"I want to lift my people up": Exploring the psychological correlates of racial themes within the life stories of midlife Black Americans

OBJECTIVE

This study explores how middle-aged Black Americans talk about race, without prompting, while telling their life stories.

METHOD

Drawing upon a dataset of lengthy Life Story Interviews (N = 70), we first employed a keyword search to identify race-relevant interview scenes for each participant. Next, we conducted a thematic analysis of these scenes to identify salient racial narrative themes. Finally, we coded race-relevant scenes to examine the psychological correlates of racial narrative themes.

RESULTS

We identified 460 total racially themed Life Story Interview scenes, with the number of racially themed scenes ranging from 1 to 17 across participants' interviews. Racial narrative themes included Community of Care, Black Cultural Identity, Multiculturalism, Activism, Encounter with Racism, Systemic Racism, and Racial Reckoning. Quantitative analyses highlight a relationship between racial narrative themes and psychological measures of wisdom and generativity.

CONCLUSION

This study offers insight into the ways that race manifests in the life stories of Black Americans and highlights the importance of considering race in the study of narrative identity, and personality, more broadly.

Where Are They Now: The Narratives of Children Who Lost a Parent on 9/11

There is a paucity of literature examining the experiences of children who lost a parent on 9/11. The primarily quantitative research has not allowed for a deeper understanding of how children who lost a parent on 9/11 make meaning of their experiences, especially in the context of a national tragedy. This study investigates how eight children who were between the ages of 5 and 12 when they lost a parent on 9/11 developed a personal narrative about this loss in the context of the collective narrative about 9/11. Using narrative inquiry, cases demonstrated patterns of narrative development about grief, tragedy, and collective themes of American exceptionalism, patriotism, triumph, and resiliency. These cases highlight de-personalized narratives of grief, tension between the grand narrative provided to them and their personal story of loss, and distance between the reality of their loss and the collective meaning-making of the tragedy. This study extends Bronfenbrenner's (1977) ecological systems theory by highlighting how a lack of bidirectionality between larger social and cultural systems and the individual negatively impacts personal experiences of grief and loss.

Rethinking sense of coherence: Perceptions of comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness in a group of Palestinian health care providers operating in the West Bank and Israel

Drawing on a salutogenic perspective, we explored sense of coherence (SOC) in a group of Palestinian mental health care providers living and working in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (West Bank). Specifically, we conducted a qualitative exploration of the cultural characteristics of SOC and its components (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness) in two groups of Palestinian Muslim helpers. We found that context-specific features of SOC can mobilize generalized resistance resources for coping with traumatic and stressful experiences, even in an environment characterized by political instability, military violence, and social trauma. Ten main themes emerged from the thematic content analysis: acceptance, reacting to adversity, acknowledging human insecurity (comprehensibility), self-control, talking to family, education as a resource for survival, connecting to the severity of the event, responsibility as a source of control (manageability), religiosity, and sense of belonging (meaningfulness). The Islamic faith, as expressed through the concepts of Sumud and Taslim, seemed to permeate individuals' ability to attribute meaning to historical and transgenerational trauma, as well as to their ongoing traumatic conditions, thus acting as their ultimate source of health and wellbeing. A holistic, spiritual, and collectivist outlook helped respondents to approach their lives with optimism. We discuss the implications for mental health care providers and future research directions.

Spatial agency as a source of resistance and resilience among Palestinian children living in Dheisheh refugee camp, Palestine

Research has widely documented the effects of war and political violence on the functioning and well-being of children. Yet, children's agency in the face of political violence remains underexplored. The present study aimed at exploring the sources of spatial agency that children draw on to counteract the harmful consequences of ongoing exposure to trauma. Based on drawings and walk-along interviews with 29 Palestinian children from Dheisheh refugee camp, we offer an analysis on how children use domestic and social spaces to actively maintain positive function and subjective well-being. Five themes were identified: the mosque as a place of spiritual resistance, the school as a source of happiness and personal improvement, internal spaces as a safe place for growing and developing, community spaces as places where children have fun and play an active role, and inhabiting the outdoor spaces in the camp despite environmental dangers and the Occupation. The study draws attention to spatial activities as forms of embodied resistance through which children promote their subjective well-being and maintain positive functioning.

