Cheryl Mattingly and Linda Garro (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520218246
- eISBN:
- 9780520935228
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520218246.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
Stories of illness and healing are often arresting in their power, illuminating practices and experiences that might otherwise remain obscure. What can be learned through a comparative look at the ...
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Stories of illness and healing are often arresting in their power, illuminating practices and experiences that might otherwise remain obscure. What can be learned through a comparative look at the range of narrative theories and styles of narrative analysis used by anthropologists to make sense of their ethnographic data? Do divergent strategies yield different understandings of the illness experience and healing practices? Does a focus on narrative detract from or conceal other, more fruitful avenues for exploration? Through the analysis of stories drawn from a variety of ethnographic contexts, the contributors to this book address such questions. The book unites medical anthropology and narrative analysis to illuminate how personal narrative shapes the architecture of illness and the life course it yields.Less
Stories of illness and healing are often arresting in their power, illuminating practices and experiences that might otherwise remain obscure. What can be learned through a comparative look at the range of narrative theories and styles of narrative analysis used by anthropologists to make sense of their ethnographic data? Do divergent strategies yield different understandings of the illness experience and healing practices? Does a focus on narrative detract from or conceal other, more fruitful avenues for exploration? Through the analysis of stories drawn from a variety of ethnographic contexts, the contributors to this book address such questions. The book unites medical anthropology and narrative analysis to illuminate how personal narrative shapes the architecture of illness and the life course it yields.
Jakob Lothe
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122555
- eISBN:
- 9780191671463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122555.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism, European Literature
This chapter focuses on Joseph Conrad's short story ‘The Secret Sharer’. The thematic tendency of Conrad criticism is evident in several of the most influential essays about ‘The Secret Sharer’. Such ...
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This chapter focuses on Joseph Conrad's short story ‘The Secret Sharer’. The thematic tendency of Conrad criticism is evident in several of the most influential essays about ‘The Secret Sharer’. Such discussions frequently employ terms such as ‘parable’, ‘archetype’, ‘symbol'/symbolic’, and ‘psychological’. The purpose of this chapter is to identify the main narrative characteristics and peculiarities of ‘The Secret Sharer’, to attempt to discern essential thematic functions of these characteristics, and to indicate how the ambiguous thematic of the short story is shaped through its interplay of narrative devices, functions, and effects. As one of Conrad's densest stories, ‘The Secret Sharer’ illustrates well his ability to use not only authorial but also personal narrative to achiever thematic pregnancy through textual concentration.Less
This chapter focuses on Joseph Conrad's short story ‘The Secret Sharer’. The thematic tendency of Conrad criticism is evident in several of the most influential essays about ‘The Secret Sharer’. Such discussions frequently employ terms such as ‘parable’, ‘archetype’, ‘symbol'/symbolic’, and ‘psychological’. The purpose of this chapter is to identify the main narrative characteristics and peculiarities of ‘The Secret Sharer’, to attempt to discern essential thematic functions of these characteristics, and to indicate how the ambiguous thematic of the short story is shaped through its interplay of narrative devices, functions, and effects. As one of Conrad's densest stories, ‘The Secret Sharer’ illustrates well his ability to use not only authorial but also personal narrative to achiever thematic pregnancy through textual concentration.
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/9780195394467.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter outlines the author's own research practice designed to address the theoretical questions about culture, narrative, and identity posed in Chapter 1. But this chapter cannot simply offer ...
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This chapter outlines the author's own research practice designed to address the theoretical questions about culture, narrative, and identity posed in Chapter 1. But this chapter cannot simply offer an account of detached research activity, for such is not the story of this project. In this type of project, the reflexivity of the researcher is essential. That is, he must unapologetically locate himself for the audience by telling his own personal narrative and considering the way in which his process of discovery was coconstructed by him and his young Israeli and Palestinian research participants.Less
This chapter outlines the author's own research practice designed to address the theoretical questions about culture, narrative, and identity posed in Chapter 1. But this chapter cannot simply offer an account of detached research activity, for such is not the story of this project. In this type of project, the reflexivity of the researcher is essential. That is, he must unapologetically locate himself for the audience by telling his own personal narrative and considering the way in which his process of discovery was coconstructed by him and his young Israeli and Palestinian research participants.
