Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World [1 ed.] 9781623967192, 9781623967178

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Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World

A volume in Yearbook of Idiographic Science Sergio Salvatore and Jaan Valsiner, Series Editors

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Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World

edited by

Sergio Salvatore University of Salento

Alessandro Gennaro University of Salento

Jaan Valsiner Clark University

INFORMATION AGE PUBLISHING, INC. Charlotte, NC • www.infoagepub.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data   A CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress   http://www.loc.gov ISBN: 978-1-62396-717-8 (Paperback) 978-1-62396-718-5 (Hardcover) 978-1-62396-719-2 (ebook)

Copyright © 2014 Information Age Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Introduction  Self-Regulation by Signs: A Social Semiotic Approach to Identity............................................................................................... ix Mariann Märtsin

SECT I O N I PLURALISM OF PERSONAL ANCHORAGES 1 Gender Identity in Intersex Adults: The Interplay of Voices and Silences............................................................................................ 3 Ana Karina Canguçú-Campinho, Ana Cecília de Sousa Bastos, and Isabel Maria Sampaio Oliveira Lima 2 Successive Ruptures in Maternal Identity: The Recurrent Abortion and the Implications for the Self........................................ 21 Vívian Volkmer Pontes 3 Health Professionals Die Too: How an Anesthesiologist Looks at Death in Palliative Care Practice.................................................... 41 Olga V. Lehmann and Emanuela Saita Section I Commentary  Modern Qualitative Approach to Psychology: Art or Science?...................................................................................... 75 Aaro Toomela

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SECT I O N I I IDENTITY IN MOVEMENT THROUGH CONTEXT 4 Identity and Organizations: Articulations from Social Networks Studies.................................................................................. 85 Antonio Virgílio Bittencourt Bastos, Ana Clara de Sousa Bastos, and Ingrid Rapold 5 Through the Professional Role to the World of New Meanings......111 Katrin Kullasepp 6 Family Business Dynamics: Generational Change as Identity Transition............................................................................................ 133 Ruggero Ruggieri and Nadia Pecoraro 7 Being Online: An Idiographic Approach to Identity in Virtual Environments...................................................................................... 161 Beatrice Ligorio, Feldia Loperfido, and Marianna Iodice Section II Commentary  The Identity as a System of Translation of the Boundary between Subject and Context.......................................... 179 Maria Francesca Freda and RaffaeleDe Luca Picione

SECT I O N I I I GENERALIZED MULTIPLICITY 8 Sustaining Identity Change Through the Use of Symbolic Resources: The Case of an Immigrant Living in Greece................ 195 Irini Kadianaki 9 Negotiating Identities in Immigrant Families: Indian Muslim Youth in the United States of America............................................. 219 Sujata Sriram 10 Representations and Social Belonging: An Idiographic Approach to Community and Identity.............................................. 251 Gordon Sammut, Mohammad Sartawi, Marco Giannini, and Chiara Labate 11 Performing Ethics at Identity Crossroads......................................... 279 Alberto Rosa and Fernanda González

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12 Territorial Identity and Immigration: Some Empirical Evidence on How They Are Related in Rome.................................. 309 Fabio Pollice, Francesca Spagnuolo, and Giulia Urso 13 Dynamics of Identity Re-Definitions among Refugees.................... 343 Hala W. Mahmoud Section III Commentary  Being on the Move: How Borders Help to Re-Think Identity............................................................................... 369 Giuseppina Marsico About the Contributors...................................................................... 375

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INTRODUCTION

SELF-REGULATION BY SIGNS A Social Semiotic Approach to Identity Mariann Märtsin

IDENTITY AS A MEANS OF SELF-REGULATION In contemporary social thought, identity is understood as a means of regulating and organising one’s dynamic engagement with the world. This conceptualisation builds on the idea that humans gain control over the world and their own natural abilities by way of constructing semiotic devices— signs and symbols—that allow distancing from the immediate experience and exploring it from (an)other perspective (Vygotsky, 1978; Valsiner, 2007a; Gillespie, 2010). This conceptualisation places identity firmly in the semiotic plane as a boundary process that regulates the flow between the intra-psychological semiotic field and inter-personally shared symbolic world. In line with Vygotsky’s thought, Holland and Lachicotte (2007), for example, suggest conceptualising identity as “a higher-order psychological function that organizes sentiments, understandings, and embodied knowledge relevant to a culturally imagined, personally valued social position” (p. 113; see also Holland et al., 1998). In their account, in symbolic worlds created

Multicentric Identities in Globalizing World, pages ix–xx Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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by humans, certain subjectivities are assumed and certain feelings, thoughts and behaviours are expected. By way of dwelling in these ‘figured worlds’, to use Holland’s terminology, individuals commit themselves to these anticipated identities which therefore start to function as means of self-regulation and self-orchestration. For Holland (2010), “the person is enabled over time to invoke, to organize him or herself according to, a complex ground of sentiments, sensibilities, feelings, skills, and practical knowledge that allows him to act as a particular kind of character in a figured world” (p. 273). Identities are thus conceptualised as ways of organising aspects of history-in-person (Holland & Lave, 2001); that is, they are intermediaries through which individuals shape and are shaped by social formations, which develop over sociohistoric time/space through people’s local contentious practices. Stetsenko and Arievitch (2004), however, emphasise that although being semiotic mediational means, identities rise from and are constituted by humans’ embodied experiences in collective activities in the material world. They thus remind us that culture and history do not exist only in the minds, but afford and constrain people’s experiences through their very material presence and absence. The conceptual tools offered by Holland and her colleagues, as well as others who follow similar lines of thought, are important for theorising how minds and cultures become intertwined through semiotic mediation. However, they do not go far enough to explain how identities as semiotic devices emerge and come to function as means of self-regulation. In this introductory chapter, then, I want to address this issue and unpack the idea that identity is a semiotic device that regulates and orchestrates one’s sentiments, understandings and embodied knowledge relevant to a social position. My discussion is guided by four questions: (1) in what sense can we think about identity as a semiotic device; (2) what kinds of processes give rise to the emergence of this semiotic device; (3) what type of semiotic device is identity; and finally (4) how does this semiotic device regulate and orchestrate our being in the world. By answering these questions I propose a social semiotic conceptualisation of identity, in which identity is seen as a hyper-generalised metasign that emerges from individuals’ experiences with significant others and is constantly re-created through these. I thus aim to provide a general conceptual framework for the following chapters that explore the diverse ways in which individuals act and understand themselves and others in relation to the various symbolic worlds they inhabit. IDENTITY AS A SIGN Let us start by asking, what it means to think about identity as a semiotic device. In what sense can we think about identity as a sign? Answering these

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questions requires an understanding of what sign is. Traditionally, signs are seen as consisting of two elements: form—the way a concept or idea is expressed, and meaning—the concept or idea that is denoted (Sonesson, 2010). Kress (2010), however, moves beyond this static view and suggests that: “signs are always newly made in social interaction; signs are motivated not arbitrary relations of meaning and form; the motivated relation of a form and a meaning is based on and arises out of the interest of makers of signs; the forms/signifiers which are used in the making of signs are made in social interaction and become part of the semiotic resources of a culture” (pp. 54–55, original emphasis). In Kress’s account, then, sign is a dynamic assemblage that is always in the process of transformation. It is by assembling our interests with the expected responses from others, who in turn create their own interpretations of our messages that are guided by their interests and their interpretations of our expected responses that the transformation of signs unfolds in a never-ending cycle. Bradley (2010) insists that sign should be differentiated from symbol, for symbol has at least two meanings, while sign stands for one. That is, symbol, as sign, firstly denotes that which is signified, and secondly, as symbol, stands for a broader personal or cultural meaning. For example, red rose is a sign that denotes a kind of flower, but it is also a symbol of love. As Bradley explains, this second-order meaning of symbol often refers to abstract concepts or ideas that are difficult to define (e.g., love). Zittoun (2010) further suggests that personal meanings of symbols and symbolic objects arise from and are rooted in people’s dynamic and embodied experiences with significant others who acknowledge these meanings and the use of symbolic objects. So, a red rose as a gift from a loved-one who is no longer there may become a symbol of love that will never be, as it arises from one’s experience of pleasure and pain, of finding and loosing love. Drawing upon this line of thinking, we can think about identity as a sign in the sense that it is a meaningful expression of one’s being in the world. It is a meaning that has a certain form—an objectified meaning (Valsiner, 2007b)—and denotes to myself and to others what it means to be me. An example from a recent study on identity processes may help to unpack this idea. I met the young Estonian woman, who I have decided to call Säde here and elsewhere (Märtsin & Mahmoud, 2012), shortly after she had moved to Britain to undertake her MA studies. When asked to reflect upon her experiences in this new place, she raised the issue of her name. It appeared that the administrators in her university tended to ignore the dots in the letter ‘ä’ in her first name and simply used the letter ‘a’ in all the correspondence and documents. It was something that truly bothered her. She wrote:

xii    Self-Regulation by Signs Perhaps I’m so touchy about this because my name has always been so central for me. If it was an ordinary Estonian name, perhaps it wouldn’t matter so much.