“So Now, I Wonder, What Am I?”: A Narrative Approach to Bicultural Identity Integration

Individuals socialized in multiple cultures actively construct their bicultural identity in the context of relevant life events. However, the content and meaning of these experiences, as subjectively constructed and understood by the individual, remain largely unexplored in relation to biculturalism outcomes. Using a narrative approach, two studies of U.S. biculturals examined how memories about the experience of being bicultural (“bicultural memory narratives”) related to bicultural identity integration (BII). BII describes having cultural identities that are blended and exist harmoniously within the self (vs. having dissociated and conflicting identities). In Study 1, bicultural college students shared two bicultural memory narratives, which were coded for the past event valence, exploratory processing, and ending valence (positive vs. negative ending). Most reported memories about at least somewhat negative experiences, and yet narrating those events with positive endings was predictive of higher BII, even after controlling for other factors, such as trait affect. In Study 2, second-generation bicultural adults ranging in age from 18 to 62 shared narratives about memories of bicultural conflict, which were also coded for exploratory processing and positive resolution. Similar to Study 1, positive resolution predicted higher levels of BII, independent of other factors. Bicultural identity conflict was found to decrease with age across adulthood. Findings for exploratory processing were inconclusive and suggest that its role in BII may fluctuate over time and be dependent on several factors, including age, type of memory, and time spent exploring bicultural identity.

"We must cooperate with one another against the Enemy": Agency and activism in school-aged children as protective factors against ongoing war trauma and political violence in the Gaza Strip

This exploratory qualitative study investigated self-perceived risk and protection factors that may reinforce the ability of children living in refugee camps on the Gaza Strip to adjust to a traumatic and risky life context characterized by loss and dispossession. The sample comprised 200 Palestinian children recruited at primary schools in four refugee camps in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli military operation "Pillar of Defence" in 2012. Thematic content analysis was applied to written materials and narratives produced by the children. Environment, friends, emotions, family, play, self, sociality, health, school, and spirituality were the dimensions that emerged from the narrative texts. Palestinian children's psychological adaptability and ability to reposition themselves along the continuum between ease and disease is underpinned by constant political agency and activism - a dimension that guides sense-making activities in a traumatizing environment marked by continuous uncertainty, loss and bereavement. We therefore recommend a politically-informed focus, both when assessing children and when designing intervention for them in contexts of chronic political violence and war.

Personal trajectories, collective memories: Remembering and the life-course

How do we understand the broad history to which we belong? What meaning do we give to it and what role does it have in our lives? This paper proposes to approach collective memory from the perspective of the subject, adopting a developmental perspective to explore how people build specific relations and representations of the historical past. Building on the literature on collective remembering and on life-course studies, it conceptualises memory an as oriented, culturally mediated and dialogical action with a developmental history, embodied in ‘trajectories of remembering’. This conception is applied to the life trajectory of Alain, a 44-year-old Belgian journalist, with a particular interest in the social and intersubjective dimensions of collective remembering. From this analysis, it will be concluded that people's relation to history is the product of the different positions they assume through time. The study of these successive experiences and their integration can thus shed new lights on how we relate to history and give it meaning.

Effects of Labeling and Group Category of Evaluators on Evaluations of Aggression

This study investigated whether the effect of labeling on people’s evaluation of aggression varies according to the group category of the evaluators (i.e., whether they are ingroup members or third parties). Two labeling strategies—the negative labeling of victims (NL strategy) and the positive labeling of aggressors (PL strategy)–were adopted. We conducted an experiment using the hot sauce paradigm, as a way to assess aggressive intent that includes behavioral measures of evaluations. The results suggested that the NL strategy causes ingroup members to evaluate aggression in a more positive light, while the PL strategy has the same effect but on third parties instead. Thus, labeling strategies may increase the severity of aggressors’ reaction and could also be a factor that can escalate a war or conflict.

"This is My Community": Reproducing and Resisting Boundaries of Exclusion in Contested Public Spaces

The way that public space is structured has significant implications for identity, social interaction, and participation in society. For those experiencing homelessness, with no or limited private space, survival hinges on the accessibility and livability of public space. However, the increasing privatization of public space in the United States has contributed to the implementation of anti-homeless ordinances in cities, restricting sitting, standing, panhandling, and sleeping in public. This study analyzes data from interviews with housed and unhoused community members, text from a local policy document, and ethnographic observations to explore how boundaries between "insiders" and "outsiders" are drawn in public space and mediated through individual discourse. Our findings suggest that boundaries of exclusion are constructed through dominant narratives that portray the unhoused as a threat to safety and economic vitality, thus justifying the need for regulation and punishment through the criminalization of homelessness. Yet, informants also demonstrate resistance to this narrative by discussing how criminalization of homelessness perpetuates dehumanization, violence, and economic inequality. Policy implications for the regulation of public space are discussed.