Michael N. Marsh
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199571505
- eISBN:
- 9780191722059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571505.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Theology
This chapter considers the manner in which authors have, themselves, elucidated gross phemomenologies of out-of-body (OB) and near-death (ND) experiences. This is most important in providing the ...
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This chapter considers the manner in which authors have, themselves, elucidated gross phemomenologies of out-of-body (OB) and near-death (ND) experiences. This is most important in providing the backdrop upon which thoughts and conclusions in regard to these phenomenological issues can be further developed in succeeding chapters. The outcome hinges on two major factors: authors' conceptions of the afterlife, and the problem of the acquisition or enhancement of psychical powers.Less
This chapter considers the manner in which authors have, themselves, elucidated gross phemomenologies of out-of-body (OB) and near-death (ND) experiences. This is most important in providing the backdrop upon which thoughts and conclusions in regard to these phenomenological issues can be further developed in succeeding chapters. The outcome hinges on two major factors: authors' conceptions of the afterlife, and the problem of the acquisition or enhancement of psychical powers.
Matthew P. Fink
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199753505
- eISBN:
- 9780199918805
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753505.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics, Financial Economics
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to describe the specific events that by design or good fortune have produced the long history of success of the mutual fund ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to describe the specific events that by design or good fortune have produced the long history of success of the mutual fund industry. The book differs from most industry histories in that much of it is a personal narrative. The book's discussion of developments since 1970 reflects personal firsthand experience. The chapter then briefly defines some terms used to describe pooled investment vehicles.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to describe the specific events that by design or good fortune have produced the long history of success of the mutual fund industry. The book differs from most industry histories in that much of it is a personal narrative. The book's discussion of developments since 1970 reflects personal firsthand experience. The chapter then briefly defines some terms used to describe pooled investment vehicles.
Sara Haslam
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719060557
- eISBN:
- 9781781700099
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719060557.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This book is about Ford Madox Ford, a hero of the modernist literary revolution. Ford is a fascinating and fundamental figure of the time; not only because, as a friend and critic of Ezra Pound and ...
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This book is about Ford Madox Ford, a hero of the modernist literary revolution. Ford is a fascinating and fundamental figure of the time; not only because, as a friend and critic of Ezra Pound and Joseph Conrad, editor of the English Review and author of The Good Soldier, he shaped the development of literary modernism. But, as the grandson of Ford Madox Brown and son of a German music critic, he also manifested formative links with mainland European culture and the visual arts. In Ford there is the chance to explore continuity in artistic life at the turn of the last century, as well as the more commonly identified pattern of crisis in the time. The argument throughout the book is that modernism possesses more than one face. Setting Ford in his cultural and historical context, the opening chapter debates the concept of fragmentation in modernism; later chapters discuss the notion of the personal narrative, and war writing. Ford's literary technique is studied comparatively and plot summaries of his major books (The Good Soldier and Parade's End) are provided, as is a brief biography.Less
This book is about Ford Madox Ford, a hero of the modernist literary revolution. Ford is a fascinating and fundamental figure of the time; not only because, as a friend and critic of Ezra Pound and Joseph Conrad, editor of the English Review and author of The Good Soldier, he shaped the development of literary modernism. But, as the grandson of Ford Madox Brown and son of a German music critic, he also manifested formative links with mainland European culture and the visual arts. In Ford there is the chance to explore continuity in artistic life at the turn of the last century, as well as the more commonly identified pattern of crisis in the time. The argument throughout the book is that modernism possesses more than one face. Setting Ford in his cultural and historical context, the opening chapter debates the concept of fragmentation in modernism; later chapters discuss the notion of the personal narrative, and war writing. Ford's literary technique is studied comparatively and plot summaries of his major books (The Good Soldier and Parade's End) are provided, as is a brief biography.