Her name is indeed an extraordinary and rarely used one in Estonian context. In fact, I had great trouble in finding a pseudonym for her that would capture the ‘semiotic value’ of her real name. For as she explained, her name represents the traditions of her family and the values and worldviews of her parents that they have tried to pass on to her and to her siblings. The name was chosen for her due to a natural phenomenon that was taking place at the time of her birth. I was not even aware that a word signifying that phenomenon existed in Estonian language; for me the word had another, a more mundane meaning shared by all those who knew the language. By the time I got to know the origins of her name, I could not remember much about the natural phenomena that were occurring on a day that she came into my life. So I had to find another rationale when choosing a pseudonym for her. After considering several different options I decided to choose a name that for me signified something about the person that I got to know during the one year study period. The word ‘säde’ means ‘spark’ in Estonian—a meaning, that in my view captures rather well the energetic, passionate, intelligent and sharp person she is. It was thus my dynamic and embodied experience with my participant that guided me towards this sign to denote her being (Zittoun, 2010). Equally, her real name was for her deeply rooted in her lived-through history and imagined future at home with her parents and siblings. Following Bradley (2010) we could argue that her name works as a symbol of who she is. In her own words: My self-consciousness to a large extent circles around my name. I think of myself as Säde1. [. . .] It is a very-very important thing for me. [When you are abroad] you constantly encapsulate yourself around the idea, that I am Säde, this is my background, I am this and that, and you rely on certain things that have been and remained somewhere.

The name, as a sign, thus signifies the person—the walking-talking human being—but as a symbol it also refers to a symbolic world, where she has a certain kind of identity, where she expects herself and is expected by others to act, feel and think in certain ways. In this sense the sign ‘Säde’ is an intermediary that connects her being with this symbolic world; it is a connection by way of which culture and history grow into her mind and her mind can reach out into the culture and history (Wagoner, 2010). It is a carrier, an expression of that symbolic world and her being in it.

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CONSTRUCTION OF SIGNS THROUGH ABSTRACTIVE GENERALISATION Having thus explained in what ways we can think about identities as signs or symbols, we can now turn to exploring the processes through which the signs become constructed. Henry Bergson (1907/1998) has argued that our conception of human meaning-making needs to take into account the irreversibility of time. That is, in the indivisible and irreversible flow of consciousness there can never be two experiences that are exactly the same, for our consciousness is always connected to the world that is in the process of becoming something else. While logically indisputable, Bergson’s claim is nevertheless counterintuitive, for we experience the world, others and ourselves as continuous and, at least to some degree, identical. So how does it happen that from this abundance of environmental input and possibility of creating indefinite number of meanings, we end up perceiving events, objects, ideas and people, including ourselves, as essentially the same? How do we end up signifying someone’s or something’s diverse ways of being with an expression that captures their essential sameness and continuity over time and space? Bergson deals with this challenge by introducing the notion of creative adaptation, conceptualised as a process where novel ways of experiencing occur in response to the demands of the environment through re-working of the past in the present in a manner that goes beyond the fit with the present state and reaches out into the unpredictable, yet anticipated future (Valsiner, 2007b). In Muldoon’s (2006) interpretation: “In duration the personal past influences the personal present, not as a static state of affairs, but as a dynamic process [. . .] such that the person can prefigure (préformation) the future to a degree that allows a choice unpredicted by preceding circumstances” (p. 82). The key to creative adaptation thus lies in human capacity to prefigure the world through the use of signs and symbols. The two situations can never be the same; however, they can have the same meaning. Think, for example, of all the times you tried to convince your partner that leaving his coffee cup unwashed and not throwing away the peelings after eating an orange, means the same thing (i.e., he does not care about you). The situations are specific. Signs, on the other hand, are more or less abstract. That is, they can be distanced from the specific circumstances from which they emerged (abstraction) and applied to new circumstances that seem similar (generalisation). Abstractive generalisation— creation of abstract signs that can be generalised to other contexts—is thus the process through which humans escape the limitations of the present and can prefigure the future (Valsiner, 2007b). Salvatore and Venuleo’s (2008; 2010) theorising about the unconscious and conscious semiosis allows further unpacking of this idea. According

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to their line of thought, unconscious and conscious semiosis are based on different modes of working. Unconscious or affective semiosis works on the basis of symmetry principle, which renders all experiences identical. For Salvatore and Venuleo (2010), unconscious thought is “an absolutely undifferentiated, presymbolic field of activation, produced by the encounter between the mind and the world, where no distinction has yet been made” (p. 61). Conscious semiosis, on the other hand, is based on the principle of asymmetry and thus builds heterogeneity and difference into our experience. In their view, conscious semiosis works upon the presymbolic field of activation, by differentiating experiences into meaningful categories, where difference exist between and sameness exist within categories. We thus arrive at first forms of generalised meanings of experience through the complementary working of conscious and unconscious forms of signification, with unconscious semiosis working as a generalising and homogenising way of signification and conscious thought differentiating and heterogenising our experiences. To illustrate this point, consider again my experiences with Säde. For me, despite the many diverse encounters we have had over the years, she is still ‘a girl with an interesting name’. This was the way I first signified her, upon the receipt of her email in which she expressed her interest in the study, and this homogenising and generalising sign has remained with me ever since. True, by reflecting upon her various experiences as she was retelling them or writing about them to me, I came to see many other aspects of her identity. Yet here I am several years later still writing about her as ‘a girl with an interesting name’ and not, for example, as a young mother, as a brilliant researcher, as an immigrant, as a patriotic young Estonian or as a partner of a man who comes from a different culture. She is all these other things too, but only when I start to think about it. For me, her identity—that which signifies her continuity and sameness across various space and time contexts—is best captured by her name. The other parts of her being are important too, but somehow they fit under or rather create difference into the abstract symbolic field activated by her name. Similarly, when I came to choosing a pseudonym for her, the name Säde stood out for me amongst the many alternatives as the one that best captures her being. As an abstract expression of her identity that name had a certain pull for me which I cannot articulate, but that was still forcefully guiding me towards that choice. Drawing on the idea that signs can be more or less abstract and using the examples just discussed, we can thus conceptualise identity as an abstract and highly generalised sign that carries the meaning of a wide range of experiences. In the examples above I was trying to signify someone else’s being; I was imposing an identity to them and immediately felt, although could not articulate, which sign was best suited. The situation is similar for my own being—I would have great trouble explaining what it means to be

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me, yet I have no trouble in living my life across various time and space contexts as me. Yet, how can that be? Did I not just explain that the purely affective field of activation—the inarticulate and undifferentiated feeling— is the first stage of sign creation? Is abstractive generalisation not a route towards higher levels of reflection and articulated (self-)awareness? IDENTITY AS A HYPER-GENERALISED METASIGN Answering these questions requires understanding how intra-psychological semiotic field is organised. Abbey (2007) suggests conceptualising intra-psychological field as having semiotic architecture—that is, being hierarchically organized, with highly abstract and generalized metasigns auto-regulating (in the sense of spontaneous and automatic guiding) the functioning of less abstract signs and the ongoing creation of new signs. As Valsiner (2007b) argues: “The human mind is regulated through a dynamic hierarchy of semiotic mechanisms of increasingly generalized kind, which involves mutual constraining between levels of the hierarchy” (p. 1, original emphasis). This constraining is enabled by parallel processes of schematisation and pleromatisation, where schematisation shrinks the meaning field into a point-like sign, while pleromatisation instantaneously expands it into a field-like sign where the interior of the field is differentiated and affords connections with other signs outside the field (Valsiner, 2006). Regulation (simultaneous constraining and enabling) of sign construction, proliferation and termination thus works upwards in the sign hierarchy, for abstractive generalisation is rooted in and guided by the initial signification of the affective field, but also downwards, for higher order signs can re-direct or block the process of abstractive generalisation. It is in this sense of being open to a range of (but not all) possible meaning potentials, that human meaning-making is orchestrated, but not determined. Abstractive generalisation thus unfolds as the undifferentiated affective field becomes differentiated through person’s reflection upon that initial unarticulated feeling and signified by a suitable sign. At the next level of abstraction, reflection upon the initial reflection again differentiates the field and then shrinks it into another more abstract sign. This process can be blocked at any moment of time by a higher-level sign or it can continue until the sign becomes hyper- or over-generalised. Valsiner (2001) suggests that at this highest level of abstraction, reflection and articulation become subordinated to speechless affect: Speechlessness—the propensity of human being not to say anything (to oneself or to another) can occur at both the lowest [. . .] and the highest [. . .] levels of semiotic mediation structure. [. . .] The person has overgeneralized the sign used in the mediational hierarchy to the level where speech turns into speechlessness. (p. 94)

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Valsiner (2008) uses the notion of hyper-generalisation to explain the functioning of social norms and values. Think, for example, about the overwhelming experience of peace when looking at the ocean or feeling catharsis when listening to a symphony. Equally we can imagine the experience of being in love or becoming free after months spent in captivity as such overpowering affective states that flood our whole being, take control over us and yet escape verbal expression. Building on this theorising, I suggest conceptualising identity as such a hyper-generalised metasign, which is so abstract and general that it becomes unspeakable (Märtsin, 2010a). It is abstract to the extent that it cannot be related to any specific situation, yet it gives meaning to each and every experience we have in the world. Just like it is impossible to articulate what it means to be in love, it is impossible to put into words the totality that is me. Yet this totality is very much present in everything we do and everything we are, as an implicit and taken-for-granted background of our everyday functioning. We can have a name for this totality—a sign that objectifies this fuzzy meaning field—but otherwise it escapes the verbal expression. One can feel it, but not explain it. Säde and her name serve as an illustration once again. As she explained, the totality of her being was held and carried by her name. “You constantly encapsulate yourself around the idea, that I am Säde”, she said. The name was thus an objectified form of that idea, of what it meant to be her. By evoking that name, she could enter that fuzzy meaning field and feel it; be in it. It could take hold of her in an overwhelming and powerful manner. Yet the only way she could verbally express this feeling, was by evoking the abstract sign—‘I am Säde’—while the fuzzy field in its totality remained unspeakable. Valsiner (2007b) argues that a person creates a meaning, objectifies it by fixing its form and then starts to act as if this objectified meaning is an agent who controls the person. I have suggested that we can conceptualise identity as a particular kind of objectified meaning—a hyper-generalised sign— that gains the power to control us by taking up the highest position in our intra-psychological semiotic hierarchy. As such, identity automatically regulates the construction, proliferation and termination of other signs as we experience the world. It is only in the moments of encountering unfitting strangeness (Märtsin, 2010c) that this overwhelming and taken-for-granted background becomes foregrounded and we need to switch to the reflective semiosis to make sense of the new experience. IDENTITY AS A MEANS OF REGULATING DIVERSITY Shotter (2008) argues that our engagement with the surrounding world unfolds as a ceaseless flow where we respond to the constant callings of others

