Exploring Identity and Gender

The Narrative Study of Lives

How does a narrative serve as a way for uncovering and constructing a person's identity? Does a narrative differ in any systematic way from life as lived versus life as constructed by women and men? Addressing these and other issues related to the use of narratives for understanding human lives, Exploring Identity and Gender, the second volume in The Narrative Study of Lives annual book series, focuses on narratives of girls' and women's lives as well as other identity issues. Among the issues this volume addresses are individual identity in the context of a familial heritage and how one's sense of individuality relates to their style of management. The international team of authors also explores such issues as how women construct the lives of other women in biographical work, how individuals conduct their life episodes in patterns similar to the plots of stories, how the women's movement influenced three women's adult lives, and how girls' sense of themselves changes as they move into adolescence. Students and researchers will find Exploring Identity and Gender illuminating in the intelligent application of the use of narratives.