Week 1 Blog Post

Narrative identity as described by McAdams (2011), is the internal sense of self that makes sense of your life, justifies who you are and where you might be going. It is shaped by the encounters and events throughout your life and can change over time dependent on those. Changes in narrative identity occur naturally through developmental phases as we age or through specific events. Early drafts of personal identity are more mythical or can be grandiose but get grounded in reality as people reach adulthood. During later life narrative identity takes on a softer glow as life stories become more general with less emphasis on specific events (McAdams, 2011) Negative experiences can sometimes lead to a redemptive change of narrative where people go through a process of altering their own narrative identity after a period of atonement or recovery. While narrative identity is an internal discourse it can also be affected by social elements leading to a performance of narrative identity in different situations (McAdams, 2011).

I am now starting to see the significant influence that I have on an individual’s narrative identity as an educator/kaiako. In schools, students are immersed in different perspectives, values, and beliefs, which can shape their own narrative identity, often with/from their own classroom teacher.  Schools can perpetuate or diminish the dominant narratives that exist around marginalised students and communities. In the context of Aotearoa, educators need to ensure that Māori and Pasifika students feel acknowledged and valued so they are empowered to develop a positive narrative identity linked to their culture. I think of the concept of wahine toa and wonder how more akonga can experience this ideology. As Adichie (2009) shares, stereotypes empahsise how we are different not how we are similar and it is important to hear all of the stories of a person or to learn all of the aspects of their culture to build a counter-narrative.

In terms of my own personal narrative identity, I have started to look back and think about how it was shaped and the implications it has on my life and others, particularly in the area of education. My parents sacrificed a lot to allow us to attend boarding school, as education was valued and held in high regard of offering opportunity in life. After secondary school was finished, me and my siblings were asked to consider career pathways and professions that would allow us ‘the good life’ of opportunity, alongside being happy and healthy. After one year of completing a BCom, my narrative changed a very different route, as I experienced boredom and monotony with current studies. My mum was a teacher and during secondary school breaks, I often spent time in her classroom working with students and helping out. While thinking about this experience, I decided to change career courses and become a teacher. 

After this week’s reading and some reflection, I can reaffirm that everyone does not have an equal opportunity to access education in Aotearoa. This is in stark contrast to my dominant narrative of my upbringing and is one that I look forward to critically reflecting on over the coming weeks. My life has been privileged which has helped shape my narrative identity… this isn’t the case for many of my students.  The questions for me to ponder next are; what are the wider implications of this dominant narrative? Who has it harmed? How do I/we go about addressing the barriers to equitable access in education and to bolster the counter-narrative?

References:

McAdams, D. P. (2011). Narrative identity. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & V. L. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 99–115). Springer Science + Business Media.  

Adichie, C. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?subtitle=en