Matthew P. Fink
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195336450
- eISBN:
- 9780199868469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336450.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics, Financial Economics
Mutual funds have been phenomenally successful. More than 88 million Americans own fund shares. Mutual funds are the largest financial industry in the world, having assets of over $12 trillion. Since ...
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Mutual funds have been phenomenally successful. More than 88 million Americans own fund shares. Mutual funds are the largest financial industry in the world, having assets of over $12 trillion. Since the start of the modern industry in 1940, there have been constant predictions that funds' growth years are over. But the industry has continued to thrive. The book is a personal narrative describing the specific events that produced this long history of success and is the only modern history of the mutual fund industry.Less
Mutual funds have been phenomenally successful. More than 88 million Americans own fund shares. Mutual funds are the largest financial industry in the world, having assets of over $12 trillion. Since the start of the modern industry in 1940, there have been constant predictions that funds' growth years are over. But the industry has continued to thrive. The book is a personal narrative describing the specific events that produced this long history of success and is the only modern history of the mutual fund industry.
Kate Parker Horigan
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496817884
- eISBN:
- 9781496817921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496817884.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter begins with a personal narrative of Katrina, positioning the author as a survivor-ethnographer, and describes the book’s origins in Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston, a ...
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This chapter begins with a personal narrative of Katrina, positioning the author as a survivor-ethnographer, and describes the book’s origins in Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston, a survivor-centered documentation project. The chapter explains how theoretical approaches to personal narrative, social trauma, and public memory influence the model put forth here of “public disaster,” or the public dimensions of narrating and remembering large-scale disasters. It describes the appeals and challenges of circulating personal narratives, and makes the case that, adapted in a variety of genres, those narratives perpetuate negative stereotypes. Because scholars in folklore and related fields are equipped to study vernacular responses to tragedy, employ methods of discourse analysis, and understand contextualization of narratives, they can show how survivors integrate themselves into processes of narration and commemoration, and advocate for such integration in future publication and memorialization. The introduction concludes with a chapter summary.Less
This chapter begins with a personal narrative of Katrina, positioning the author as a survivor-ethnographer, and describes the book’s origins in Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston, a survivor-centered documentation project. The chapter explains how theoretical approaches to personal narrative, social trauma, and public memory influence the model put forth here of “public disaster,” or the public dimensions of narrating and remembering large-scale disasters. It describes the appeals and challenges of circulating personal narratives, and makes the case that, adapted in a variety of genres, those narratives perpetuate negative stereotypes. Because scholars in folklore and related fields are equipped to study vernacular responses to tragedy, employ methods of discourse analysis, and understand contextualization of narratives, they can show how survivors integrate themselves into processes of narration and commemoration, and advocate for such integration in future publication and memorialization. The introduction concludes with a chapter summary.
Kate Parker Horigan
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496817884
- eISBN:
- 9781496817921
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496817884.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
When survivors are seen as agents in their own stories, they will be seen as agents in their own recovery. A better grasp on the processes of narration and memory is critical for improved disaster ...
