scholarly journals Born to Write: Discovery and Construction of Self in the Identity Stories of Poets and Writers

2022 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-45
Author(s):  
Deborah Ben-Shir
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Identity Creation ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Interpretive Approach ◽  
Construction Of Self ◽  
Written Word ◽  
Conscious Processes ◽  
Depth Interviews

The explorative study hereby presented is based on in-depth interviews with 16 renowned Israeli writers of prose and poetry. The aim of the study is to examine the identity-stories of these masters of the written word. By the term "identity-story", we relate to the self-reflective or "arspoetic" sides of the life stories our interviewees presented, the hows, whens and whys which had brought them to realize their identities as their cultures' authorized authors or poets. Thematic analysis of these stories, conducted in the spirit of the Schutzian Phenomenological-Interpretive approach, reveals an interesting interplay of two seemingly contradictory core meta-themes - identity-creation and identity-discovery. The present paper is focused on the identity-discovery meta-theme. Unlike the identitycreation meta-theme, which illustrates active, deliberate and conscious processes of identity construction within the social world, the identitydiscovery meta-theme is based on narratives that detect the belief in the feasibility of a transcendental revelation of a given identity, whose roots lies beyond the ties of time and place.

Enterprising Identities: Female Entrepreneurs of Moroccan or Turkish Origin in the Netherlands

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Essers ◽  
Yvonne Benschop
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
White Male ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Female Entrepreneurs ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Turkish Origin ◽  
The Social ◽  
Minority Entrepreneurs

This paper explores the complex processes of identity construction of female ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Informed by discursive approaches to identity, we make an intersectional analysis of five life stories of female entrepreneurs of Moroccan or Turkish origin in the Netherlands. Being female, Turkish or Moroccan, and entrepreneur at the same time requires various strategies to negotiate identities with different constituencies. These strategies of identity work vary in the degree of conformity: one type is to mainly adhere to conventional images of femininity, a second one is to denounce femininity and/or ethnicity situationally, and the third is to resist the masculine connotation of entrepreneurship by disconnecting it from masculinity. Our focus on this hitherto neglected group of entrepreneurs makes for a situated contribution to the deconstruction of the entrepreneurial archetype of the white male hero. It furthers the understanding of the micropolitics of identity construction in the workplace in relation to the social categories of gender, ethnicity and entrepreneurship.

scholarly journals The construction of self and others: A study of the identity construction in I am Malala

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 597-610
Author(s):  
Asifa Qasim ◽  
Sage Lambert Graham
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Autobiographical Narratives ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Social Customs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Construction Of Self ◽  
Religion And Ethnicity

Autobiographical memoirs incorporate personal experiences of an individual and the cultural structures for recognizing lives and identities. They mediate between actions and point of view of an author to display the identity of self and others. The language of autobiographical narratives situates characters in relation to one another to distinguish between self and other. This study examines the approach adopted by Malala for her identity construction in her autobiography, explicating the ways she maintains or challenges the social customs through these ideologies. It analyses linguistic features employed by Malala for identity construction and ideological distinctions between the victims and the perpetrators, stigmatized and non-stigmatized in her story. Malala appears in her tales as an author with authority, as well as a victim of intolerance and abuse, according to the findings; however, her identity is often fluid and changing through acquiring the roles of victim, figure, and author, and depicting her characters in parallel roles. She positioned characters in her story by making overt and covert contrasts within reported events. Her narrative shows a contentious case of discrimination in which both the victim and the perpetrator are Pashtun Muslims from Pakistan of the same race, religion, and ethnicity.

Narrative identity and the re-conceptualization of lone motherhood

2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa May
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Narrative Identity ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Lone Mothers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Narrative Constructions ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
Normative Account

Lone motherhood tends to be viewed as something a woman is, an identity that defines the woman. This article takes a different route into lone motherhood by focusing on identity construction in the life stories of four Finnish lone mothers. Faced with dominant narratives that define lone motherhood in negative terms, the narrators construct a counter-normative account of their lone motherhood through a dialogue with different cultural narratives on motherhood, independence and family. Furthermore, the social category of lone motherhood is not one that the lone mothers themselves adopt in their narrative constructions of the self. Instead, they attempt to create space for themselves within the normative narratives on motherhood and womanhood, thus refuting the idea that lone motherhood is constitutive of identity. At the same time, the life stories reveal how powerful the cultural narratives on motherhood and family are – lone mothers can challenge them, but they can never escape these narratives completely. (Lone Motherhood, Narrative Identity, Life Stories, Cultural Narratives)

scholarly journals Power through Language, the Language of Power: Equatoguinean Emixiles Facing Lingua Franca