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and othernesses spontaneously, without reflection or contemplation. In Holland’s (2010) terminology, once the ways of feeling, thinking and acting in various figured worlds have been internalised, they are invoked automatically when the need emerges. Zittoun (2007), however, reminds us that this ceaseless flow is punctured by moments of rupture, where the callings of others stop to make sense to us and we become uncomfortably aware of our being that is out of sync with the surrounding world. She argues that in the transition period that follows a rupture this effortless flow has to be re-established through psychological work by utilising cultural elements as personal symbolic resources. According to the social semiotic model of identity proposed here, the ceaseless flow of our being can be conceptualised as time when our relating to the world is auto-regulated by our identity as a hyper-generalised metasign. Rupture, instead, is an extraordinary experience that is dissimilar to everything that has come before, so that it cannot be regulated automatically. That is, it is too different to be made meaningful by referring to the already existing intra-psychological meaning field. In these moments of rupture, then, the automatic semiotic regulation breaks down and reflective regulation, where the abstractive generalisation is accessible through verbal expression, takes over. It is in those moments then that we can witness individuals’ identity dialogues with oneself and with others (Märtsin, 2010b). Consider, once again, the experiences of Säde. Although she often mentioned her parents and their philosophy in her questionnaires and interviews, she hardly ever talked about her siblings. Until one day, when she wrote to me about her recent experience with her sister. It turned out that her sister had decided to change her first name. That is, she had decided to replace the uncommon name that her parents had given her, with an ordinary one. Säde revealed that she could not understand her sister’s decision; that she had always thought that the name was as important to her sister as it was for her, and by changing it her sister was spitting on something that they both were supposed to hold dear. Even after several months she remembered the event as painfully important: Suddenly you realize that the things that have been there at home or in the family or in the history, they are actually not there. It feels as if someone has pulled the carpet from under your feet. I felt that somehow the things at home were changing so fast that I could not rely on them or on the values that I thought had existed. In that sense it was a painful blow for me.

Josephs (2002) suggests that in the moment of rupture: “the formerly taken-for-granted (and thus backgrounded) life-world suddenly becomes foregrounded and ‘visible’” (p. 171). For Säde, the symbolic world where her being Säde made sense became visible because of an experience that did not fit into this as-if world. Her name—the bridge that used to lead her

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to the familiar world of her family and their shared history—now seemed to lead her nowhere. Her identity—this overwhelming feeling of being Säde—became uncomfortably foregrounded. Instead of guiding her functioning in the world silently, it was loudly questioning her; enquiring about her way of being in this world away from home and family in relation to a sister who had changed her name. She had to stop and contemplate upon this new experience to be able to make sense of it, to see how it could be integrated into her existing intra-psychological semiotic architecture. The moment of rupture—finding out about her sister’s decision—was painful and the period of transition was psychologically laborious as her dialogues with me and with herself indicate. Yet she was able to re-establish her sense of identity—integrate this new experience into her sense of being Säde and thus push to the background that which was temporarily and painfully foregrounded: In the end it’s not that tragic and there are practical reasons and perhaps it is easier for her in that way [ . . . ] it was tough for me. If I was at home and wasn’t relying that much on those, so to say, values, perhaps it wouldn’t have had that impact on me. But in that moment it was tough.

As discussed above, Salvatore and Venuleo (2008; 2010) suggest that human sense-making unfolds by complementary workings of unconscious (affective) and conscious (reflective) semiosis. Identity as a hyper-generalised metasign works—becomes created, maintained, altered and abandoned— through the same processes as these work both upwards and downwards in the semiotic hierarchy. Along this line of reasoning, it could be argued that the more people are exposed to variability the more they need to use identity as a hypergeneralised sign to regulate this variability and maintain their sense of continuity and sameness. In other words, the more dissimilar our experiences are, the more abstracting-generalisation-work is required to make them seem similar, and the more identity as a hypergeneralised sign gains the ‘power’ to guide future sense-making. Säde was able connect two very unalike experiences—her frustration with the university administrators who ignored the letter ‘ä’ in her first name and her acceptance of her sister’s name change—by referring to her own name as a symbol of her being. Instead of these troubling experiences weakening or dismantling her identity, Salvatore and Valsiner would argue, her identity became more abstract and more generalised through this process, and thus gained more ‘power’ to regulate and orchestrate her future encounters with the world. The editors thus argue that we should not think about identity as a pre-existing entity that needs to be protected against variability that globalisation produces, but rather that diversity triggers and generates the construction, maintenance and strengthening of identity.

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In this introduction I have sought to open up this idea that identity as a hypergeneralised metasign emerges from the encounter with the rupturing otherness (Märtsin, 2010c) as a way of regulating it. The ways in which this process is played out in our globalising world by various actors across diverse contexts will be further unpacked in the chapters that follow. REFERENCES Abbey, E. (2007). At the boundary of me and you: Semiotic architecture of thinking and feeling the other. In l. M. Simão & J. Valsiner (Eds.), Otherness in question: labyrinths of the self (pp. 73–91). Charlotte, NC: Information Age. Bergson, H. (1907/1998). Creative evolution. Trans. A. Mitchell. New York: Dover Publications. [Original work published in French in 1907]. Bradley, B. (2010). Experiencing symbols. In B. Wagoner (Ed.), Symbolic transformation. The mind in movement through culture and society (pp. 93–119). London & New York: Routledge. Gillespie, A. (2010). The intersubjective nature of symbols. In B. Wagoner (Ed.), Symbolic transformation. The mind in movement through culture and society (pp. 23– 37). London & New York: Routledge. Holland, D. (2010). Symbolic worlds in time/spaces of practice: Identities and transformations. In B. Wagoner (Ed.), Symbolic transformation. The mind in movement through culture and society (pp. 269–283). London & New York: Routledge. Holland, D., & Lachicotte, W. (2007). Vygotsky, Mead and the new sociocultural studies on identity. In H. Daniels, M. Cole, & J. Wertsch (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Vygotsky (pp. 101–135). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Holland, D., & Lave, J. (Eds.). (2001). History in person: Enduring struggles, contentious practice, intimate identities. Albuquerque, NM: School of American Research Press. Holland, D., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Josephs, I. E. (2002). “The hopi in me”: The construction of a voice in the dialogical self from a cultural psychological perspective. Theory & Psychology, 12, 161–173. Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality. A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London & New York: Routledge. Märtsin, M. (2010a). Identity in dialogue: Identity as hyper-generalized personal sense. Theory & Psychology, 20, 436–450. Märtsin, M. (2010b). Making sense of identity dialogues. Culture & Psychology, 16(1), 109–115. Märtsin, M. (2010c). Rupturing otherness: Becoming Estonian in the context of contemporary Britain. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 44, 65–81. Märtsin, M., & Mahmoud, H. (2012). Never at home? Migrants between societies. In J. Valsiner (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology (pp. 730–745). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

xx    Self-Regulation by Signs Muldoon, M. S. (2006). Tricks of time. Bergson, Merleau-Ponty and Ricoeur in search of time, self and meaning. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press. Salvatore, S., & Venuleo, C. (2010). The unconscious as symbol generator: a psychodynamic-semiotic approach to meaning-making. In B. Wagoner (Ed.), Symbolic transformation. The mind in movement through culture and society (pp. 59–74). London & New York: Routledge. Salvatore, S. & Venuleo, C. (2008). Understanding the role of emotion in sensemaking: A semiotic psychoanalytic oriented perspective. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 42(1), 32–46. Shotter, J. (2008). Conversational realities revisited: Life, language, body and world. Chagrin Falls, OH: Taos Institute. Sonesson, G. (2010). Here comes the semiotic species: Reflections on the semiotic turn in the cognitive sciences. In B. Wagoner (Ed.) Symbolic transformation. The mind in movement through culture and society (pp. 38–58). London & New York: Routledge. Stetsenko, A., & Arievitch, I. (2004). The self in cultural-historical activity theory: reclaiming the unity of social and individual dimensions of human development. Theory & Psychology, 14(4), 475–503. Valsiner, J. (2008). Ornamented worlds and textures of feeling: the power of abundance. Critical Social Studies, 1, 67–78. Valsiner, J. (2007a). Culture in minds and societies: Foundations of cultural psychology. New Delhi, India: Sage. Valsiner, J. (2007b). Semiotic autoregulation: Dynamic sign hierarchies constraining the stream of consciousness. Sign System Studies, 35, 1/2. Valsiner, J. (2006). The overwhelming world: Functions of pleromatization in creating diversity in cultural and natural constructions. Paper presented at the International Summer School of Semiotic and Structural Studies, 12 June 2006, Imatra, Finland. Valsiner, J. (2001). Process structure of semiotic mediation in human development. Human Development, 44, 84–97. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds. & Trans.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Wagoner, B. (Ed.). (2010). Symbolic transformation. The mind in movement through culture and society. London & New York: Routledge. Zittoun, T. (2010). How does an object become symbolic? Rooting semiotic artefacts in dynamic shared experiences. In B. Wagoner (Ed.) Symbolic transformation. The mind in movement through culture and society (pp. 173–192). London & New York: Routledge. Zittoun, T. (2007). Dynamics of interiority. Ruptures and transitions in the self development. In L. M. Simão & J. Valsiner (Eds.), Otherness in question. Labyrinths of the self (pp. 187–214). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

SECTION I PLURALISM OF PERSONAL ANCHORAGES

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CHAPTER 1

GENDER IDENTITY IN INTERSEX ADULTS The Interplay of Voices and Silences Ana Karina Canguçú-Campinho Federal University of Bahia Ana Cecília de Sousa Bastos Federal University of Bahia and Catholic University of Salvador Isabel Maria Sampaio Oliveira Lima Federal University of South Bahia

ABSTRACT The process of identity configuration involves internal and external dimensions of the subject. The sense of self is built in the intersection between the subject and the collectivity, and culture plays a crucial role in these dynamics. It is also considered that identity is constituted based on some dimensions which are stable or mutable in time and space. Gender represents one of these dimensions that remains or should remain stable throughout time.