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When survivors are seen as agents in their own stories, they will be seen as agents in their own recovery. A better grasp on the processes of narration and memory is critical for improved disaster response because stories that are widely shared about disaster determine how communities recover. This book shows how the public understands and remembers large-scale disasters like Hurricane Katrina, discussing unique contexts in which personal narratives about the storm are shared: interviews with survivors, Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun, Josh Neufeld’s A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Trouble the Water, and public commemoration during the storm’s 10th anniversary in New Orleans. In each case, survivors initially present themselves in specific ways, counteracting negative stereotypes that characterize their communities. However, when adapted for public presentation, their stories get reduced back to stereotypes. As a result, people affected by Katrina continue to be seen in limited terms, as either undeserving of or incapable of managing recovery. This project is rooted in the author’s own experiences living in New Orleans before and after Katrina. But this is also a case study illustrating an ongoing problem and an innovative solution: survivors’ stories should be shared in a way that includes their own engagement with the processes of narrative production, circulation, and reception. In other words, we should know—when we hear the dramatic tale of disaster victims—what they think about how their story is being told to us.Less
When survivors are seen as agents in their own stories, they will be seen as agents in their own recovery. A better grasp on the processes of narration and memory is critical for improved disaster response because stories that are widely shared about disaster determine how communities recover. This book shows how the public understands and remembers large-scale disasters like Hurricane Katrina, discussing unique contexts in which personal narratives about the storm are shared: interviews with survivors, Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun, Josh Neufeld’s A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Trouble the Water, and public commemoration during the storm’s 10th anniversary in New Orleans. In each case, survivors initially present themselves in specific ways, counteracting negative stereotypes that characterize their communities. However, when adapted for public presentation, their stories get reduced back to stereotypes. As a result, people affected by Katrina continue to be seen in limited terms, as either undeserving of or incapable of managing recovery. This project is rooted in the author’s own experiences living in New Orleans before and after Katrina. But this is also a case study illustrating an ongoing problem and an innovative solution: survivors’ stories should be shared in a way that includes their own engagement with the processes of narrative production, circulation, and reception. In other words, we should know—when we hear the dramatic tale of disaster victims—what they think about how their story is being told to us.
Frances R. Aparicio
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042690
- eISBN:
- 9780252051555
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042690.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
I begin by identifying Intralatino/a writers and characters nationwide whose voices claim the need for their public acknowledgement and recognition. I define Intralatino/as as embodying multiple ...
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I begin by identifying Intralatino/a writers and characters nationwide whose voices claim the need for their public acknowledgement and recognition. I define Intralatino/as as embodying multiple Latin American nationalities and ethnicities, and anticipate for the reader the heterogeneous processes through which they negotiate their nationalities and reaffirm a sense of belonging and non-belonging within their family lives. By unveiling the temporality of Intralatino/a identities—that they are not new nor exceptional, but hidden in histories marked by segmented national frameworks—I argue for the need to render these subjectivities visible and public, and worthy of academic analysis. In terms of methodology, I highlight the tensions between, on the one hand, personal narrative, the anecdote, and poetry, which frame my reading of the twenty interviews that inform the book, and, on the other, the sociological impetus for categorizing and for identifying patterns and structures. I locate this book project centrally within the field of Latinx Studies amid questions of culture, identity, hybridity, and transnationalism. I also discuss Chicago as a city of Latinidad and highlight the ways in which the analysis paves the way for future studies about Intralatino/as in other Latino urban centers in the United States.Less
I begin by identifying Intralatino/a writers and characters nationwide whose voices claim the need for their public acknowledgement and recognition. I define Intralatino/as as embodying multiple Latin American nationalities and ethnicities, and anticipate for the reader the heterogeneous processes through which they negotiate their nationalities and reaffirm a sense of belonging and non-belonging within their family lives. By unveiling the temporality of Intralatino/a identities—that they are not new nor exceptional, but hidden in histories marked by segmented national frameworks—I argue for the need to render these subjectivities visible and public, and worthy of academic analysis. In terms of methodology, I highlight the tensions between, on the one hand, personal narrative, the anecdote, and poetry, which frame my reading of the twenty interviews that inform the book, and, on the other, the sociological impetus for categorizing and for identifying patterns and structures. I locate this book project centrally within the field of Latinx Studies amid questions of culture, identity, hybridity, and transnationalism. I also discuss Chicago as a city of Latinidad and highlight the ways in which the analysis paves the way for future studies about Intralatino/as in other Latino urban centers in the United States.
Alan Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719068300
- eISBN:
- 9781781702987
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719068300.003.0013
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This chapter examines several of Clarke's productions from the 1980s, exploring how his crucial themes, including the gap between personal narratives and state discourses, repetition and the ...
