of fulfillment, moral character, health, success, or excellence. In contemporary political discourse, some have asserted that the phrase “good gay life” is somehow an oxymoron. However, life experience and empirical evidence suggest otherwise. This chapter traces the narrative reflections of these virtues in the coming-out stories shared by a sample of 107 gay men and lesbians.Less
What makes a life good has been a topic of concern for human beings throughout the ages. Good lives may be thought of as truly exemplary in some way in terms of fulfillment, moral character, health, success, or excellence. In contemporary political discourse, some have asserted that the phrase “good gay life” is somehow an oxymoron. However, life experience and empirical evidence suggest otherwise. This chapter traces the narrative reflections of these virtues in the coming-out stories shared by a sample of 107 gay men and lesbians.
Phillip L. Hammack
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394467
- eISBN:
- 9780199863488
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394467.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter examines the personal narratives of Palestinian–Israeli youth using two valuable theoretical concepts. First, it calls upon the idea of hyphenated selves, recently developed by Michelle ...
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This chapter examines the personal narratives of Palestinian–Israeli youth using two valuable theoretical concepts. First, it calls upon the idea of hyphenated selves, recently developed by Michelle Fine, Selcuk Sirin, and their colleagues in a pathbreaking study of Muslim–American youth post-9/11. Second, it employs Elli Schachter's (2004, 2005) conception of an identity configuration to examine the narratives of Palestinian–Israeli youth as they negotiate disparate discourses in Israeli society. Both of these theoretical frameworks provide a useful way of making meaning of the life story narratives of Palestinian–Israeli youth—narratives that are uncomfortably positioned within the larger identity politics of Israel and Palestine.Less
This chapter examines the personal narratives of Palestinian–Israeli youth using two valuable theoretical concepts. First, it calls upon the idea of hyphenated selves, recently developed by Michelle Fine, Selcuk Sirin, and their colleagues in a pathbreaking study of Muslim–American youth post-9/11. Second, it employs Elli Schachter's (2004, 2005) conception of an identity configuration to examine the narratives of Palestinian–Israeli youth as they negotiate disparate discourses in Israeli society. Both of these theoretical frameworks provide a useful way of making meaning of the life story narratives of Palestinian–Israeli youth—narratives that are uncomfortably positioned within the larger identity politics of Israel and Palestine.
Irene Renzenbrink
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199546695
- eISBN:
- 9780191730214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546695.003.0012
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Palliative Medicine Research, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making
This chapter discusses and examines the life story, and it looks at review work that describes practical methods and models that have been used in different disciplinary settings and cultural ...
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This chapter discusses and examines the life story, and it looks at review work that describes practical methods and models that have been used in different disciplinary settings and cultural contexts. Some of the countries examined include Canada, England, and New Zealand. Most of the focus in this chapter is on the emotional challenges of such work, the need to remain cautious about the increasing technology surrounding reminiscence work at the end of life, and the need for staff to receive training, supervision, and support.Less
This chapter discusses and examines the life story, and it looks at review work that describes practical methods and models that have been used in different disciplinary settings and cultural contexts. Some of the countries examined include Canada, England, and New Zealand. Most of the focus in this chapter is on the emotional challenges of such work, the need to remain cautious about the increasing technology surrounding reminiscence work at the end of life, and the need for staff to receive training, supervision, and support.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0010
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This concluding chapter discusses the need to rethink masculinity not only in America but in the Middle East as well. This rethinking is especially crucial, because so many Americans are, in fact, ...
