Storied Selves analyzes religion and spirituality from feminist theoretical perspectives, focusing particularly on the ways in which religion and spirituality incorporate politics. Klassen develops a discourse of technologies of identity that shows the multiple ways of constructing identity.
The first book of its kind, Self-Determined Stories: The Indigenous Reinvention of Young Adult Literature reads Indigenous-authored YA—from school stories to speculative fiction— not only as a vital challenge to stereotypes but also as a rich intellectual resource for theorizing Indigenous sovereignty in the contemporary era. Building on scholarship from Indigenous studies, children’s literature, and cultural studies, Suhr-Sytsma delves deep in close readings of works by Sherman Alexie, Jeannette Armstrong, Joseph Bruchac, Drew Hayden Taylor, Susan Power, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel. Together, Suhr-Sytsma contends, these works constitute a unique Indigenous YA genre. This genre radically revises typical YA conventions while offering a fresh portrayal of Indigenous self-determination and a fresh critique of multiculturalism, heteropatriarchy, and hybridity. This literature, moreover, imagines compelling alternative ways to navigate cultural dynamism, intersectionality, and alliance-formation. Self-Determined Stories invites readers from a range of contexts to engage with Indigenous YA and convincingly demonstrates the centrality of Indigenous stories, Indigenous knowledge, and Indigenous people to the flourishing of everyone in every place.
Russians have often been characterized as people with souls rather than selves. Self and Story in Russian History challenges the portrayal of the Russian character as selfless, self-effacing, or self-torturing by exploring the texts through which Russians have defined themselves as private persons and shaped their relation to the cultural community. The stories of self under consideration here reflect the perspectives of men and women from the last two hundred years, ranging from westernized nobles to simple peasants, from such famous people as Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Akhmatova, and Nicholas II to lowly religious sectarians. Fifteen distinguished historians and literary scholars situate the narratives of self in their historical context and show how, since the eighteenth century, Russians have used expressive genres—including diaries, novels, medical case studies, films, letters, and theater—to make political and moral statements. The first book to examine the narration of self as idea and ideal in Russia, this vital work contemplates the shifting historical manifestations of identity, the strategies of self-creation, and the diversity of narrative forms. Its authors establish that there is a history of the individual in Russian culture roughly analogous to the one associated with the West.
We are multistoried; each story contributing to who we are – the storied self. A number of undeveloped stories are identified in this book. This includes the hidden story before language. Others include the lazy story, the trauma story, the messy story, the body story, the problem story and the dark story. The God story brings the spiritual realm into focus. The challenge in spiritual care is to help people find an integrative deep story which can be re-authored with new and exciting possibilities. This book draws on the insights of narrative gerontology for a natural, engaging and more comprehensive spiritual care of the aged – one that results in psychological and spiritual growth. This is a unique idea which will challenge the way we think about pastoral care.
In contemporary societies privatization has long ceased to be just an economic concept; rather, it must increasingly be made to refer to the ongoing shrinking of the public space under the impact of the representation of individual lives and images, which cuts across all discourses, genres and media to become one of the primary means of production of culture. This volume is intended to cover such an historical, social and intellectual ground, where self-representation comes to the fore. Targeting mostly an academic readership but certainly also of interest to the general educated public, it collects a wide range of essays dealing with diverse modes of life writing and portraying from a variety of perspectives and focusing on different historical periods and media. It thus offers itself as a major contribution to a better understanding of the world we live in: its past legacy and present configuration.ContentsIntroduction: Signposts of the Self in Modernity Part I. The Representational Dilemma Christopher PRENDERGAST: The Self as a Work of Art: Proust's ScepticismPaulo DE MEDEIROS: (Re-)Constructing, (Re-)Membering Postcolonial Selves Aleksandra PODSIADLIK: `Doing Identity? in Fiction: Identity Construction as a Dialogue between Individuals and Cultural Narratives Clara ROWLAND: Self-Representation and Temporality: `Parabasis? in Guimar'es Rosa's Grande Sert'o: Veredas Daniel ROVERS: New Man: Marie Kessels? Inner Portrait of a Writing Self Gaston FRANSSEN: Good Intentions, Ethical Commitment, and Impersonal Poetry:The Work of Gerrit Kouwenaar Jan RUPP: `For-Getting? Plural Selves: Narrative and Identity in Caryl Phillips's A Distant Shore Lars BERNAERTS: The Straitjacket of Normality. The Interaction with the Psychiatrist in Maurits Dekker's Waarom ik niet krankzinnig benLars DALUM GRANILD: The Self's Struggle for Recognition: August Strindberg and the Other Marinela FREITAS: Unshaded Shadows: Performances of Gender in Emily Dickinson and Luiza Neto Jorge Part II. Signalling Identity Peter BROOKS: The Identity Paradigm Roland GREENE: The Global I Davy VAN OERS: Staining the Past with Ink in Lorenzo Da Ponte's Memorie (1830): The Fallacies of Autobiographical `Writing? Eli PARK SORENSEN: Between Autobiography and Fiction: Narrating the Self in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Vivir para contarla Mirjam TRUWANT: The Passion of Lena Christ: From Fictionalized Autobiography to Biographical Novel Ricardo GIL SOEIRO: Dreams in the Mirror: George Steiner by George Steiner Part III. Images of the Self Across the Arts Timothy MATHEWS: Reading W. G. Sebald with Alberto Giacometti Paula MOR?O: The Impossible Self-Portrait Anna Viola SBORGI: Between Literature and the Visual Arts: Portraits of the Self in William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, and Fernando Pessoa Jakob STOUGAARD-NIELSEN: Photography and Shadow-Writing: Henry James's Revisions of the Self in the New York Edition Patrick VAN ROSSEM: Consumed by the Audience. Inhibition, Fear, and Anxiety in the Oeuvre of Bruce Nauman Anke BROUWERS: There Was Something about Mary: Mary Pickford's Perfect `Little American? Verena-Susanna NUNGESSER: Paint it Red: Death Artistry as a Portrait of the Self