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This chapter examines several of Clarke's productions from the 1980s, exploring how his crucial themes, including the gap between personal narratives and state discourses, repetition and the restriction of movement, are employed in his questioning of Thatcherite values. It covers various productions in the period between Beloved Enemy and Road, specifically his plays on terrorism and Northern Ireland, Psy-Warriors, Contact and Elephant. Throughout the chapter, emphasis is placed on the way Clarke dissected the political climate of the 1980s, particularly the discourses of Thatcherism, to discuss British television drama in the 1980s. It becomes imperative to take some account of how he was engaged in an ongoing dialogue with Thatcherite ideas, meanings and values.Less
This chapter examines several of Clarke's productions from the 1980s, exploring how his crucial themes, including the gap between personal narratives and state discourses, repetition and the restriction of movement, are employed in his questioning of Thatcherite values. It covers various productions in the period between Beloved Enemy and Road, specifically his plays on terrorism and Northern Ireland, Psy-Warriors, Contact and Elephant. Throughout the chapter, emphasis is placed on the way Clarke dissected the political climate of the 1980s, particularly the discourses of Thatcherism, to discuss British television drama in the 1980s. It becomes imperative to take some account of how he was engaged in an ongoing dialogue with Thatcherite ideas, meanings and values.
Theodore Dwight Weld
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807869574
- eISBN:
- 9781469602875
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807869581_weld
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Compiled by a prominent abolitionist, this book combines information taken from witnesses, and from active and former slave owners, to generate a condemnation of slavery from both those who observed ...
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Compiled by a prominent abolitionist, this book combines information taken from witnesses, and from active and former slave owners, to generate a condemnation of slavery from both those who observed it and those who perpetuated it. The narrative describes the appalling day-to-day conditions of the over 2,700,000 men, women and children in slavery in the United States. It demonstrates how even prisoners—in the United States and in other countries—were significantly better fed than American slaves. Readers will find one of the most meticulous records of slave life available in this text. Unlike personal slave narratives, which focus on a single man or woman's experience, this book details the overall conditions of slaves across multiple states and several years.Less
Compiled by a prominent abolitionist, this book combines information taken from witnesses, and from active and former slave owners, to generate a condemnation of slavery from both those who observed it and those who perpetuated it. The narrative describes the appalling day-to-day conditions of the over 2,700,000 men, women and children in slavery in the United States. It demonstrates how even prisoners—in the United States and in other countries—were significantly better fed than American slaves. Readers will find one of the most meticulous records of slave life available in this text. Unlike personal slave narratives, which focus on a single man or woman's experience, this book details the overall conditions of slaves across multiple states and several years.
John A Casey
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823265398
- eISBN:
- 9780823266708
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823265398.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Unable to realize their prewar dreams of autonomous work and manhood, many veterans increasingly turned to the past for solace. However, their memories of the war were filled with reminders of the ...
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Unable to realize their prewar dreams of autonomous work and manhood, many veterans increasingly turned to the past for solace. However, their memories of the war were filled with reminders of the violent deaths and violations of social norms associated with combat. These traumatic memories supported the feeling among a significant portion of Civil War veterans that they were different from the general population. In war reminiscences as diverse as Sherman’s Memoirs, Sam Watkins’s personal narrative Company Aytch, and a series of sketches and short stories by Ambrose Bierce, we see veteran authors attempting to understand their war experiences and reconcile the past with the present. Each narrative reflects a different degree of trauma in the writer, but the outcome is the same. Rather than reconnect them to the civilian population, these narratives reaffirm their difference from those who had not fought in the war.Less
Unable to realize their prewar dreams of autonomous work and manhood, many veterans increasingly turned to the past for solace. However, their memories of the war were filled with reminders of the violent deaths and violations of social norms associated with combat. These traumatic memories supported the feeling among a significant portion of Civil War veterans that they were different from the general population. In war reminiscences as diverse as Sherman’s Memoirs, Sam Watkins’s personal narrative Company Aytch, and a series of sketches and short stories by Ambrose Bierce, we see veteran authors attempting to understand their war experiences and reconcile the past with the present. Each narrative reflects a different degree of trauma in the writer, but the outcome is the same. Rather than reconnect them to the civilian population, these narratives reaffirm their difference from those who had not fought in the war.
