3 results
1 - Becoming and being a Polish mother: narratives on the motherhood experience
- Edited by Lyudmila Nurse, University of Oxford, Lisa Moran, South East Technological University, Ireland, Kateřina Sidiropulu-Janků, Fachhochschule Kärnten, Austria
-
- Book:
- Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 24 January 2024
- Print publication:
- 14 September 2023, pp 18-40
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
Becoming a mother requires that women experiencing motherhood reconstruct their identity and rebuild the concept of oneself, as well as building a set of ideas, beliefs and self-judgements. The points of reference for interpreting situations and developing meanings of mothering are the existing social patterns, established norms and social expectations of the role of a mother. Women evaluate and prioritise their participation in various areas of social life (family, profession and social terms), and create motherhood practices and strategies for performing the role that evolve during the stages of motherhood. Recognising, defining and interpreting one's role as a mother is connected with assessment of oneself in the role in reference to the definitions of other people who may acknowledge or question the woman's competences. Therefore, identity becomes a configuration of a person's self-identification in the context of their social interactions (Hałas, 2006).
In the Polish linguistic picture of the world, ‘mother’ is one of the key existential categories, like home, family, land and nation, and occupies a high position in the axiological system that results from family, religion and national traditions (Bartmiński, 2012). Family and the roles it involves constitute a significant area of identification, although men and women differ in this respect. Women attach much greater significance to the role of a parent than men do; children and marriage change their self-identification, and being a mother and a wife is put before being a person and a woman. Particularly for women with a lower education level and those living in small towns, traditional roles seem natural and without an alternative (Titkow, 2007). Motherhood is also valued by society, such that a woman who takes on the role of a mother and fulfils it well improves her status in the family and the local community (Maciarz, 2004).
Both public and scientific discourses disseminate the motherhood models that are socially legitimised and exist in a given culture, standardising the process of becoming and being a mother. The two opposite positions between which variants emerge may be termed conservative and liberal discourses.
Auto/narrative as a Means of Structuring Human Experience
-
- By Katarzyna Gajek, University of Łódź
- Edited by Marcin Kafar
-
- Book:
- Scientific Biographies
- Published by:
- Jagiellonian University Press
- Published online:
- 05 January 2015
- Print publication:
- 31 December 2014, pp 11-32
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
The turning point concerning the narrative that took place in the twentieth century was associated with the development of reflection on the narrative and extending its scope of meaning. In addition to being the theoretical-literary term it became a philosophical, anthropological, psychological, sociological and pedagogical category, a concept contained in the domain of history, law, politics or medicine (cf. Burzyńska, 2004, p. 12; 2008, p. 26). Creating stories, natural and characteristic for people, enabled taking up multi-faceted research, making the category of the narrative very roomy and interdisciplinary.
The concept of the narrative may occur in two basic meanings. Some researchers (e.g. Barbara Hardy, David Carr, or cognitive scientists) assume that narrative is a human cognitive structure, a kind of ability to capture events and processes changing over time in complex structures of meaning. Others (such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, Anthony Giddens, Paul Ricoeur) refer to narrative as a product of culture, which is the matrix for the organization of our experiences in the narrative structure (cf. Rosner, 2003, pp. 122-123).
In the literature on the subject, we may find a variety of ways to define the narrative, which is related to adopting different underlying assumptions. Though I will not attempt to make clear-cut decisions, this article will present various, sometimes inseparable, perspectives of the category of narrative and issues related to it, in order to shed some light of the multiplicity of viewpoints recognizing it and disputes on its essence. Thus, my text will try to order the terms used in the narrative-biographical research.
Auto/narrative—Contexts and Definitions
The above-mentioned turning point entailed certain modifications of the previously used definitions of narrative. The theory of literature and esthetic theories that apply this category recognized it as a monologue, presenting a structured sequence of events developing over time and associated with the world presented, i.e. with the characters situated in a particular environment.
Auto/narrative as a Means of Structuring Human Experience
-
- By Katarzyna Gajek, University of Łódź
- Edited by Marcin Kafar, Monika Modrzejewska-Świgulska
-
- Book:
- Autobiography, Biography, Narration
- Published by:
- Jagiellonian University Press
- Published online:
- 05 December 2014
- Print publication:
- 05 December 2014, pp 11-32
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
The turning point concerning the narrative that took place in the twentieth century was associated with the development of reflection on the narrative and extending its scope of meaning. In addition to being the theoretical-literary term it became a philosophical, anthropological, psychological, sociological and pedagogical category, a concept contained in the domain of history, law, politics or medicine (cf. Burzyńska, 2004, p. 12; 2008, p. 26). Creating stories, natural and characteristic for people, enabled taking up multi-faceted research, making the category of the narrative very roomy and interdisciplinary.
The concept of the narrative may occur in two basic meanings. Some researchers (e.g. Barbara Hardy, David Carr, or cognitive scientists) assume that narrative is a human cognitive structure, a kind of ability to capture events and processes changing over time in complex structures of meaning. Others (such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, Anthony Giddens, Paul Ricoeur) refer to narrative as a product of culture, which is the matrix for the organization of our experiences in the narrative structure (cf. Rosner, 2003, pp. 122–123).
In the literature on the subject, we may find a variety of ways to define the narrative, which is related to adopting different underlying assumptions. Though I will not attempt to make clear-cut decisions, this article will present various, sometimes inseparable, perspectives of the category of narrative and issues related to it, in order to shed some light of the multiplicity of viewpoints recognizing it and disputes on its essence.