Surviving colonization and the quest for healing: narrative and resilience among California Indian tribal leaders

American Indians must negotiate the cultural and psychological legacy of colonialism as they construct coherent, purposive individual and communal narratives. Analysis of the life stories of highly generative members of these groups who have emerged as leaders offers important insights for psychological adaptation in the context of the historical legacy of colonialism. Based on an interpretive analysis of the life stories of two California Indian tribal leaders, we posit a resilient-strength-based approach to narrative identity development to complement and counter the historical trauma discourse. Native American identity emerged as the major source of psychological resilience in the life stories analyzed. This identity manifested and was supported through a commitment to the wellness of tribal community, spiritual practices, and beliefs. For these men, their relationship to their grandmothers was central in molding their identities and serving as a source of resilience throughout their lives. As leaders of a federally unrecognized tribal group, they have adopted a narrative of survivance (Vizenor, 2008), which appears to buffer psychosocial stress and provide a resilient narrative identity. Based on these findings, we theorize an indigenous California Native psychology of resilience.

No safe place for childbirth: women and midwives bearing witness, Gaza 2008-09

Women seek to give birth in a place where they feel safe, protected and secure. However, in conflict settings, many are forced to give birth in dangerous and frightening situations, where even the most rudimentary help and protection is unavailable. This study, based on interviews with women who gave birth and midwives during the 22-day Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2008 - January 2009, illustrates the vulnerability and trauma women experience when there is no safe place for childbirth. They recounted their overwhelming fear of not knowing when they would go into labour, not reaching a hospital or skilled attendant during the bombing, complications in labour without emergency care, and fear for the safety of their families and being separated from them. Most of the midwives were unprepared both materially and psychologically to attend births outside a hospital setting, while physicians were overwhelmed with severely injured patients. The capacity of midwifery care to keep birth normal whenever possible is particularly crucial in situations of political instability, conflict, poverty and disaster. Planning for emergency care by mapping the location of midwives, supplying them with basic equipment and medications, and legitimizing their profession with an appropriate scope of practice, licensing, back-up, and incentives would facilitate their ability to respond to birthing women's needs.

Narratives of migration: Emotions and the interweaving of personal and cultural identity through narrative

In this article we examine the role of narratives of migration as sense-giving devices that interweave cultural and personal dimensions in identity construction. The data shown come from a research project in which we comparatively analysed Andalusian (Southern Spain) internal migrants’ and non-migrants’ arguments about their cultural identity displayed in a focus group task. In that study we found that migrants used mainly personal narratives as rhetoric tools. In this article, we focus on the thematic and structural traits of these migrants’ narratives. The analysis illustrates that narratives of migration share some common features. They start with a canonical state, living in the homeland, visualised as a ‘lost paradise’; that is broken by the migration movement. The whole process is emotionally evaluated with a strong affiliation and commitment with the motherland. We finally conclude that narratives comprise a privileged instrument in making sense of life turning-points such as those faced in migration.

Commentary: The complex construction of psychological identities in Palestine: Integrating narratives and life experiences

Palestinian youth is challenged by multiple discourses in the process of constitution of its identity. This discursive multiplicity, characteristic of contemporary global societies, is confronted with personal life experiences, giving meaning to primarily nebulous affective impacts in the social environment. Starting from a semiotic—cultural perspective in cultural psychology one can establish a link between the notion of master narrative used by Hammack (2010) and the notion of myth—using the conception of ideology as a bridge that articulates both. Antinomies in the self-biographic narratives presented and discussed by Hammack (2010) support the master narrative of Palestinian identity and enter into interactions with other psychological identities of the interviewed youngsters, such as their religious tradition and secular education. Symbolic elements that are brought to the identity-making process by the diverse narratives are to be seen as resources for the comprehension of life experiences, demanding an integrative effort in the face of what is known and unknown in relation to alterity.