JAMES T. FISHER and MARGARET M. MCGUINNESS
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823234103
- eISBN:
- 9780823240906
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823234103.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Autobiographical works such as Augustine's Confessions are the very foundation of Catholic Studies. Our understanding of the evolution of Catholic life in North America is deeply grounded in ...
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Autobiographical works such as Augustine's Confessions are the very foundation of Catholic Studies. Our understanding of the evolution of Catholic life in North America is deeply grounded in life-writings, personal narratives presented in a variety of genres and formats, from travel narratives and traditional memoirs to autobiographical fiction and specialized hybrids. One of the primary functions served by life-writings in Catholic Studies is to remind readers from all denominations, vocations, and walks of life that the Catholic Church is a community composed of individuals whose identities are deeply informed by a common faith and sharply varying experiences of Catholic lived religion. This chapter locates the tradition of American Catholic “life-writing” at the heart of Catholic Studies practice. From the earliest accounts of European explorers to dramatic nineteenth- and twentieth-century conversion narratives by notable Protestants to contemporary chronicles of faith lost or reclaimed, the stories told by American Catholics chart the experience of a community so diverse its shared traditions are both inscribed and invented in these autobiographical narratives.Less
Autobiographical works such as Augustine's Confessions are the very foundation of Catholic Studies. Our understanding of the evolution of Catholic life in North America is deeply grounded in life-writings, personal narratives presented in a variety of genres and formats, from travel narratives and traditional memoirs to autobiographical fiction and specialized hybrids. One of the primary functions served by life-writings in Catholic Studies is to remind readers from all denominations, vocations, and walks of life that the Catholic Church is a community composed of individuals whose identities are deeply informed by a common faith and sharply varying experiences of Catholic lived religion. This chapter locates the tradition of American Catholic “life-writing” at the heart of Catholic Studies practice. From the earliest accounts of European explorers to dramatic nineteenth- and twentieth-century conversion narratives by notable Protestants to contemporary chronicles of faith lost or reclaimed, the stories told by American Catholics chart the experience of a community so diverse its shared traditions are both inscribed and invented in these autobiographical narratives.
Sean A. Scott
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395990
- eISBN:
- 9780199866557
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395990.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, History of Religion
This book examines how numerous northern civilians understood the Civil War as a contest permeated with religious significance. From the war's outset, many religious Northerners asserted that God was ...
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This book examines how numerous northern civilians understood the Civil War as a contest permeated with religious significance. From the war's outset, many religious Northerners asserted that God was directing the conflict to chasten his chosen nation and bring about the destruction of slavery. Convinced that the Union was sacred and had to be preserved so that America could fulfill its God‐ordained purpose in world history, many ministers and laypersons wholeheartedly supported the northern war effort and broadcast their political views at church. Overflowing with Christian patriotism, individual congregations and entire denominations frequently alienated members who disagreed with them politically. Some disgruntled Democrats formed their own assemblies where they could avoid political preaching, but these churches oftentimes suffered from partisanship as well. A minority of churchgoers lamented that war and politics had caused people to lose interest in spiritual matters, and some feared that the church had forsaken its divine calling to preach the gospel. The enthusiasm of clergy and laity to sanctify the Union and fuse religion and politics during the Civil War demonstrates that religious Northerners tended to look to the American nation rather the church as the primary means through which God would accomplish his will in the world. Ultimately, this consuming desire to Christianize the Union by infusing it with spiritual significance contributed to the secularization of religion rather than the transformation of the state into a Christian republic.Less
This book examines how numerous northern civilians understood the Civil War as a contest permeated with religious significance. From the war's outset, many religious Northerners asserted that God was directing the conflict to chasten his chosen nation and bring about the destruction of slavery. Convinced that the Union was sacred and had to be preserved so that America could fulfill its God‐ordained purpose in world history, many ministers and laypersons wholeheartedly supported the northern war effort and broadcast their political views at church. Overflowing with Christian patriotism, individual congregations and entire denominations frequently alienated members who disagreed with them politically. Some disgruntled Democrats formed their own assemblies where they could avoid political preaching, but these churches oftentimes suffered from partisanship as well. A minority of churchgoers lamented that war and politics had caused people to lose interest in spiritual matters, and some feared that the church had forsaken its divine calling to preach the gospel. The enthusiasm of clergy and laity to sanctify the Union and fuse religion and politics during the Civil War demonstrates that religious Northerners tended to look to the American nation rather the church as the primary means through which God would accomplish his will in the world. Ultimately, this consuming desire to Christianize the Union by infusing it with spiritual significance contributed to the secularization of religion rather than the transformation of the state into a Christian republic.