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This concluding chapter discusses the need to rethink masculinity not only in America but in the Middle East as well. This rethinking is especially crucial, because so many Americans are, in fact, Islamophobic, carrying with them pernicious stereotypes about Middle Eastern men as particularly dangerous, loathsome, and fanatical. The main goal of the book is to provide a more realistic and humanizing portrayal of Middle Eastern men's lives, through a form of person-centered, empirically based ethnography that elucidates men's reproductive life stories, as told in their own words. Through such stories, people can come to appreciate Middle Eastern men not only as men but as good men, who are facing the twenty-first century in thoughtful, respectful, and locally moral ways.Less
This concluding chapter discusses the need to rethink masculinity not only in America but in the Middle East as well. This rethinking is especially crucial, because so many Americans are, in fact, Islamophobic, carrying with them pernicious stereotypes about Middle Eastern men as particularly dangerous, loathsome, and fanatical. The main goal of the book is to provide a more realistic and humanizing portrayal of Middle Eastern men's lives, through a form of person-centered, empirically based ethnography that elucidates men's reproductive life stories, as told in their own words. Through such stories, people can come to appreciate Middle Eastern men not only as men but as good men, who are facing the twenty-first century in thoughtful, respectful, and locally moral ways.
Lynne Dale Halamish and Doron Hermoni
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195325379
- eISBN:
- 9780199999811
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325379.001.0001
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making, Palliative Medicine and Older People
This book is a practical and direct handbook for grieving. It presents 30 stories from real life that examine how we grieve and how we can help those who grieve—whether the griever is oneself, ...
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This book is a practical and direct handbook for grieving. It presents 30 stories from real life that examine how we grieve and how we can help those who grieve—whether the griever is oneself, someone we care about, or a client or patient. The authors present vignettes from practice that show how death—lingering, unexpected, violent, or self-inflicted—and the loss of a relationship—to oneself or with a child, sibling, parent, mate, grandparent, or friend—give life to grief, together with the process by which each person fully encounters his or her grief. Each story is no more than two or three pages, and the authors follow each one with a short summary of its teachings and a selection of annotated recent references for those who wish to read more about a topic.Less
This book is a practical and direct handbook for grieving. It presents 30 stories from real life that examine how we grieve and how we can help those who grieve—whether the griever is oneself, someone we care about, or a client or patient. The authors present vignettes from practice that show how death—lingering, unexpected, violent, or self-inflicted—and the loss of a relationship—to oneself or with a child, sibling, parent, mate, grandparent, or friend—give life to grief, together with the process by which each person fully encounters his or her grief. Each story is no more than two or three pages, and the authors follow each one with a short summary of its teachings and a selection of annotated recent references for those who wish to read more about a topic.
Brian Schiff, Mathilde Toulemonde, and Carolina Porto
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199732074
- eISBN:
- 9780199933457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732074.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter argues that hybrid identities are a social construction, embedded in the cultural world, and worked out over time in concert with others. By placing relationships at the center of our ...
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This chapter argues that hybrid identities are a social construction, embedded in the cultural world, and worked out over time in concert with others. By placing relationships at the center of our understanding of how culture and identity meet, one can begin to describe the processes that structure mixed identities. Mixed identity is created, nourished, and sustained in close social relationships. Using interviews with two Muslim-Jewish couples, the authors describe the dynamics of mixed identity in the context of long-term committed relationships. In particular, the chapter focuses on the connection between the “couple’s story,” how the couple works out a common story, and personal identity. The authors argue that the plotline of the couple’s story is a critical point of reference in the formation of personal identity, opening or closing possibilities for self identification.Less
This chapter argues that hybrid identities are a social construction, embedded in the cultural world, and worked out over time in concert with others. By placing relationships at the center of our understanding of how culture and identity meet, one can begin to describe the processes that structure mixed identities. Mixed identity is created, nourished, and sustained in close social relationships. Using interviews with two Muslim-Jewish couples, the authors describe the dynamics of mixed identity in the context of long-term committed relationships. In particular, the chapter focuses on the connection between the “couple’s story,” how the couple works out a common story, and personal identity. The authors argue that the plotline of the couple’s story is a critical point of reference in the formation of personal identity, opening or closing possibilities for self identification.
Lisa Lassell Hallstrom
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195116489
- eISBN:
- 9780199851621
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195116489.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
A note is always seen at the beginning of all the spiritual biographies written about Ānandamayī Mā to express how the author apologizes for situations wherein the reader may arrive at ...