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 3–20 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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4    A. K. CANGUÇÚ-CAMPINHO et al. The purpose of this chapter is to understand, based on autobiographical narratives, the construction of gender identity in intersexual persons. Intersexuality is understood as a condition in which people are born with a sexual anatomy that does not fit the typical definition of male or female. Interviews with five intersexual persons, with different clinical diagnoses for intersexuality, were conducted. One interview was selected for the present analysis, for it enables a more profound discussion on the theme. Narrative interviews were conducted focusing on three major issues: identity as a dialogic process, gender identity, and embodiment. Dialogical Self Theory oriented data analysis and the interpretation, prioritizing the multiple voices, and the interplay of “I positions” in the constitution of the self. Both the voices of family, friends, neighbors, health professionals and the silences play an important role in shaping the intersex’s identity, participating as mediators in the construction of meanings about the body. The relative silence about the history of these people is understood as a way to protect them from suffering the “knowing” could promote. The dynamics of self is affected by the sense of ambivalence about the body, sex, and life history. The identity of the intersex person is thus built on the interweaving of voices and silences that give meaning to their existence. The sense of self is drawn from the negotiation of meaning between family members and physicians concerning body and gender, but it involves also a personal dimension that organizes and gives meaning to the person’s experiences.

INTRODUCTION Identity is a very complex theme, since it involves several dimensions in the same phenomenon: ontological, personal, cultural and/ political. Some theories prioritize only one of these dimensions, ignoring the relevance of a multifaceted perspective on this phenomenon. The notion of identity is frequently discussed taking into account either the personal dimension or the collective dimension. However, these different approaches leave aside important conceptual issues, excluding the Idea of identity as a process which unfolds along time. Psychology has produced important knowledge on identity in distinct theoretical fields, such as Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Developmental Psychology, prioritizing the individual’s/ subjective’s perspective. Valsiner’s (1998) understanding of Developmental Cultural Psychology considers the psychological subject is developed in the articulation between the social and the collective; this articulation involves an inclusive separation between personal and collective cultures. The relation person—culture is presented by Valsiner (2007) through the bi-directional model of cultural transference. This considers development as an open systemic phenomenon, involving the process of transmission of knowledge in which all participants are actively transforming cultural messages. According to

Gender Identity in Intersex Adults    5

Valsiner (2007), human experience is “subjective reality culturally organized and constantly recreated in a personal way”. Therefore, culture is present in the act of feeling, thinking, and acting, it is not external to the individual, it does not determine the individual, since he/ she elaborates interpretations on it. If we take into account this perspective, it is possible to understand the type of relationship self–society, in which the “sense of self” is gradually constructed in the interface of the social other and cultural meanings collectively shared and individually re-signified, which is transformed into personal culture, crucial to the dynamics of self-configuration. The process of identity configuration is developed through the articulation of some dimensions which are maintained throughout time and others that change. Gender is one of these dimensions. According to Scott (1995) gender refers to relations established based on social perception of organic differences between sexes. Grossi (1998) states that the conception of gender was used for the first time in Brazil associated to the idea of identity. The initial use of this term stressed the exclusively social origins of subjective identities of men and women. Therefore, differences between men and women were not originated by biological aspects, they were socially constructed. Thus, the notion of gender and particularly the notion of identity of gender carries the idea of maintenance and stability, on which the subject aggregates conceptions about him/ herself. In spite of emphasizing on the social aspect of gender, some author assumed a linear relationship between sex and identity of gender. This way, women supposedly developed female identities of gender and men male identities of gender, following stages which are proper of human development. In her research, Chodorow (1978) emphasizes processes through which gender identity is built. In order to do it, she prioritizes the first developmental stages in children and their concrete experiences with their parents. According to this perspective, female gender identity is developed in its imbrication with the expectations of mothering, being it originated in the relationship daughter/mother, the daughter`s level of identification with her mother. Notwithstanding, studies on transexuality and intersexuality allowed some researchers to question this stable and binary point of view, enabling another way of thinking sex and gender. Feminist perspective contributed to this debate in reflecting upon the standardization of bodies, assuming they are strongly submitted to asymmetrical gender relations. They emphasize that a heteronormative influences practices directed to intersexual children. In the present study, the gender identity was perceived according to the Dialogical Self perspective. Self and identity are not conceived as fixed identities, but as processes in constant transformation. According to Hermans (2004), the Dialogical Self Theory views the self as a multiplicity of parts

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(voices, characteristics, and positions) which have a potential to promote dialogical relations with each other. Narratives and experiences are taken as builders of subjectivity, operating through internal dialogues between the I and the Other. The notion of dialogue of voices as something constructing different I positions is aggregated to the understanding of identity. In this case, identity is not only constituted by the person’s narrative of his/ her own life history, it also involves how the person interacts/dialogues with values, discourses, ideas and beliefs that are internalized. Gender identity is not constructed on the basis of unconscious, as it is described in psychoanalysis; neither is it considered as something detached from culture and only perceived as part of the individual’s development. The understanding of gender identity utilized in this paper comprehends it as a product of the relation individual–society, wherein physical and personal experience are constrained and affected by relations and values socially shared. It is understood that identity and gender identity are constructed and reconstructed along time and are associated with the person’s representations of body, sex and gender, which are idiosyncratic to his/ her cultural context, and therefore, correlate elements which are dialogically integrated: time, body and culture. Time is viewed as a dimension of chronological organization, a collection of experiences of the subject itself and his/her surroundings. The body is a real dimension, which is able to transform, a place in which the subject`s conscience is integrated along time, due to cultural values with which it interacts. Culture is viewed as modeling clay in the space of values and relationships. Immersed in these elements, the dynamics of the form-substance of “who I am” gradually assumes a projection in its own mirror. According to Louro (2003), identities are always constructed; they are not fixed in one moment such as childhood or adolescence, they are unstable, likely to transform and involve social negotiation. In the case of intersexuals,1 uncertainty endures along the individuals’ entire life trajectory, emerging sometimes as narratives and sometimes as gaps. Under these circumstances, gender identity seems to be profoundly affected by the ambivalence between body and sex. Secrecy emerges as a common practice, which emerged from some kind of “agreement” between the person’s family, health professionals and the person himself/ herself. The intersexual’s identity is built in the interface of different discourses, which sometime legitimize, sometimes deny its existence. The purpose of this study is based on autobiographical narrative, to understand the dynamics of I-positions present in the configuration of gender identity in intersexual persons. The Dialogical Self Theory, proposed by Hermans and Hermans-Jansen (2003), was utilized as foundation material in the elaboration of a model concerning the dynamics of identity construction in intersexual persons (Canguçú-Campinho, 2012). This same model

Gender Identity in Intersex Adults    7

was used here, concerning specifically the construction of gender identity in one case, the case of an intersexual person.

METHODOLOGY Interviews with five intersexual persons, with different clinical diagnoses for intersexuality, were conducted. The participants were assisted by the Service of Genetics of HUPES/UFBA. One interview was selected for the present analysis, for it enables a more profound discussion on the theme. Narrative interviews were oriented by three main axes: (a) identity as a dialogical process; (b) gender identity constrained to social-cultural knowledge and power; and (c) corporeity as a primary element for the development of the sense of self. Narrative analysis was articulated according to the perspective of the Dialogical Self Theory, since the understanding of voices and I positions in the constitution of the self was prioritized. In this chapter, the case of Lucimeire will be presented to illustrate the dynamics of identity configuration in the situation of intersexuality. The choice for this participant not only was based on the complexity of her narrative, but also on the clarity and coherence with which she narrated her life history.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Lucimeire is 37 years old, Black, short, overweight, an elementary school teacher and is currently attending Law school. She was diagnosed with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) when she was a child. Since then, she regularly attends the ambulatory of Genetics (HUPES /UFBA) accompanied by her mother. CAH is a medical terminology used to address one of the possible causes of intersexuality. According to Berenbaum and Resnick (1997), CAH is an autosomal recessive disease, which derives from the alteration of enzymes participating in the synthesis of cortisol. One of its forms of expression is the prenatal virilization of the female external genitalia. This interview was performed in the ambulatory; it was previously scheduled with Lucimeire, who came this specific day to the ambulatory to participate in this study. Lucimeire’s narratives intensely express her experience of intersexuality. Not only her relatives, friends, neighbors, and health professionals’ voices, but also their silence played an important role in the configuration of her subjectivity, especially her identity.

