Describes the confusion and sense of dislocation felt by one Chinese woman who entered the United States to begin graduate studies in English. Narrates how this feeling of dislocation motivated the woman to undertake a search for her "self," a process that shaped her as an individual and as a teacher. (HB)

Outlines the function of the "signifying monkey" in African American oral traditions. Focuses on vernacular discourse and African American personal narratives to discover linguistic and cultural features of African American students. Argues that these identity features be placed at the center of writing instruction for African Americans.…

Presents "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" as an effective text for the basic writing classroom. Describes how this book affirms literacy skills and charts perceptual growth. Claims that this text is effective in helping students understand the passion and strength of character necessary for any writer's growth. (HB)

Explores the use of narrative to represent individuals' particular experiences and meanings, discussing women teachers' lived experiences; using writer Annie Ernaux's autobiographical texts as a case study; and examining Martha Nussbaum's and Jane Miller's works to argue that discourses constructed through particulars of narrative texts can…

Contributes to scholarship advancing the understanding of human communication by elaborating a theoretical framework for understanding the synthesis of self-definition and social advocacy in social movement autobiographies. Uses insights from Kenneth Burke and posits that in a rhetorically effective movement autobiography, form enables the…

Stories that were written by my grandfather at the turn of the 20th century spiraled into my daily life as a nurse-teacher at the turn of the 21st century. In this paper, I explore a common plotline of my Afi (Islandic for grandfather) and me as pioneers by linking his life stories to the tensions I experience in my contemporary professional…

I offer an autoethnographic exploration of my experience with the culture of a marriage and family therapist (MFT) in training. As a beginning therapist I assumed that success would be determined primarily by how well I mastered different theoretical models. This belief shifted during an instance in which I was planning to begin differentiating…

The power of black women's personal narratives emerging out of nineteenth-century America rested in their sociopolitical as well as in their literary contributions. These slave narratives and autobiographical texts, however, were either ignored, sentimentalized, or reduced in scope as addenda to the abolitionist-inspired texts produced by black…

This article examines the potential of personal storytelling as a pedagogical method. When incorporated into the educational experience, autobiographical stories serve as a primary and fruitful link between lived experience and curricular content, a connection integral to adult learning. These stories enable learners to identify congruencies and…

In "The Uses of Diversity," the interpretive anthropologist, Clifford Geertz, says that it is impossible to completely get inside the point of view of another culture. Geertz contends, however, that despite multiple voices in the growing body of reflexive ethnographies there is still an author composing the work. Besides Geertz,…

Over the years many different psychologists and psychoanalysts have found value in the concept of the self-narrative, or the "life story." Narrative thought demands an appreciation of the particulars of time and place and a focus on multidimensional understanding of events, people, emotion, and motivation. By using the life story or…

A hypertext entitled "Reading the Map" comes from the exploration of an individual's own life. Observations, experiences, whatever comes to mind, become part of the text. This constant addition of information adds physically to the text, making a perceived move outward into the social. However, this additional information actually moves…

This autobiographical paper describes the teaching of an adjunct faculty member at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, and the doctoral and postdoctoral students he taught. The paper discusses the author's study of the area of biography and autobiography; the use of ethnography, history, and biography in qualitative research; the…

Unlike less skilled writers, who are intensely writer-oriented, skilled writers of personal essays and autobiographies are reader-oriented and demonstrate a conscious concern for their external audience. Student writers can develop a sense of an external audience by analyzing parallel autobiographical text selections of skilled and unskilled…

One theoretical approach to self-awareness is the study of introspective writing. Among the characteristics of intrapersonal communication that can be explored through memoirs and journals are selective memory and chronology revision. From the reflections of writers like Lillian Hellman, Dag Hammarskjold, and May Sarton comes confirmation that…