Literature, Life-Writing, and Identity

Philosophy

Hilda Lindemann Nelson describes personal identity as narrative tissue that stretches from the past into the future. It is constructed of multiple stories. In other words, identities are narrative representations of ourselves that are influenced by family, community, culture, and experiences.⁵ The narrative nature of identity means that stories are selective; some occasions play a significant role in how we understand ourselves while others adopt a background role or are forgotten altogether.

Especially in moments of change, new stories can prompt a reconsideration of our narratively-constructed identity.⁶ Sometimes, the result is an identity crisis. Consider a student who finds herself struggling in a new math class. She must choose how this new experience fits into her larger identity as a student. She might re-interpret her past math class success as worthless or lacking rigor and, therefore, her identity as a good student falters. In the same experience, the student might recall different moments to bolster her identity as someone who struggled in past math classes but persisted. This interpretation allows her to adapt personal identity by re-interpreting current struggles. Now, she can imagine her future struggle in math class as one of gritty pursuit of difficult math concepts instead of failure or lack of ability.

As we add new experiences to our repertoire, we naturally edit, re-interpret, and exchange old stories for ones that seem to describe us better. Sometimes, the narrative pruning and shaping are forced by new, prominent events in our lives. Unwanted change - especially the abrupt, traumatic kinds that students often experience- poses two specific risks to this process, each of which is addressed in this unit and described below.

Stock Narratives

First, students risk falling back on what Hilde Lindemann Nelson calls master or stock narratives. Master narratives, widely-known generic stories or plots, are shortcuts to understanding the world but are often oppressive and incorrect.⁷ For example, the stereotype of black men as violent is a hurtful, racist, and wholly untrue master narrative. Other master narratives depict girls as bad at math, a child with a father in prison as abandoned or headed to prison himself, or a family in poverty as not caring about education. As Erik Erikson once described, identity development is both individual and communal,⁸ so it’s not surprising that many scholars have pointed out that cultural stereotypes and community ideals influence identity formation in forms of master narratives.⁹

When used with individual stories, master narratives apply racist, sexist, classist, and otherwise oppressive ideas directly to personal identity. Having a father sent to jail already changes economic and familial realities, but adding the narrative of parental abandonment or a lack of love to the situation is further damaging and likely untrue. Hurtful stories like these often impact our students’ identities. Consider a student who misses a great deal of school due to her family’s suddenly unpredictable housing situation. If she’s treated as a troubled student due to her persistent absences, the master narrative that equates kids who don’t attend school with kids who don’t care about education may start to infiltrate her identity.

Narrow Identity Conception

The second risk to personal identity in transitional moments is losing sight of multiple aspects of identity. Narrow identity conceptions are precarious and therefore more fragile in moments of change.¹⁰ A student whose identity is dominated by athletic success, for example, may experience severe identity damage if she becomes suddenly injured and unable to participate in sports. Similarly, the student who wasn’t accepted at his middle school of choice risks major identity setbacks if his identity rests primarily on his high academic honors.