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The Others’ Voices and Silence By analyzing Lucimeire`s narrative, based on the dialogical self perspective, it was possible to understand the dynamics of I-positions and voices in the construction of her subjectivity. Both family rejection and acceptance were part of her life history. They were sometimes presented as meaningful silences, sometimes as meaningful voices. Silence expressing family rejection was observed by Lucimeire when she pointed out the affective distance present between her and her paternal grandfather, characterized by absence of dialogue between him and her, and between him and her mother. It was also marked by an episode of extreme violence: her grandfather tried to kill her when she was still a baby, by setting fire to her crib. . . . my grandfather didn`t accept me. So much that I was in the crib, a newborn, and he simply set fire near the crib. When my mother saw that, she took me in her arms, and handed me to the neighbor, across the fence. If it weren`t for that, I would be dead. My grandfather and we never had a close relationship.

Her mother’s silence about her life history is signified/ understood by her as a way to protect her from suffering, a way to avoid the possible consequences of knowing the truth. At first, Lucimeire’s family was also dissatisfied with her situation when she was born. My mother suffered a lot. Imagine having a daughter with a life already predetermined. She doesn’t speak of it too much. I think she has already gone through so many things, Dr. that she prefers to avoid it, so we don’t feel rancor. I am not angry at my grandfather. I feel no angry at all! I feel pity for him, because he didn’t enjoy my company, didn’t take care of me. He was not fond of me at all. “I think . . . my mother wanted to hide it because . . . it was different.

Her mother’s silence about the moment she was born and the existence of a body with typical aspects of the male gender, helped Lucimeire build ambivalent meanings about the origin of her sex/gender. Sometimes, Lucimeire feels she is a woman, or does not feel she is a man; sometimes she questions her condition, stressing that there was some kind of alteration in her pathway of constructing gender. She doesn’t tell me what happened (she doesn’t tell me how was the delivery, what doctors said). Sometimes I joked about it and used to say: “Oh, Mom, actually I wasn’t supposed to be born as a woman, I was supposed to be born

Gender Identity in Intersex Adults    9 as a man.” ( Laughs) I used to say this to her and she: “what the heck, girl, are you mad?” Well . . . the way I am . . . Because . . . now it’s getting better, after I started being assisted here, the hair has reduced. Before I started treatment here, the hair (I she has on her face) curled—this part (showing her chin). I was really upset and almost let it grow into a beard! But then I said, “I’m not a man” . . .

At other times, the maternal voice negates Lucimeire’s feeling of difference, expressed by the latter. This strategy utilized several times by Lucimeire’s mother prevents this feeling of exclusion and of being different from increasing. I thought I was different from others; that it had only happened to me. My mother would say, “Goodness no, it isn’t so!”

In the context of contemporary western society, health professional’s voice reproduces the hegemony of scientific power, specifically in the dimension of biomedical knowledge. This dimension is expressed on her mother’s narrative, according to which she suffers in face of a medical prognosis on her daughter’s remaining lifetime. In this situation, medical knowledge is not questioned; it is actually taken as an absolute truth, affecting the meanings constructed about the child, a child with a pre-determined lifetime. My mother told me when I was born, she took me to the doctor, and the doctor, she told me this recently, two or three years ago, the doctor said that I would live only until I was 22. My mother cried. Due to my problem, hyperplasia, I was only going to live until 22, I wouldn’t go beyond this age. Mother really got upset. She suffered a lot. Imagine someone who has a daughter whose lifetime is already determined.

Ambivalent Body Experience Lucimeire’s identity is built in the intersection of feelings, body and ambivalent practices. Even though she feels she is a woman, she has body characteristics socially considered as male characteristics; in ways she performs body practices associated to a man’s experience. This body diversity makes Lucimeire question to which gender she belongs. I should not have come as a girl; I was going to be a boy. Because, you see, doctor, the excess of hair bothers me, it bothers me. . . . (she touches her chin) People look at me as if I were a freak.

10    A. K. CANGUÇÚ-CAMPINHO et al. So, I started to use wax to remove the hair, but the wax hurt me. It becomes very red, the skin becomes very thin, red; it hurts. I was so . . . that people used to say—“you should use cold wax,” but I used hot wax, let it cool and then wiped the hair out.

The feeling of absence of naturalness or feeling of artificiality is articulated with the existence of a body corrected by medicine and technologies. I told that woman and my mother that everything in me was artificial. My mother asked me—why? “I wear glasses, I wear prosthesis.” Mother said “No way. Everybody wears It.” “No, mom, I need glasses to see better, I need a prosthesis to chew, for God’s sake! I need medicine not to look like a man.” Everything is artificial, sometimes I joke about it because it’s hard, I used to seat and cry. Today, I don’t cry anymore.

Even though the relation with the body is surrounded by feelings of shame, this relation is dynamic and is transformed as time flows. Two main aspects are emphasized here: (1) specialized medical context, which enables Lucimeire to build a new meaning for her body, considering it as a consequence of a disease; and (2) medical treatment allowed some body changes, such as diminution of hair and muscle tone. Oh! In the beginning? Oh! In the beginning . . . I was really ashamed; I’m not going to lie, when I was around my family, I was really ashamed. Ashamed! Because my arms are not . . . they are not thinner, I wish they were thinner . . . when I used to do this movement with the arms, oh my God! Before I started taking medicine, this muscle was very evident. [she shows her biceps] My legs were pretty, well shaped legs. I didn’t have a fat belly, I was kind of chubby, but my belly wasn’t, my breasts were really small, my problem was the voice and the excess of hair. I was really hairy! Even my hands were hairy! I used to wear shorts, had no problem with it. In the beginning I was ashamed, but then I wasn’t ashamed anymore. I had no problem with it.

In spite of the fact she searched for a similarity according the standard patterns of gender, there is also an emphasis on diversity. The singularity of her own name is seen as a hallmark of personal exclusivity. The personal resource used to give a meaning to diversity is to signify it as “exclusivity”. Her name, expression of identity, is here signified and felt as revealing a personal characteristic, exclusivity. I think my name is beautiful, I love my name—because it’s different. The other day I was analyzing, “boy, with so many beautiful names, why Lucimeire?” My name is different (. . .) no one else has this name. But the other day I saw on the internet a lot of women called Lucimeire. Oh, I’m not exclusive any-

Gender Identity in Intersex Adults    11 more! At the university, girls ask me “what’s your name?” I: Lucimeire. You may look . . . I’m the only one at the university. [says it with pride]

Lucimeire’s experience was engendered by female role models she had in her life history. Her grandmothers and her mother represented both strength and wisdom. They are role models for Lucimeire. My mother, my grandmother; I thought they were very strong women. Now, she is sick, just now, after 75. And she is being helped by others. She has 11 children, imagine a person that helped all of them. Despite her small salary, when a son needs it, she finds a way to help him. My grandmother is a very strong person [They influenced on] My behavior . . . I try to make fewer mistakes. We are not perfect. When it’s time to say something sweet, I learned to be able to say it. Learned to have the right attitude and apologize . . . and not use force. My grandmother had a strong personality, but she never hit anybody.

The dimensions of identity are engendered by the real relationship between the other and internal dialogue (dialogue with herself and dialogue with the other’s voice present in her psychological field). The subject exists and psychologically organizes herself, based on the experience of the physical and social world. In this specific case, Lucimeire’s self, if we understand it based on the perspective of Dialogical Self Theory, assumes dynamic alternating positioning. I Positions In the Configuration of Identity I-As Different/Singular Boy, I thought I was . . . not that I was unique, but that I wasn’t going to find anyone else who had gone through the same thing I have . . . Boy, I was, I said “oh” . . . I set in front of the computer and cried. I thought, I . . . “my God, I’m not the only one going through this.” . . .

Being born different propitiates, in the flow of time, an experience of loneliness, rooted in the absence of common social affiliations. Some intersexual persons express a feeling they are not human, since they have bodies that differ from culture standards of “normality.” There is a rupture in the process of identity construction, inasmuch as they start to question their own humanity, feeling as if they were “freaks,” monsters. In Lucimeire’s case, belonging to the group of “people with hyperplasia” allows her process of identity to be peculiar, though a rupture in the identification with what is human does not happen. She feels different in relation

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to social patterns of sex/gender, emphasizing she has gone through situations uncommon to most people, but she does not question her humanity. The process of diagnosis, the main tool for the biomedical perspective, generates a certain stability, since it enables intersexuals to perceive themselves as sick, and not as non-humans. I-as different/singular is constructed by the interaction of the subject with the environment, since the sense of self is affected by social affiliations and non-affiliations. In the interaction self–environment, the self is active and not only allows new rearrangements, but also the emergence of psychological novelty. Identity is therefore dialogically constructed and involves discontinuities, but mainly a sense of stability of the self. I-as different/singular appears as a central position for the self, regulating other positioning, guiding the process of identity construction I-as Ill Perceiving herself as carrier of a disease is something emphasized by Lucimeire`s description of a systematic medical monitoring present throughout her life. Lucimeire narrates an episode in which she decided herself to stop taking the medicine and was reprimanded by the female doctor monitoring her. In the beginning, I had to take the medicine every day, but I decided: “No! I will take no medicine.” I stopped taking it. When I came here for a medical appointment, the doctor said: “what medicine was prescribed for you?” Oh, I stopped taking it! “You did?” oh, I did  . . . “Never do that again, do you want to die?”