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A note is always seen at the beginning of all the spiritual biographies written about Ānandamayī Mā to express how the author apologizes for situations wherein the reader may arrive at misunderstandings about Mā's life. The authors of such biographies feel that it is their responsibility to share information regarding Mā and her life so that the readers may come to realize Mā's greatness and even experience bliss. Thoroughly analysing the life story of Ānandamayī Mā provides the opportunity to examine the sacred biography of someone who lived in a relatively contemporary setting. This chapter looks into the different parts of Mā's life as told by her devotees, in order to demonstrate how Mā interacted with her devotees and how this impacted the devotees' lives.Less
A note is always seen at the beginning of all the spiritual biographies written about Ānandamayī Mā to express how the author apologizes for situations wherein the reader may arrive at misunderstandings about Mā's life. The authors of such biographies feel that it is their responsibility to share information regarding Mā and her life so that the readers may come to realize Mā's greatness and even experience bliss. Thoroughly analysing the life story of Ānandamayī Mā provides the opportunity to examine the sacred biography of someone who lived in a relatively contemporary setting. This chapter looks into the different parts of Mā's life as told by her devotees, in order to demonstrate how Mā interacted with her devotees and how this impacted the devotees' lives.
Peter Brooks
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151588
- eISBN:
- 9781400839698
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151588.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
“We know that it matters crucially to be able to say who we are, why we are here, and where we are going,” this book claims. Many of us are also uncomfortably aware that we cannot provide a ...
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“We know that it matters crucially to be able to say who we are, why we are here, and where we are going,” this book claims. Many of us are also uncomfortably aware that we cannot provide a convincing account of our identity to others or even ourselves. Despite, or because of that failure, we keep searching for identity, making it up, trying to authenticate it, and inventing excuses for our unpersuasive stories about it. This wide-ranging book draws on literature, law, and psychoanalysis to examine important aspects of the emergence of identity as a peculiarly modern preoccupation. In particular, the book addresses the social, legal, and personal anxieties provoked by the rise of individualism and selfhood in modern culture. Paying special attention to Rousseau, Freud, and Proust, the book also looks at the intersection of individual life stories with the law, and considers the creation of an introspective project that culminates in psychoanalysis. In doing so, it offers new insights into the questions and clues about who we think we are.Less
“We know that it matters crucially to be able to say who we are, why we are here, and where we are going,” this book claims. Many of us are also uncomfortably aware that we cannot provide a convincing account of our identity to others or even ourselves. Despite, or because of that failure, we keep searching for identity, making it up, trying to authenticate it, and inventing excuses for our unpersuasive stories about it. This wide-ranging book draws on literature, law, and psychoanalysis to examine important aspects of the emergence of identity as a peculiarly modern preoccupation. In particular, the book addresses the social, legal, and personal anxieties provoked by the rise of individualism and selfhood in modern culture. Paying special attention to Rousseau, Freud, and Proust, the book also looks at the intersection of individual life stories with the law, and considers the creation of an introspective project that culminates in psychoanalysis. In doing so, it offers new insights into the questions and clues about who we think we are.
Gareth Griffiths
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199253487
- eISBN:
- 9780191698156
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253487.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines the life stories and biographies of the colonized people and Christian missionary converts produced from 1870s to the 1920s in East and Central Africa. The close analyses of the ...
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This chapter examines the life stories and biographies of the colonized people and Christian missionary converts produced from 1870s to the 1920s in East and Central Africa. The close analyses of the recaptive life stories and conversion narrative reveal that the voices of the colonized subjects cannot be completely suppressed even in the most unfavourable circumstances. The text of the narratives also exposes the silenced voices of the converted colonized subjects.Less
This chapter examines the life stories and biographies of the colonized people and Christian missionary converts produced from 1870s to the 1920s in East and Central Africa. The close analyses of the recaptive life stories and conversion narrative reveal that the voices of the colonized subjects cannot be completely suppressed even in the most unfavourable circumstances. The text of the narratives also exposes the silenced voices of the converted colonized subjects.