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e014
Author(s):  
Catalina Iliescu-Gheorghiu
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Third Space ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Equatorial Guinea ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Transnational Identities ◽  
Mutual Gaze ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

In 1968 Equatorial Guinea became independent from Spain but inherited its cultural architecture. Current identity claims made by Equatoguinean emixiles (Ugarte’s term, 2010) are rooted in the social and territorial exclusion suffered by ethnic groups during their colonial past. In this paper I will explore the role that the Spanish language played in the identity construction of six Equatoguinean emixiles living in the city of Alicante (Spain). My interviewees’ life-stories reveal valuable information on vernacular languages, but also on the lingua franca, a tool of liberation (granting access) but also of repression. By comparing their recollections of themselves (either as Guinean or ethnic citizens) back in Guinea, to their perceptions of themselves in Spain, I intend to delve into the mutual gaze between transnational identities (Vertovec) here and there, now and then. Given Bhabha’s concept of “third space” I argue, using specific samples from my corpus, that the synchronic analysis of emixiles’ discourses within a perverse diasporic perimeter (the land of the former colonisers), needs to be completed with the diachronic view of the patterns of power which influenced postcolonial (re)construction of national/ethnic identity.

Pedagang Kaki Lima, Profil Entrepreneurship Sejati, Pelaku Ekonomi Kerakyatan, Ciptakan Jiwa Kewirausahaan Mandiri

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-35
Author(s):  
Agus Prasetya
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Data Display ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Street Vendor ◽  
Street Vendors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article is motivated by the fact that the existence of the Street Vendor (PKL) profession is a manifestation of the difficulty of work and the lack of jobs. The scarcity of employment due to the consideration of the number of jobs with unbalanced workforce, economically this has an impact on the number of street vendors (PKL) exploding ... The purpose of being a street vendor is, as a livelihood, making a living, looking for a bite of rice for family, because of the lack of employment, this caused the number of traders to increase. The scarcity of jobs, causes informal sector migration job seekers to create an independent spirit, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, with capital, managed by traders who are true populist economic actors. The problems in street vendors are: (1) how to organize, regulate, empower street vendors in the cities (2) how to foster, educate street vendors, and (3) how to help, find capital for street vendors (4) ) how to describe grief as a Five-Foot Trader. This paper aims to find a solution to the problem of street vendors, so that cases of conflict, cases of disputes, clashes of street vendors with Satpol PP can be avoided. For this reason, the following solutions must be sought: (1) understanding the causes of the explosions of street vendors (2) understanding the problems of street vendors. (3) what is the solution to solving street vendors in big cities. (4) describe Street Vendors as actors of the people's economy. This article is qualitative research, the social paradigm is the definition of social, the method of retrieving observational data, in-depth interviews, documentation. Data analysis uses Interactive Miles and Huberman theory, with stages, Collection Data, Display Data, Data Reduction and Vervying or conclusions.

Disciplining Polenta: A Parody on the Politics of Saving Food

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Zachary Nowak ◽  
Bradley M. Jones ◽  
Elisa Ascione
Keyword(s):  
Food Products ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Traditional Food ◽  
Traditional Foods ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Identity Creation ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social

This article begins with a parody, a fictitious set of regulations for the production of “traditional” Italian polenta. Through analysis of primary and secondary historical sources we then discuss the various meanings of which polenta has been the bearer through time and space in order to emphasize the mutability of the modes of preparation, ingredients, and the social value of traditional food products. Finally, we situate polenta within its broader cultural, political, and economic contexts, underlining the uses and abuses of rendering foods as traditional—a process always incomplete, often contested, never organic. In stirring up the past and present of polenta and placing it within both the projects of Italian identity creation and the broader scholarly literature on culinary tradition and taste, we emphasize that for so-called traditional foods to be saved, they must be continually reinvented.