The need for medical monitoring and use of medication reinforces the feeling that she has a chronicle disease. I-As Different Woman By assuming the self as dynamic (Hermans & Hermans-Jansen, 2003), it is possible to understand the interaction between several I-positions, which enables rearrangements and emergence of new positions. One example is the configuration of I-as a different woman, whose origin is tied to the dialogue between the positions I- as a woman, I- as different/singular and I-as ill. Other positions are parallel affecting the emergence of this new position, such as I-as brave and I -as similar. Some voices, such as the voices of the family, represented by her mother`s voice, and the voices of health care professionals, are strongly present in the configuration of this position. Lucimeire’s mother puts herself as the interlocutor that promotes “stability of gender” in assuring Lucimeire is a woman, or when she disapproves Lucimeire’s questionings about the origin of her sex.

Gender Identity in Intersex Adults    13 Sometimes I played with her and would say: “Oh, mom, actually I wasn`t supposed to be born as a woman, I was supposed to be a man.” (Laughs) I would say this to her and she would say: “no way, darling, are you nuts?”

I-As Brave The position I-as brave is built as a foundation for Lucimeire to transcend the anguish of loneliness, even though it presupposes she faces her fear of meeting people with similar life histories. I had courage to do that, because I could find a lot of things on the internet, but I don’t know if I was afraid of finding what I didn’t want to find; I don’t know. So, I did it. I found people who had problems with the voice—my voice was too thick; now it’s better—with the hair, which was excessive; it almost looked like a beard.

Viewing herself as courageous is part of her attempt to find a meaning for her physical difference based on other contexts, which are not the medical one. This courage is expressed by the act of seeking other references for her physical experience. Internet allowed her to get in contact with similar situations experienced by other women with CAH. I-As Similar This I-position is related to the presence of a cycle (someone else’s pain eases my pain and this experience allows me to understand the experience of the other person, changing an element that could strengthen the pain: the other’s discriminating look): What eased my pain the most was when I saw a girl who had more emphasized male traits than I. I don’t even know if she still attends here (to the ambulatory). But she . . . her traits were all masculinized. In my case, I think after taking the medication, female hormones had reduced the masculinized traits. But I didn’t discriminate her because I have gone through the same situation. I came with my sister-in-law and she was impressed by that girl, I told her to be quiet, because I know what is to be discriminated by someone’s look; it’s awful. I don’t know if the word hurts as much as the look.

The encounter with another who suffers triggers change in Lucimeire`s self field, since she starts to relate in another fashion with the world and with herself. I-Self Love Even though Lucimeire was constantly rejected by her father through aggressive behavior expressed by him, her grandfather or neighbors, or through someone else’s stigmatizing look she reflects upon this experience,

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giving new meanings to it, therefore changing her feelings toward herself and her body. Lucimeire’s personal agency stands out in face of multiple voices, which reassure and contradict each other. (do people look at you in a different way?) Yes, they do . . . they do. But when they realize who I am, what I really represent... That’s why I tell you I like myself, I like myself . . . These days I thought . . . I love myself. That selfish thing, because . . . people didn’t have time to feel it for me, but I like myself.

In this study, it is considered that the dynamics of identity involves both intrasubjective and intersubjective processes. The intrasubjective dimension has already been addressed in the topics that highlight the analysis of the I-positions and the person’s relationship with her own body. The intersubjective dimension will be object of later reflections, which situate Lucimeire’s interaction with her relational context. INVERSION OF THE CONTACT FUNCTION/HUMAN INTERACTION HAPPENS THROUGH SENSES Human interaction with the surrounding environment and with the social other involves the participation of the senses, sense organs (smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing). Through these organs we experience sensations and feelings. I add here that sense organs also enable us to interact with others. Human contact involves sensations and feelings accessed by one or several sense organs. The look, the words, the smell, the touch, tastes are relevant aspects in order to know the world and to establish social and personal relations. In Lucimeire’s interview, three of five human senses are emphasized as the expression of absence of an “encounter” with the other. The look condemns, the voice stigmatizes and the touch does not welcome. That’s it! The worst thing I think is to be seen as a man. People condemn you by their look. It’s like I told you, I have suffered bullying during several years of my life. I never told this to my mother. People used to look at me . . .

Not only the look, but the other’s stigmatizing voice is also experienced with a lot of suffering by Lucimeire. Lucimeire’s past experiences acquire new interpretations, being defined as “bullying”: No, no, they used to do what they call bull . . . bullying, isn’t it? Bullying. I suffered a lot. Boy! They called me boy, vulture, sorry to use this term, but they called me monkey. [she cries]

Gender Identity in Intersex Adults    15 . . . now I tell you what I have gone through, because today it is commonly talked on television shows and questions it , after a lot of children killed themselves, or committed crimes because they suffered bullying . . . now I understand what I have gone through . . . 

The Impact of Masculinization of the Body on Affective Relations In western society, the presence of thick hair, an accentuated muscle tone and a thick voice are related to the male body and seen as representations of manhood. When these aspects emerge on a woman, ambivalent meanings arise, sometimes characterizing women as fiery, sometimes questioning their femininity. In the interaction of intersexualities, this body aspect is experienced with great suffering, meaningfully echoing in sexual and affective relations. I realized it wasn’t just me; I saw people going through the same problem I had, that was exposed to bullying, people who weren’t able to date . . . I was a lot older than other people by the time I had my first date. I was older than 17. Why? Because I only started dating after my female characteristics started to show. No one dates a girl with muscles, especially in the countryside. In the capital no one bothers, but in the countryside no. “Look, that guy is dating a man.”

The relationship doctor–patient is ambivalent. At the same time it involved the absence of touch and dialogue, it allowed relevant psychological and physical changes. Lucimeire acknowledges the importance of health professionals on her change, she re-signified the way she deals with her gender identity. When I came here, the doctors who attended me didn’t touch the patient very much. They don’t touch! They don’t talk . . . You came and hugged me. There are certain things that not even remedies heal. Thank God I found this place (ambulatory)—thank God! I thanked Jesus, I have been coming here for more than 23 years; I’ve been coming here for more than 20 years. I have gotten better (after started going to the ambulatory). First all the muscles I had disappeared. The level of sugar in my blood also reduced. I still have a prominent biceps, look . . . But I have improved my voice, I became more affectionate, I realized I wasn’t supposed to be a man, I was really meant to be a woman. I have to be a woman! I want to believe it! I believed it and today I am a woman! I assumed it! I want it!

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Medical Mediation in the Relation with the Body. The acceptance of the body was mediated by medical language, which by explaining the origins and the consequences of CAH, enabled Lucimeire to signify her body and sex. Religious explanation for “intersexuality” was substituted by medical explanation. This explanatory shift allowed the reduction of feelings of guilt associated with religion, since it defined intersexuality, more specifically CAH, as an organic disorder. . . . today I accept myself. No, I started to accept myself the day I started to come here (to the ambulatory). Because I realized it was going to be a transformation. I came here and “My God, what am I doing here?” I didn’t know exactly to say what I had. Innocent as I was, I didn’t know it. I used to think, before I started to attend here, that I was going to be born a man, but in the last minute God changed his mind and decided I was going to be a woman.

Besides the search for medical explanation, which aggregated several symptoms in the definition of a disease, Lucimeire utilized resources and strategies in order to deal with the situation. Therefore, knowledge about the disease, associated with Lucimeire’s ironic behavior worked as an important strategy for her to deal with suffering. What changed . . . facing what I had, I didn’t know what I had, this is what changed. I didn’t know what that was. I face it the right way, in an ironic way, sometimes I make fun of myself.

This excerpt depicts a meaningful change in the way she deals with the intersex situation, evincing the interviewee’s reflexive characteristic, which is present along the interview. This change is potentiated both by her access to information on her health condition, and by her sense of humor (irony), used to reduce the tension. Cognition and affection gather here in order to make sense of the experience of an ambiguous body. The use of irony catalyses the dynamics of voices in the self by opening new potential pathways to elaborate her own identity. FINAL REMARKS Lucimeire`s self dynamics involves the presence of six main I-positions: I as brave, I-as similar, I-as ill, I-as self-love, I-as different, I-as woman. These positions related to each other, promoting a reconfiguration of a new position, which is crucial to her gender identity: I –as different woman (Figure 1.1). The existence of this position corroborates the diagram proposed by Canguçú-Campinho (2012). Furthermore, based on this study, it is possible to

Gender Identity in Intersex Adults    17

Figure 1.1  Self dynamics in Lucimeire’s gender identity configuration.

understand the centrality of this new I-position in the configuration of gender identity. In face of a body which differs from social standards of sex and gender, a common aspect among intersexuals, efforts are made in the process of configuration of gender identity in order to include the experience of being different. On the other hand, at the same time there is a search for a similarity concerning the gender patterns which are already established. This gender identity configuration is the result of different voices, which sometimes legitimize, sometimes question it. The reflections constructed based Lucimeire’s case allowed the construction of a more general model of the dynamics of self configuration of gender identity in intersex people (Figure 1.2). The I-positions that participate in the gender identity configuration of intersex people have unique characteristics, such as adherence to social norms (I as woman, I as man, I as normal, I as healthy) , opposition to social norms (I as a different woman, I as a different man, I as abnormal, I as ill) . Some self positions are characterized by the ability of self-evaluation. This self-evaluation involves a semiotic process in which social standards relating to sex and gender and personal experience of intersex are articulated through the development of a personal synthesis. This synthesis occurs from dynamic processes that link experience and narrative values. The bodily experience and stories constructed on the intersexed person acquire positive or negative valuation for the self, for both involving a dialogue

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Figure 1.2  Gender identity configuration in intersex people.

between personal values and collective values. It is considered that the Ipositions are in constant interaction, existing between them convergences, divergences and/or complementarity. It is considered that when dealing with this voltage set the self is in a metalevel, making constant self-evaluations. Also in terms of personal synthesis, it is observed that different from the context of the United States and Canada, where there is social recognition and the intersex personal category (Preves, 2005), in Brazil there is no configuration such as an I-intersexual. In this case, the personal synthesis does not include this I-position, since the social expectation with respect to gender is binary: men or women. The I-positions are articulated to the voices: sometimes legitimizing the traditional view of sex and gender, emphasizing the similarities of bodies in relation to the social and cultural patterns of normality; sometimes challenging the traditional view of sex and gender, emphasizing the difference in these standards. In Lucimeire’s case, the dialogue between the maternal voice and health professionals’ voices enable the configuration of new meanings about intersexuality, which question the traditional view of disease and abnormality to include the perspective of disease and difference. When the intersex condition is located as a congenital disease and a difference on the body and not sexual behavior, there is a reduction of the moral perspective about intersexuality.