There is currently considerable focus on psychosocial issues for persons with aphasia and their significant others. However, there has been little unifying work that brings diverse interdisciplinary perspectives together to understand the impact of aphasia and other neurogenic communication disorders on the social construction and mediation of self or identity. In this book, the authors explore this idea of social construction of self as it relates to the human need to create, share, and modify life stories, particularly when confronting major life changes. Their premise is that impaired communication can have a profound impact on one’s perception of self and one’s ability to negotiate the social reconstruction of self in the context of a neurological disorder. The nature and extent of impact varies, as seen in the book’s in-depth examination of narrative self for persons living with aphasia, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia, as well as those aging without impairment. The authors present theoretical grounding for using the concepts of self and the idea of a social and cultural tool kit that enables clients to interact with others and to define themselves in the context of those around them. The text moves from theory to qualitative analyses of living with neurogenic disorders to implications for clinical interventions for individual clients and their significant others.
Our children grow up into a world of stories—in books, on screens—but what do they make of the stories we offer them? What do they think and feel as they listen to a parent read a picture-book? What if a story confuses or upsets them? Over the past fifty years, several intelligent, committed mothers undertook the onerous task of recording exactly what their children said and did in response to the stories they shared. Some of their records extended over five years, or even longer. Their research, done without funding or academic supervision, offers us unparalleled insight into children’s minds long before they learn to speak—let alone learn to read. In Self and Story in Early Childhood, Hugh Crago draws on his unusual combination of expertise in literary studies, developmental psychology and psychotherapy to re-examine the startling implications of this neglected body of evidence. He highlights how much children can achieve without formal teaching, but with the supportive presence of a trusted adult who will participate with them in the story experience. This book will be of great interest to scholars of developmental psychology, early literacy and narratology, as well as to professionals working with preschoolers. Most of all, it will fascinate parents who themselves share stories with their child.
We tell stories about who we are. Through telling these stories, we connect with others and affirm our own sense of self. Spaces, be they online or offline; private or public; physical, augmented or virtual; or of a hybrid nature, present the performative realms upon which our stories unfold. This volume focuses on how digital platforms support, enhance, or confine the networked self. Contributors examine a range of issues relating to storytelling, platforms, and the self, including the live-reporting of events, the curation of information, emerging modalities of journalism, collaboratively formed memories, and the instant historification of the present.
Think about your life as a bookshelf. The author invites you to sit down with him and pull out the various stories that make up your life. Examples are the Book of Love or Birth, occupation and travel, but also hidden away, the Book of Death. You will go on a journey with the author to explore the various aspects of story telling relating to your life and the world. The book explores how narration is interwoven into our world. The level of the self is explored, and a model of the "embodied and embedded Self" is proposed and discussed. Positive illusions are key in keeping us going via narration. The concept of the other is examined. What is special about a family, and what type of stories are told? The family portrait as frozen time. The other is often perceived as evil such as witches, the political other, or outsiders. How do we use the other to shape stories about the self and groups we belong to? Contemporary issues are investigated for stories such as racism, capitalism, democracy, or conspiracy theories. Which aspects are true and where does story telling start? Does liquid power indicate a constant circulation of elites, or are we getting closer to a truly democratic society? To understand the present, we need to revisit the past. The author takes you back, far back to the exit from the existential cave. What traits emerged during evolution that are still playing out today in shaping our view of the world? Is inequality an economical problem, or a psychological viewpoint, or is this question wrong? We will look at how humans emerged and question the simplistic view that it was an increase in cognition or language acquisition. Is this not another story told by scientists? Could there be a more violent and dark side to human nature that lurks underneath the surface? If we look at contemporary events, it often appears that way. On the journey, you will encounter various thinkers and philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, Norbert Elias, Stephen Pinker, Martin Heidegger, and Judith Shklar. There will be a movie night with The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad. Make sure you have the popcorn ready. Detective novels and serial killer dramas will be explored to look at our most cherished heroes. Is the detective just a modern day angel? Why do the good guys always win in the end? The book ends with a consolidated system of thought, a Gedankensystem. Disagree or agree, but you are invited to propose your own and join the discussion.