World Interrupted: An Autoethnographic Exploration into the Rupture of Self and Family Narratives Following the Onset of Chronic Illness and the Death of a Mother

Informed by the developments in autoethnography, narrative analysis and biographical sociology this paper seeks to affirm that understanding our narrative enables self-understanding and more importantly enables the understanding of others. Using an autoethnographic approach this paper explores the rupture in self and family identity following two traumatic events: the onset of a chronic illness (Multiple Sclerosis) and the death of a mother. It is the story of the life of my mother, who suffered with MS for 9 years and the story of my sister and myself, who cared for her throughout our childhood up to her death in 2000. The rupture in identity that we suffered interrupted the world in which we lived and exposed the contents of our individual and collective world(s). The themes that emerged from the narratives in this study suggest rupture is experienced as a movement of transgression that leads to movements of regression and progression.

Creating Kin, Remaking Kinship: An Exploration of Queer Experiences of Motherhood in Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Kinship norms in Aotearoa New Zealand are inherently heteronormative, constructed out of the settler colonial ideal that a heterosexual couple with children in a nuclear family are the ultimate social unit. This thesis outlines queer experiences of motherhood given this context, highlighting the ways queer people engage with family narratives that implicitly exclude them. By drawing on the stories of six queer individuals, I trace these engagements through the adoption and foster system, usage of assisted reproductive technologies, and finding a sense of belonging and community. In each of these contexts, my participants subvert, reject, and reproduce, heteronormative understandings of family. These accounts primarily draw from in-depth interviews, as well as one instance of participant observation. I analyse the actions of my participants in relationship to LGBTQ+ political stances, examining whether they represent positive progress, or assimilation into heteronormativity. I argue that regardless of political intent, the engagements my participants make with family norms prove the malleability of kinship ideology. Through relating this to the construction of family narratives in Aotearoa New Zealand by settler colonial action, I emphasise that kinship norms are not static nor universal. This thesis posits that if kinship ideology is not naturally arising, or permanent, it has the potential to be remade more inclusively in the future.</p>

Creating Kin, Remaking Kinship: An Exploration of Queer Experiences of Motherhood in Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Kinship norms in Aotearoa New Zealand are inherently heteronormative, constructed out of the settler colonial ideal that a heterosexual couple with children in a nuclear family are the ultimate social unit. This thesis outlines queer experiences of motherhood given this context, highlighting the ways queer people engage with family narratives that implicitly exclude them. By drawing on the stories of six queer individuals, I trace these engagements through the adoption and foster system, usage of assisted reproductive technologies, and finding a sense of belonging and community. In each of these contexts, my participants subvert, reject, and reproduce, heteronormative understandings of family. These accounts primarily draw from in-depth interviews, as well as one instance of participant observation. I analyse the actions of my participants in relationship to LGBTQ+ political stances, examining whether they represent positive progress, or assimilation into heteronormativity. I argue that regardless of political intent, the engagements my participants make with family norms prove the malleability of kinship ideology. Through relating this to the construction of family narratives in Aotearoa New Zealand by settler colonial action, I emphasise that kinship norms are not static nor universal. This thesis posits that if kinship ideology is not naturally arising, or permanent, it has the potential to be remade more inclusively in the future.</p>

My Grandfather’s Face: A Black Contemplative Educator’s Discovery of Unknown Relatives through DNA

This narrative essay offers an exploration of the power and importance of family origin stories as a grounding aspect of collective and individual identity for Black people. The author, drawing on his experience as a Black queer contemplative scholar and college professor, gives attention to the question of whether the truth is necessary or beneficial in the creation of family narratives and what each successive generation is allowed to know. This question is explored through the story of the unintended positive and negative consequences the author experienced as a result of submitting DNA to Ancestry.com.