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Another relevant dynamics of voices is the one including the relationship family -neighbors/strangers. The conflict becomes pregnant as the “nonfamiliar other” becomes spokesman of estrangement and discrimination. In the account of Lucimeire it is possible to identify the tension between her mother’s refuge and the discrimination held by neighbors and strangers. Not only voices coming from her relatives, friends, neighbors, health professionals, but also their silence play an important role in the configuration of gender identity of intersexual person, working as mediators in the construction of meanings about the body. Family’s silence and silence coming from health professionals concerning the intersexual body, engenders a strategy used to observe these subjects’ mental health. In face of it, ambivalence emerges, since in trying to prevent the subject from suffering, a constitutive part of this subject’s identity is denied: the subject’s history and body. Silence coming from the family about these persons’ histories was understood as a way to protect them from suffering and from what knowing could promote. The relationship doctor–patient emerged as ambivalent, sometimes it articulated technique with caretaking, sometimes dissociated them. Identity was articulated by the relation with the other and an internal dialogue. The process of identity construction was influenced by ambivalence of feelings concerning the body, sex, and life history. Therefore, the identity of the intersexual person is built through the interlacement of voices and silences, which give meaning to existence. Even though the sense of self is elaborated through the negotiation of meanings on body and gender built by relatives and doctors, for example, it involves a personal dimension, which gives sense to the configuration of personal identity. Identity dimension is constructed through multiple, ambivalent and almost paradoxical dialogical contexts. NOTE 1. This term involves a variety of conditions under which people are born: reproductive organs and sexual anatomies which do not fit a typical definition of male and female. They are bodies that “deviate” from our binary cultural parameters (Pino, 2007).

REFERENCES Berenbaum, S. A., & Resnick, S. M. (1997). Early androgen effects on aggression in children and adults with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 22(7), 505–515. Canguçú-Campinho, A. K. (2012). A construção dialógica da identidade em pessoas intersexuais: o x e o y da questão. [The dialogic construction of identity in

20    A. K. CANGUÇÚ-CAMPINHO et al. intersex people: x and y of the question.] Tese de Doutorado, Instituto de Saúde Coletiva da Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador. Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering: Psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender. University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles: California. Grossi, M. P. (1998). Identidade de gênero e sexualidade. [Gender identity and sexuality.] Antropologia em Primeira Mão. Florianópolis: PPGAS/UFSC, 1–18. Hermans, H. J., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (2003). Dialogical processes and the development of the self. In J. Valsiner & K. Connolly. (Eds.), Handbook of developmental psychology. London: SAGE Publications Ltds. Hermans, H. J. M. (2004).The dialogical self: Between exchange and power. In: H. J. M. Hermans & G. Dimaggio. The dialogical self in psychotherapy. New York: Brunner & Routledge. Louro, G. L. (2003). Gênero, sexualidade e educação. Uma perspectiva pós-estruturalista. [Gender, sexuality and education. A post-structuralist perspective.] Petrópolis: Ed. Vozes. Pino, N. P. (2007). A teoria queer e os intersex: experiências invisíveis de corpos desfeitos.[ Queer theory and the intersex: invisible experiences of un-done bodies] Cadernos Pagu, 28, 149–174. Preves, S. E. (2005). Intersex and identity: The contested self. U.S.A: Rutgers University Press. Scott, J. (1995). Gênero: uma categoria útil de análise histórica. [Gender: A useful category of historical analyses.] Educação e Realidade, Porto Alegre, 20(2), 71–99. Valsiner, J. (1998). The guided mind: A sociogenetic approach to personality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Valsiner, J. (2007). Culture in minds and societies: Foundations of cultural psychology. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

CHAPTER 2

SUCCESSIVE RUPTURES IN MATERNAL IDENTITY The Recurrent Abortion and the Implications for the Self Vívian Volkmer Pontes Federal University of Bahia

ABSTRACT The experience of pregnancy loss can be understood as a marker throughout a woman’s life experience. As a life transition marker, it involves a nonnormative reconstruction of personal meanings and changes self positioning in different fields. It requires the integration of several components of the loss—which includes the “baby,” but also such aspects as a certain ideal of the family desired, and the social role of mother—which threaten their sense of identity. This paper aims to address the narratives of some women, focusing on the analysis of the subjective aspects of their reproductive trajectories, the relations established along these trajectories, changes undertaken in the landscape of the self, and the meanings of motherhood over irreversible time. The perspective of the psychology of cultural development and, more specifically, dialogical self theory will broaden our understanding of the transformations that occur in the subjects’ self-system configurations. Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 21–40 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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For many women, pregnancy represents the experience of a waiting period, an event which is somehow imagined and expected (personally and socially), with a predictable ending: the birth of a new life. However, for some women, the relatively pre-determined course between conception and childbirth presents an unexpected interruption, and, instead of life, death is present. In some cases, the experience of death is constant, occasioning the experience of several more meaningful losses: not only that of the “baby,” but also the loss of an idealized type of family, the loss of the mother’s social role and the loss of a certain control over the woman’s own body and life. Therefore, the experience of successive gestational losses threatens these women’s sense of identity as they experience discontinuities in their developmental course. Many women are immersed in this context, experiencing a series of psychological and social consequences. Some of these women are assisted by public health services, which do not always offer skilled professionals and efficient programs to help them. Yet, many persist in the attempt to become mothers, getting pregnant again regardless of the risks. Despite all this, there are few studies in the literature approaching this issue from the personal perspective of the female. Most of the studies focus on biomedical factors associated with this type of occurrence (Volkmer, 2009). THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF MOTHERHOOD Roles associated with women and the female identity have been historically and traditionally constructed around motherhood (Gillespie, 2003). From the eighteenth century on, under the influence of philosophical, medical and political discourse, there has been an intensification of the social image of the mother, her role and importance, and the exaltation of mothers’ love as a natural and social value, which not only favored society, but the species as well (Badinter, 1985). Therefore, from this historical moment on, maternal love emerged as something irrevocable, as if it had existed for as long as humanity (Badinter, 1985). According to Badinter (1985), if the 18th century confirmed and emphasized the mother’s responsibility, the twentieth century transformed the concept of responsibility into mother’s guilt. Motherhood became part of the female nature. However, by the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, one notices the emergence of various meaningful transformations in women’s reproductive experiences (Gillespie, 2003). The increasing insertion of women into the labor market and the feminist movement calls into question the naturalized conception of motherhood. That is, the biological determinism that established for women the social role of

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mother, limited to the private sphere, was heavily criticized, and other aspects related to women were emphasized—such as professional life—triggered the development of a new perspective on the identity of women. It is important to point out the importance of technological interventions, among all the developments regarding human reproduction, since they have crucially impacted women’s sexuality. According to Sarti (2005), the spread of oral contraception use, from the 1960’s on, led to important changes in society, such as the dissociation of sexuality from reproduction, which created material conditions for women to detach their sexuality from motherhood. The pill echoed in society’s rearranging of heretofore idealized and sacred values of motherhood, and in the unconditional identification of women as mothers, whose sexual autonomy carried a necessary relation to reproduction. In spite of this important social change, the notion of motherhood as something that constitutes female identity, and as present in women’s social roles, remains in western societies, and in its cultural texts, which view motherhood as something desirable for women as well as a necessary condition for their completion (Gillespie, 2003). Vargas (2006) states that today there is an intense (re)valorization of motherhood. The idea of motherhood remains keenly associated with the female identity. According to this author, the evidence of this (re)valorization can be observed in the ways in which the pregnant body has been represented, especially in the media, in which it is often exposed. Such representation evinces transformations related to the perceptions of pregnancy and motherhood, which are nowadays conceived as a singular experience that transforms the person and aggregates positive values in the construction of the female identity. This dimension of motherhood based on the body experience is articulated, according to Vargas, with another dimension of the female identity, based on the idea of autonomy and the social empowerment of women—a condition reached through the engagement of women in the labor market. Therefore, motherhood contains elements of affirmation of freedom of choice and self-accomplishment. GESTATIONAL LOSS: A NON-NORMATIVE EVENT Based on this ideological scenario constituted by normative discourse associated with motherhood, one can reflect upon what happens when a woman chooses to be a mother—a choice that is supposedly available to the female constitution—but instead of experiencing motherhood, she experiences recurrent gestational losses. This work has the purpose of approaching a reality which is apparently antagonic: women who become pregnant, but do not experience motherhood or experience losses more

