University as narrative therapy: the reconstruction of dominant self-narrative through post-secondary education

Abstract

This research investigates the ability of post-secondary education to play a role in the reconstruction of personal identity. Drawing on White and Epston's work in narrative therapy (1990), this reconstruction is understood by placing it within a narrative framework and is therefore seen as a process of re-authoring. An in-depth interview was conducted and the recollections that the participant offered were coded by drawing on the Innovative Moment Coding System (IMCS) developed by Gonçalves, Ribeiro, Mendes, Maros, and Santos (2011). This was used to identify contradictions to the participant's previously asserted dominant self-narrative. Analysis yielded the presence of consistent themes and protonarratives, defined by ambiguity and assertion. These protonarratives inserted themselves into the participant's new self-narrative, enabling her to situate herself and her relationship to her education in a new, more meaningful way.