Exploring selfhood [Paperback]

It has long been recognised that life narratives have a great deal to offer to individuals self-understanding, commitment and wellbeing. Yet, how often do we ask the question Are we truly the authors of our tales? As human beings we seek continuity and coherence in our sense of self, but at the same time, we are confronted by many voices in our heads, all with competing agendas. Even so, we seldom ask Is there a real me? This collection of articles offers opportunities for scholarly dialogue about a newly emerging field of study - the relationship between individual life narratives and selfhood. The contributors were all participants at an invited international workshop convened and hosted by the Centre for Research in Human Development, Guerrand-Hermès Foundation, held in Brighton in September 2008. The objective of the workshop was to deepen our understanding of how individuals in different cultures and societies perceive the concept of selfhood through life narratives, and the impact different forces have on the ways individuals construct their life narratives and develop their personal identities. These include culture, history, ancestral and collective memories, personal trajectories and dispositions, communal life, and so forth. The book is organised into thematic sections. The introduction places the topic within broad conceptual frameworks. The first set of chapters highlights the topic of the book and the big questions such as those above. It offers insights into the many voices involved in our narratives, their temporal and cultural constraints, and the possibility of finding ourselves and our stories within these. The second section draws on diverse empirical evidence to further support the view that individuals identities are shaped by cultural and historical shifts and how the examination of collective memories reveals common paths, which are the result of social, historical, cultural and political transitions. The following set of chapters investigates how our narratives are continuous attempts to develop coherence, often in the face of multi-faceted and sometimes chaotic life experiences. The last section turns to the examination of identity and agency in an increasingly globalised world.