Wendy Haight, Teresa Ostler, James Black, and Linda Kingery
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326055
- eISBN:
- 9780199864461
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326055.003.0013
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Communities and Organizations
The design and implementation of Life Story Intervention involved close collaborations with rural adults who worked in a professional capacity with children. This chapter presents the account of a ...
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The design and implementation of Life Story Intervention involved close collaborations with rural adults who worked in a professional capacity with children. This chapter presents the account of a community professional's experiences in conducting Life Story Intervention with two young adolescent boys in foster care because of their parents' methamphetamine misuse.Less
The design and implementation of Life Story Intervention involved close collaborations with rural adults who worked in a professional capacity with children. This chapter presents the account of a community professional's experiences in conducting Life Story Intervention with two young adolescent boys in foster care because of their parents' methamphetamine misuse.
Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748635986
- eISBN:
- 9780748671472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748635986.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Chapters 5 and 6 draw on the same corpus of material (individual interviews with German-speakers in Hungary and the Czech Republic) but in different ways and for different purposes. In this chapter, ...
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Chapters 5 and 6 draw on the same corpus of material (individual interviews with German-speakers in Hungary and the Czech Republic) but in different ways and for different purposes. In this chapter, the authors look closely at ways in which narrators make experiences with language an organizing/ structural element in their life stories: what is it about ‘my’ encounters with different languages – their evaluations, the times and places associated with their use, their possibilities and limitations/ constraints – that have made my ‘life’ what it (in my estimation) is or has become, as opposed to what it might have been?Less
Chapters 5 and 6 draw on the same corpus of material (individual interviews with German-speakers in Hungary and the Czech Republic) but in different ways and for different purposes. In this chapter, the authors look closely at ways in which narrators make experiences with language an organizing/ structural element in their life stories: what is it about ‘my’ encounters with different languages – their evaluations, the times and places associated with their use, their possibilities and limitations/ constraints – that have made my ‘life’ what it (in my estimation) is or has become, as opposed to what it might have been?
Perry N. Halkitis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199944972
- eISBN:
- 9780199352470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199944972.003.0002
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This chapter provides detailed information regarding the behavioural research program that was used to collect the data which informs the ideas explored in the book. The reader is introduced to the ...
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This chapter provides detailed information regarding the behavioural research program that was used to collect the data which informs the ideas explored in the book. The reader is introduced to the protocol and methodology that was undertaken to obtain these ethnographic, life history interviews. Also included is the sampling methodology and the interview guide. The qualitative methods of analysis, rooted in grounded theory and The Listening Guide, are explained next. Finally, the fifteen men interviewed for this project, all of whom are gay, long-term survivors of AIDS, are introduced and a brief overview of each of these men is provided, conveying information from their respective childhoods’ to the present. The life experiences of these men are suggested to be illustrative of the resilience of these men of the AIDS Generation.Less
This chapter provides detailed information regarding the behavioural research program that was used to collect the data which informs the ideas explored in the book. The reader is introduced to the protocol and methodology that was undertaken to obtain these ethnographic, life history interviews. Also included is the sampling methodology and the interview guide. The qualitative methods of analysis, rooted in grounded theory and The Listening Guide, are explained next. Finally, the fifteen men interviewed for this project, all of whom are gay, long-term survivors of AIDS, are introduced and a brief overview of each of these men is provided, conveying information from their respective childhoods’ to the present. The life experiences of these men are suggested to be illustrative of the resilience of these men of the AIDS Generation.
Caroline Bassett
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719073427
- eISBN:
- 9781781700907
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719073427.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter considers the role digital technologies might play in the constitution of contemporary identity, when this is understood in narrative terms as a life story and its narration. The life ...
