Interpreting Experience: The Narrative Study of Lives

by Ruthellen Josselson (Editor)

The focus of this book is on the role of narrative analysis in the social sciences and in increasing our understanding of human lives and experiences. Contributors address such questions Should in-depth interviews become occasions in which to ask for life stories so as to enhance a study of social phenomena? Can a richer approach to psychological understanding be reached by studying how experience, conscious and unconscious, is organized, interpreted and reshaped throughout the life cycle? How can biographical work be used to shed light on the social construction of individual lives? In addition, the book covers the use of narrative analysis in career biography, in examining turning points in people′s lives, in the effe

Paperback

First published March 21, 1995

About the author

Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Fielding Graduate University. She was formerly Professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Visiting Professor at Harvard University School of Education, and Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University. Dr. Josselson is a cofounder of the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology; coeditor of 11 volumes of The Narrative Study of Lives, a series dedicated to publishing qualitative research; coauthor of Five Ways of Doing Qualitative Analysis; and author of many journal articles and book chapters that explore the theory and practice of qualitative inquiry. She has conducted workshops on interviewing skills for qualitative inquiry in the United States, France, Norway, Finland, Israel, and the United Kingdom. Based on interviews she has conducted over 35 years, she has written two books exploring women’s identity longitudinally (Finding Herself and Revising Herself) and three other books (The Space Between Us, Best Friends, and Playing Pygmalion). Dr. Josselson is a recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Henry A. Murray Award and Theodore R. Sarbin Award as well as a Fulbright Fellowship.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swaziland

by Sarah Mkhonza

"The requirements that people learn a language like English in order to get a job results from unequal relationships."

"Fear was pervasive in most of the interactions and the encounters with the employers."

"They did not want you to eat out of the same dishes as they did because you were black."

"Even Swazi culture does not allow people to get angry or show that they are angry."
"There was nothing you could talk to a white person about. There was nothing you could say because if you say anything you would be sacked. It was the law. Whites were above blacks."