Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-170) and index.
Contents:
Building the narrative ecology -- Section 1. Setting the stage : Developmental considerations -- Theoretical approaches to identity development and the power of narrative -- Section 2. Master narratives and personal narratives: the stories our families tell about us : Two storied paths to identity integration -- Resisting stories -- Section 3. Broadening the narrative ecology: another story, an other's story : Parents are people: parents' identities -- Parents' stories: children's identities -- Section 4. Broader contexts of storytelling: gender and peers : The gendered socialization of narrative and identity -- Peers and family stories -- Section 5. Conclusion : The end of the story, for now.
Summary:
"Questions about identity are perennially intriguing, and vexing, to scholars and non-scholars alike. How do we know who we are? How do we define ourselves? How much are we the agents of our own identities, and how much are we defined by others? In The Co-authored Self, Kate McLean addresses the question of how an individual comes to develop an identity by focusing on the process of interpersonal storytelling, particularly through the stories people hear, co-tell, and share of and with their families. McLean details how identity development is a collaborative construction between the individual and his or her narrative ecology. She argues that family stories play a powerful role in defining identities, for better or for worse; it is through these family stories that the self takes on its earliest and most lasting form. Situating the process of identity development in adolescence and emerging adulthood, she shows through quantitative and qualitative data-with compelling narrative excerpts throughout-the ways in which families both support and constrain identity development by the stories they tell"-- Provided by publisher. "In The Co-Authored Self, Kate McLean addresses the question of how an individual comes to develop a narrative identity by focusing on the process of interpersonal storytelling, particularly through the stories people hear, co-tell, and share of and with their families. McLean argues that narrative identity is not only a story of the personal past; it also includes the stories of the culture at large, as well as the stories of close others, such as friends, romantic partners, or, the focus of this book, family stories. McLean details how identity development is a collaborative construction between the individual and his or her narrative ecology. She pays special attention to stories shared in the family, stories told about adolescents by the family, and parents' personal stories. She uses a model of master narratives to argue that stories shared by the family play a powerful role in defining family members. She also contours these findings with a discussion of gender and the role that peers play in processing family stories. Situating the developmental process of identity development in adolescence and emerging adulthood, she shows through quantitative and qualitative data - and with compelling narrative excerpts throughout - the ways in which families both support and constrain identity development by the stories they tell"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.