“Your Eyes Open and so do Your Ears”: Centering Knowledge of Families with Refugee Backgrounds during a Follow-up Interview

In an exploratory case study of partnerships between educators and refugee families recently resettled in the U.S, we conducted follow-up interviews with each of the ten participating families during year one. In this paper, we report on themes from these interviews highlighted in three family case studies. We used methodological approaches that enabled us to reenvision and interrogate the power structure inherent in research relationships between ‘researcher’ and ‘researched.” The purposes of the additional interview were to conduct a member check on the data we had gathered, understand what had changed since our initial interview with the family, and gather families’ feedback about our comportment and methods. The two-part question was, How might decolonizing methods from a postcolonial lens serve as guideposts for disrupting research methods with families with refugee backgrounds?, and How did partnering with transnational student researchers inform ways of representing the family narratives? The follow-up narratives suggest a complex understanding of building knowledge within the limitations of a conventional research paradigm.

The Theme of Fear in Folklore Narratives by Descendants of Stolypin Migrants to Eastern Siberia

Статья посвящена теме страха (рационального или иррационального) в семейных нарративах, записанных от потомков столыпинских переселенцев в Восточную Сибирь, проживающих в д. Жизневка Заларинского района Иркутской области. Наиболее часто тема страха встречается в местных быличках о лешем, причем и сегодня яркую эмоциональную реакцию вызывает не только любая потенциальная коммуникация со сверхъестественным существом (например, очень опасно наступить на след лесного, так как он обязательно уведет человека с собой), но и сам рассказ о ней. Обычным людям в таких рассказах противопоставляется «знающий человек», который умеет с помощью заговоров вернуть человека из леса. Зафиксированные фольклорные фабулаты и мемораты циклизуются вокруг местного знахаря-колдуна (переселенца из бывшего Быховского уезда Могилевской губернии), который, по словам рассказчиков, привез с собой книгу черной магии и умел общаться с духом леса. Свои «знания» он передал дочери, о которой также продолжают бытовать многочисленные мифологические рассказы. Именно к ней обращались в самых безнадежных случаях люди со всей округи (поиск самойбийц, повесившихся в лесу, заблудившихся и т. д.). Устные нарративы, записанные от потомков знахаря, отличаются интересными, редко встречающимися деталями магических практик, применяемых для того, чтобы обезопасить человека от лешего и преодолеть страх перед хозяином леса. The article is devoted to the topic of fear (rational or irrational) in family narratives recorded from the descendants of Stolypin migrants to Eastern Siberia. These descendants live in the village of Zhiznevka in the Zalarinsky district of the Irkutsk province. The most common topic of fear is found in local bylichki about Master of Forest (leshiie), and even today, a vivid emotional reaction is caused not only by any potential communication with a supernatural character (e.g., it is very dangerous to step on the trail of a forest spirit because a person who did this will be kidnapped by the forest spirit), but also by the story itself. Ordinary people in such stories are contrasted with a “knowledgeable person” who knows how to bring people back from the forest-spirit with the help of magic spells. The recorded folklore fabulates and memorates are cyclized around the local healer-sorcerer (a migrant from the former Bykhovsky district of Mogilev province), who, according to the narrators, had brought with him a book of black magic and was able to communicate with the forest-spirit. He passed on his "knowledge" to his daughter, about whom numerous mythological stories are still existing. People from neighboring areas have visited her in the most hopeless cases (during searches for those who committed suicide in the forest or for those who got lost, etc.). Oral narratives recorded from the descendants of the healer included interesting, rarely encountered details of magical practices used to protect a person from the forest-spirit or overcome fear towards him.

Family narratives of lives with persistent physical symptom conditions

Background Literature reviews revealed no existing research on family narratives of living with multigenerational persistent physical symptom (PPS) conditions. The current study examined the personal and family narratives of one such family, from a relational/systemic perspective. Method This research employed a qualitative research design, specifically using narrative methodologies to explore the experiences of a single family comprising two parents and their three children. All the children and their mother had a diagnosis of Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS) but are specifically afflicted with PPS. The father is in good health. Using narrative inquiry, the family members were interviewed together and then individually. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using narrative analysis in NVivo. Findings Overarching narratives were stories of loss and sacrifice and stories of family unity. An exploration of the family’s negotiation of roles and identities is presented in the context of stigmatised illness. Discussion Novel findings are presented in the context of the central role of the mother, the importance of family cohesion and the impact to family life resulting from living with stigmatised illness. Lastly, clinical implications and future research ideas are discussed.