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This chapter considers the role digital technologies might play in the constitution of contemporary identity, when this is understood in narrative terms as a life story and its narration. The life stories at the centre of this inquiry are those of a group of inmates of Ashworth Hospital, a secure institution for the criminally insane. This group participated in the making of Rehearsal of Memory, a piece of speculative software produced in collaboration with the artist Harwood with input from the art collective Mongrel, and others. Rehearsal takes the form of a navigable composite body made up of skin scans taken from the inmates, from Harwood, and from Ashworth staff. This body holds fragments of memory, experiences of life at Ashworth and other places, held as images, texts, and audio spots. Users of the artwork are invited to explore the body and its associated objects, but are only able to do so in ways allowed by the project architecture. This functions to organize the interactions between the body and its users in ways that tend to undermine the conventional relationships operating between the inmates of such institutions and the general public.Less
This chapter considers the role digital technologies might play in the constitution of contemporary identity, when this is understood in narrative terms as a life story and its narration. The life stories at the centre of this inquiry are those of a group of inmates of Ashworth Hospital, a secure institution for the criminally insane. This group participated in the making of Rehearsal of Memory, a piece of speculative software produced in collaboration with the artist Harwood with input from the art collective Mongrel, and others. Rehearsal takes the form of a navigable composite body made up of skin scans taken from the inmates, from Harwood, and from Ashworth staff. This body holds fragments of memory, experiences of life at Ashworth and other places, held as images, texts, and audio spots. Users of the artwork are invited to explore the body and its associated objects, but are only able to do so in ways allowed by the project architecture. This functions to organize the interactions between the body and its users in ways that tend to undermine the conventional relationships operating between the inmates of such institutions and the general public.
Phillip L. Hammack
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394467
- eISBN:
- 9780199863488
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394467.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Since the late 19th century, Jews and Arabs have been locked in an intractable battle for national recognition in a land of tremendous historical and geopolitical significance. While historians and ...
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Since the late 19th century, Jews and Arabs have been locked in an intractable battle for national recognition in a land of tremendous historical and geopolitical significance. While historians and political scientists have long analyzed the dynamics of this bitter conflict, rarely has an archaeology of the mind of those who reside within the matrix of conflict been attempted. This book not only offers a psychological analysis of the consequences of conflict for the psyche, it develops an innovative, compelling, and cross-disciplinary argument about the mutual constitution of culture and mind through the process of life-story construction. But the book pushes boundaries further through an analysis of two peace education programs designed to fundamentally alter the nature of young Israeli and Palestinian life stories. This book argues that these popular interventions, rooted in the idea of prejudice reduction through contact and the cultivation of “cosmopolitan” identities, are fundamentally flawed due to their refusal to deal with the actual political reality of young Israeli and Palestinian lives and their attempt to construct an alternative narrative of great hope but little resonance for Israelis and Palestinians. Grounded in over a century of literature that spans the social sciences, this book's analysis of young Israeli and Palestinian lives captures the complex, dynamic relationship among politics, history, and identity and offers a provocative and audacious proposal for psychology and peace education.Less
Since the late 19th century, Jews and Arabs have been locked in an intractable battle for national recognition in a land of tremendous historical and geopolitical significance. While historians and political scientists have long analyzed the dynamics of this bitter conflict, rarely has an archaeology of the mind of those who reside within the matrix of conflict been attempted. This book not only offers a psychological analysis of the consequences of conflict for the psyche, it develops an innovative, compelling, and cross-disciplinary argument about the mutual constitution of culture and mind through the process of life-story construction. But the book pushes boundaries further through an analysis of two peace education programs designed to fundamentally alter the nature of young Israeli and Palestinian life stories. This book argues that these popular interventions, rooted in the idea of prejudice reduction through contact and the cultivation of “cosmopolitan” identities, are fundamentally flawed due to their refusal to deal with the actual political reality of young Israeli and Palestinian lives and their attempt to construct an alternative narrative of great hope but little resonance for Israelis and Palestinians. Grounded in over a century of literature that spans the social sciences, this book's analysis of young Israeli and Palestinian lives captures the complex, dynamic relationship among politics, history, and identity and offers a provocative and audacious proposal for psychology and peace education.