The Science and Art of Interviewing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Gerson ◽  
Sarah Damaske
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Science And Art ◽  
The Social ◽  
Interview Guide ◽  
Hidden Patterns ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Depth Interviews

Qualitative interviewing is one of the most widely used methods in social research, but it is arguably the least well understood. To address that gap, this book offers a theoretically rigorous, empirically rich, and user-friendly set of strategies for conceiving and conducting interview-based research. Much more than a how-to manual, the book shows why depth interviewing is an indispensable method for discovering and explaining the social world—shedding light on the hidden patterns and dynamics that take place within institutions, social contexts, relationships, and individual experiences. It offers a step-by-step guide through every stage in the research process, from initially formulating a question to developing arguments and presenting the results. To do this, the book shows how to develop a research question, decide on and find an appropriate sample, construct an interview guide, conduct probing and theoretically focused interviews, and systematically analyze the complex material that depth interviews provide—all in the service of finding and presenting important new empirical discoveries and theoretical insights. The book also lays out the ever-present but rarely discussed challenges that interviewers routinely encounter and then presents grounded, thoughtful ways to respond to them. By addressing the most heated debates about the scientific status of qualitative methods, the book demonstrates how depth interviewing makes unique and essential contributions to the research enterprise. With an emphasis on the integral relationship between carefully crafted research and theory building, the book offers a compelling vision for what the “interviewing imagination” can and should be.

scholarly journals Political Vigilante Groups in Ghana: Violence or Democracy?

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-338
Author(s):  
Justice Richard Kwabena Owusu Kyei ◽  
Lidewyde H. Berckmoes
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Electoral Campaigns ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Organisational Structures ◽  
Depth Interviews

Literature on political vigilante groups has centred on the violence and conflict that emanate from their activities. This article approaches political vigilante groups as political actors who engage in political mobilisation and participation and therewith also contribute to nation state building. It explores how such groups participate in Ghana’s democratic governance and asks whether violence is an inevitable characteristic. The article builds on individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with political vigilante group members in Kumasi and Tamale in 2019. Findings show that political vigilante “youth” appeared to refer primarily to the social position attributed to non-elite groups in the political field. Political vigilante groups are multi-faceted in their organisational structures, membership, and activities both during electoral campaigns and during governing periods. While some groups revert to violence occasionally, the study concludes that political vigilante groups, in enabling different voices to be heard, are also contributing to democratic governance.

scholarly journals Narratives of Change: Identity and Recognition Dynamics in the Process of Moving Away From a Life Dominated by Drug Use

2021 ◽  
pp. 009145092110270
Author(s):  
Inger Eide Robertson ◽  
Hildegunn Sagvaag ◽  
Lillian Bruland Selseng ◽  
Sverre Nesvaag
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Positive Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Changing Practices ◽  
Struggle For Recognition ◽  
Depth Interviews

The concepts of identity and recovery capital are recognized as being an embedded part of moving away from a life dominated by drug use. However, the link between these two concepts and the effect of broader social structures, and the normative assumptions underpinning the condition of recovery, is less explored. This article focuses on the social practices of everyday life in the foreground of identity formation, meaning that “who I am” is an inseparable part of “what I do.” A narrative approach was employed to analyze qualitative follow-up data extracted from 48 in-depth interviews with 17 males and females with drug-using experience that were conducted posttreatment on three separate occasions over a period of 2.5 years. Theories of identity formation were employed to analyze the interdependent dynamic between social structure, persona and social resources, and way of life and identity. The analyses identified four narratives related to how people present themselves through the process of changing practices. Following the work of Honneth, we argue that the positive identity formation revealed in these narratives is best understood as a struggle for recognition via the principle of achievement. However, the participants’ self-narratives reflected cultural stories—specified as formula stories—of “normality,” “addiction,” and the “addict,” which work into the concepts of self and confine options of storying experiences during the recovery process. This study demonstrate that the process of recovery is culturally embedded and constitutes a process of adaption to conventional social positions and roles. We suggest challenging dominant discourses related to “addiction as a disease” and “normality” in order to prevent stigma related to drug use and recovery. In so doing, it may contribute to broaden conditions for identity (trans)formation for people in recovery.

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