Sarah Carr
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781447307334
- eISBN:
- 9781447307938
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447307334.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter explores the idea of using personal narrative and testimony to contribute to collective knowledge on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) experiences of mental distress and mental health ...
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This chapter explores the idea of using personal narrative and testimony to contribute to collective knowledge on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) experiences of mental distress and mental health service use. It draws upon some personal reflections about the methodologies previously used by the writer, particularly where personal experience is included both as a starting point and as a form of inquiry and then located individual narrative as part of collective user and survivor knowledge. The exploration attempts to situate this approach within the wider tradition of the use of experiential knowledge, narrative and testimony in user and survivor research. It also links the use of personal narrative to the development of individual and collective identity for LGB people. Finally the potential of auto-ethnography to provide a viable methodology for capturing personal testimony, experience and narrative for user and survivor research, particularly that by LGB people, is discussed.Less
This chapter explores the idea of using personal narrative and testimony to contribute to collective knowledge on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) experiences of mental distress and mental health service use. It draws upon some personal reflections about the methodologies previously used by the writer, particularly where personal experience is included both as a starting point and as a form of inquiry and then located individual narrative as part of collective user and survivor knowledge. The exploration attempts to situate this approach within the wider tradition of the use of experiential knowledge, narrative and testimony in user and survivor research. It also links the use of personal narrative to the development of individual and collective identity for LGB people. Finally the potential of auto-ethnography to provide a viable methodology for capturing personal testimony, experience and narrative for user and survivor research, particularly that by LGB people, is discussed.
David J. Vázquez
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816673261
- eISBN:
- 9781452947310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816673261.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This book examines the narrative strategies of Latina/o authors of the late twentieth century and how they use existing identity categories to negotiate complex identities. Many Latina/o authors ...
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This book examines the narrative strategies of Latina/o authors of the late twentieth century and how they use existing identity categories to negotiate complex identities. Many Latina/o authors employ a Nuyorican subjectivity, referring to Puerto Ricans located in or around New York State, in their first-person personal narratives. These narratives include memoir, autobiography, testimonio, autobiographical fiction, and other forms of writing. One of the book’s central premises is that Latina/o authors engage in the navigational technique of triangulation to contest liberal individualist notions of identity and their accompanying racial formations.Less
This book examines the narrative strategies of Latina/o authors of the late twentieth century and how they use existing identity categories to negotiate complex identities. Many Latina/o authors employ a Nuyorican subjectivity, referring to Puerto Ricans located in or around New York State, in their first-person personal narratives. These narratives include memoir, autobiography, testimonio, autobiographical fiction, and other forms of writing. One of the book’s central premises is that Latina/o authors engage in the navigational technique of triangulation to contest liberal individualist notions of identity and their accompanying racial formations.
Ravinder Kaur
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195683776
- eISBN:
- 9780199081844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195683776.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
The basis of a Punjabi migrant community, noticeable during the Lajpat Nagar demolitions, lies in the master narrative of Partition uprooting, migration, and resettlement, which dissolves the ...
