The way it was, the way it is : reminiscence as intergenerational construction of identity

Abstract

Social constructionism offers a framework that acknowledges the predominance of language in the construction of meaning. Society at large has begun to question the assumptions that are made by empirical paradigms of science. Rather than looking for so-called “truth” social constructionism is interested in the values that underlie specific constructions of meaning. In this dissertation, reminiscence in older individuals is studied from the perspective of social constructionism. In social constructionism the unheard voices and the hidden subtexts are revealed. Most research up to now focuses on the meaning that reminiscence has for the teller of personal stories. Very little emphasis is placed in the current literature on the listener and even less acknowledgement is given to reminiscence as an activity that takes place in relationship. The emphasis in this study is therefore to include the listener in the ongoing conversation about reminiscence. Different voices are juxtaposed, with three participants writing about their experiences as listeners. The question of how reminiscence contributes to both meaning and identity is posed. A holistic content analysis conducted from a narrative perspective follows. To conclude, the author not only makes her own values explicit throughout the study, but invites the reader to become a participant and to add another voice to those voices included in the study. The reading of the study thus becomes an interactive process. Copyright 2005, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Beneke, M 2005, The way it was, the way it is : reminiscence as intergenerational construction of identity, MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02242006-125424 / >