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The basis of a Punjabi migrant community, noticeable during the Lajpat Nagar demolitions, lies in the master narrative of Partition uprooting, migration, and resettlement, which dissolves the socially divisive categories of caste, class, and gender. What emerges is a community of narratives that comes into existence only when the master narrative is invoked. The popular refrain of ‘we did everything on our own’ is what defines the personal narratives told by Punjabi migrants in Delhi. It has been shown that the process of migration and resettlement was experienced by different sections of society, and that no single narrative can claim to represent the Partition reality. It is the adverse and critical moments that catalyse past experiences to develop a powerful, tangible community.Less
The basis of a Punjabi migrant community, noticeable during the Lajpat Nagar demolitions, lies in the master narrative of Partition uprooting, migration, and resettlement, which dissolves the socially divisive categories of caste, class, and gender. What emerges is a community of narratives that comes into existence only when the master narrative is invoked. The popular refrain of ‘we did everything on our own’ is what defines the personal narratives told by Punjabi migrants in Delhi. It has been shown that the process of migration and resettlement was experienced by different sections of society, and that no single narrative can claim to represent the Partition reality. It is the adverse and critical moments that catalyse past experiences to develop a powerful, tangible community.
Richard Kearney
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823223176
- eISBN:
- 9780823235155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823223176.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
If sorrow is neither absent nor resolved in one's journey through personal narratives, it goes no differently in national narratives: those ...
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If sorrow is neither absent nor resolved in one's journey through personal narratives, it goes no differently in national narratives: those founding Roman myths, those humiliating representations of the Irish by the British until recently, those relating to the distorted relationships of the Americans with others, the border crossings that prove to be the source of an alienation that makes neighbors into strangers. As an addition to this ensemble that stories generated in some way or other by the innumerable figures of sorrow, Paul Ricoeur proposes a reflection on the capacity “to bear”—to endure—that is generated by narrative. The basic argument is that life itself is in search of narrative “because it strives to discover a pattern to cope with the experience of chaos and confusion”.Less
If sorrow is neither absent nor resolved in one's journey through personal narratives, it goes no differently in national narratives: those founding Roman myths, those humiliating representations of the Irish by the British until recently, those relating to the distorted relationships of the Americans with others, the border crossings that prove to be the source of an alienation that makes neighbors into strangers. As an addition to this ensemble that stories generated in some way or other by the innumerable figures of sorrow, Paul Ricoeur proposes a reflection on the capacity “to bear”—to endure—that is generated by narrative. The basic argument is that life itself is in search of narrative “because it strives to discover a pattern to cope with the experience of chaos and confusion”.
Charlie Groth
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781496820365
- eISBN:
- 9781496820402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496820365.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter explores a story type as more of an activity than an object: the telling of ordinary stories, mainly personal experience narratives (PENs), in order to build relationships and community. ...
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This chapter explores a story type as more of an activity than an object: the telling of ordinary stories, mainly personal experience narratives (PENs), in order to build relationships and community. While narrative skill may be enjoyed, artistry is secondary to connecting people to people and people to place through sharing conversation and information. Everyday storying practices, such as “How was your day?” conversation, joking, and project sagas are discussed and compared to other know genres such as “craik” and “chit-chat.” The chapter also presents a particular story subtype, the “touchstone story,” by which visitors to the island tell a story of personal connection with the island, fishery, town, or activity to establish relationship. Flipping the expected pattern in which the fishery family or crew is expected to be the authoritative narrative source, family and crew play the community stewardship role of being audience: affirming and incorporating visitors by listening.Less
This chapter explores a story type as more of an activity than an object: the telling of ordinary stories, mainly personal experience narratives (PENs), in order to build relationships and community. While narrative skill may be enjoyed, artistry is secondary to connecting people to people and people to place through sharing conversation and information. Everyday storying practices, such as “How was your day?” conversation, joking, and project sagas are discussed and compared to other know genres such as “craik” and “chit-chat.” The chapter also presents a particular story subtype, the “touchstone story,” by which visitors to the island tell a story of personal connection with the island, fishery, town, or activity to establish relationship. Flipping the expected pattern in which the fishery family or crew is expected to be the authoritative narrative source, family and crew play the community stewardship role of being audience: affirming and incorporating visitors by listening.