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frequently—a phenomenon designated in obstetrics as recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (Salazar, Filho, Shalatter, Mattiello, Facin, & Freitas, 2001), and which, since it constitutes the interruption of a pregnancy—a crucial period in the emotional growth of a woman, enabling restructuration, changes and reintegrations in personality (Maldonado, 2002)—may involve adjustments to their course of development. Living a non-expected, non-normative event can also be seen as a moment of transition, resulting in a qualitative change in psychological and behavioral terms (Cowan, 1991). Besides, it may also reflect in changes in these women’s systems of meanings associated with motherhood, femininity and their self-perception (Volkmer, Covas, Franco, & Costa 2006). Thus, a gestational loss consists of an event that threatens the sense of self, causing uncertainty. Based on this idea, it is possible to improve the understanding of the dialogical self dynamics in situations of transition along critical moments (Thompson, Bell, Holland, Henderson, McGrellis, & Sharpe, 2002); leading to the rupture of what was expected, threatening the sense of self. By using a study case, we will analyze autobiographical reports of a woman whose reproductive history is marked by recurrent gestational losses and no children. In this context, the losses experienced can be understood as narrative events, taken as possible markers of the transition in this woman’s life course. Developmental cultural psychology, according to the perspective of Valsiner (2007), is the theoretical frame of this work. It consists of the understanding that culture is something that both builds and is built by the individual through elaboration and use of signs. This understanding considers development as constructive transformation of form in irreversible time, through the interchange between individual and environment. DIALOGICAL SELF: MULTIPLE POSITIONS DYNAMICALLY IN MOVEMENT Human living involves intrapsychological dialogue between “parts of the I”—dialogues taking place in the personal culture (Valsiner, 2007). According to Fogel, Kroyer, Bellagamba, and Bell (2002), dialogical self is the notion of the I constituted by multiple positions, interacting with each other and assuming a unique perspective in the person’s experience. For Hermans and Hermans-Jansen (2003), the self can be described as a multivocal and dialogical developmental process, which involves the narrative construction and reconstruction of the meanings of events. Dialogical Self Theory was introduced to the field of psychology by Hermans and his collaborators. It was strongly inspired by Bakhtin, William James, and Jerome Bruner, in narrative psychology. The main argument,

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built by Bakhtin and followed by Hermans and collaborators, consists of the metaphor of polyphonic novels—especially those of Dostoyevsky—having in its core the notion of dialogue. According to Hermans and Hermans-Jansen (2003), the main characteristic of the polyphonic novel is the fact that it is characterized by a number of independent and mutually opposed points of view, incorporated by characters involved in dialogical relations. Each character is considered the author of his/her own worldview and works as an individual conscience, a specific voice. Thus, polyphony consists of various emerging voices, each with its own point of view and specific commitment to life, and as Bakhtin states, each voice always social involvement (Salgado & Gonçalves, 2006). Therefore, the Dialogical Self Theory explores the implications of the notion of dialogical polyphony, understanding the self as a dynamic multiplicity of relatively autonomous selves (Salgado & Gonçalves, 2006). The idea of dialogical polyphony is articulated with the distinction between the “I” and “me,” as elaborated by William James, who defended the notion of different selves and the existence of opposition and conflict between them. Based on this understanding, Hermans and his collaborators concluded that there is a decentralized multiplicity of I- positions, which work as relatively independent authors narrating their stories according to their points of view. Narrative psychology, on the other hand, brings relevant contributions in acknowledging the importance of the voice and dialogue for the understanding of the human mind. According to Hermans and Hermans-Jasen (2003), one of the main exponents of the narrative approach in psychology is Jerome Bruner, who argues in favor of a relationship between the notion of voice and the construction of meaning. For Bruner (1997), there is a relationship between meaning and community, that is to say the meaning is always modeled by a particular community due to the participation of individuals in culture. Individuals enter the lives of their communities as participants of a broader public process, in which collective meanings are constantly negotiated. Therefore, the fundamental proposition underlying the concept of the dialogical self is that of a decentralized multiplicity of I positions (distinct and even mutually opposed), each of which carries a voice with histories to tell about its own experiences, based on its own example—in contrast with the Cartesian idea of a separate, individual and centralized self. Thus, the self can be understood as narratively structured by these positions, constituting a field involving not only the co-existence of different perspectives, but also the construction of hierarchies, that is to say: relations of dominance and submission between the voices are constantly being negotiated. Moreover, there is the idea of the movement of the I from one position to another, generating dynamic fields in which self-negotiations and self-integrations result in a great variety of meanings (Hermans & Hermans-Jansen, 2003).

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Thus, based on the perspectives of multiple positions and dynamic movement, the self is never concluded, but immersed in an experience of constant becoming (Fogel, Kroyer, Bellagamba & Bell, 2002). The self can be changed, through the possibility of moving from one position to another, according to transformations of situations and transformations in time, in real dialogues with other people or in some kind of internal dialogue (Salgado & Gonçalves, 2006). Thus, going through events involving loss, as in the case of spontaneous miscarriage, or the experience of the recurrence of such loss, echoes in meaningful changes of the I (Volkmer et al., 2006). That is to say, on the meanings and positions of the women living it: women who instead of becoming mothers—after becoming aware they are pregnant—experience loss; instead of life, the death of their babies. This way, the flow of time and the dialogues established throughout one’s reproductive trajectory, constantly lead the person to a new position, in which the past must be resolved in face of a co-constructed, anticipated future. Besides, as Hermans and Hermans-Jansen (2003) state, in some periods in the life course—such as the non-normative transition involved in the experience of a gestational loss—the transition between self and others is more intense than in other periods, which are relatively stable, from the developmental perspective. A CASE STUDY: WHEN THE UNEXPECTED BECOMES EXPECTED A case study of a woman, here designated Joana, with a history of four recurrent gestational losses and no children will be presented as follows: This case was part of a broader qualitative study on meanings of motherhood for women with reproductive trajectories marked by recurrent gestational losses, which took place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from 2007 to 2009. This research investigated women’s narratives on their reproductive histories. These narratives were obtained through non-structured interviews, conducted in a maternity ward of the public health system, whose main clients were women from lower income classes. At the time of the interview in 2007, Joana was a 34-year-old maid who had not completed high school, and who lived with a partner. Autobiographical Narrative of Reproductive History Joana has a reproductive trajectory marked by five pregnancies and four gestational losses—which usually happened during the last trimester of pregnancy. At the time of the interview, she was three months pregnant. In

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her narrative, Joana describes her first pregnancy at around 18 and 19 years old, which had been planned and very much desired by the couple. The pregnancy was developing with no intercurrences; Joana was being assisted by doctors in prenatal testing. However, some minor bleeding brought with it an unexpected change in her plans. The bleeding was diagnosed by the doctor at first as something “normal.” However, when she returned home, the bleeding worsened, prompting another medical appointment. This time, medical diagnosis led to an emergency cesarean section and the birth of a stillborn infant. Joana’s emotional reaction to the death was of nonconformity and a desperate search for the lost baby. Health professionals suggested Joana receive psychological assistance: But when she (the doctor) did the cesarean section, the baby was dead, so she simply told me he was dead, I accepted that at that moment, I was under the effect of anesthesia. The day after I experienced the trauma, that trauma because I wanted that baby so bad, [. . .] I had some kind of . . . almost had amnesia [. . .] it was too hard . . . I wasn’t taking that well. I wasn’t saying things that made sense. I didn’t remember things. I was only calling for the baby, just wanted the baby. So they took me to psychological assistance, so it would go away, but it was very hard. . . . I wasn’t able to resign myself. I couldn’t accept that I had lost the baby. I wanted to know why. I didn’t believe. I went to the morgue to see if the baby was there. I used to say the baby was there, the baby was alive and all that, you see. I developed a trauma for babies; no woman with a baby could come near me, or pregnant women. If someone pregnant approached me, I became stressed, became nervous, I became paralyzed when I saw them . . . 

Despite the intense emotional reaction after the loss, Joana and her partner arranged the baby’s funeral and his civil registry—actions that were not repeated for additional gestational losses that would occur later. In order to elaborate an understanding of the gestational loss, in a dialogue with her partner, Joana constructed a personal meaning for the causality. She related the loss to a situation in which she had been suddenly startled and the resulting discomfort caused the loss of her baby. This meaning enabled her to plan a new pregnancy –after all, knowing the cause of the misfortune would help her develop strategies to avoid this situation. Thus, on her second pregnancy, when she was 23, Joana tried to control such future uncertainties. She began to take better care of her body and remain at absolute rest. However, despite all her efforts, when she was eight months pregnant, abdominal pain caused her to seek the assistance of the public health system. But when she succeeded in finding a vacancy in an emergency unit, Joana learned the baby was already dead. Once more she received the news that a cesarean section must be performed. Her emotional reaction to the news was of intense agony, elevating her blood pressure.

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She locked herself in the bathroom of the area where she was being assisted. At this moment, spontaneous vaginal delivery happened. After experiencing the loss, Joana narrates that she decided she would not try to get pregnant again, in spite of her partner’s strong desire to have a baby: I didn’t want it anymore. . . . It’s that he (partner) always wanted [. . .] to have a child. I also want to have a child, but we have this problem. I think this process holds us back, but the desire is renewed every time I get pregnant, the desire is renewed. But when we talked of pregnancy, I thought I could forget all that for one day . . . I had that neurosis: ‘I don’t want to get pregnant anymore’.

However, another event changed Joana’s plans. Her third pregnancy happened despite her using contraceptives. Experiencing this pregnancy was something that Joana had difficulties remembering during the interview. It is possible that this forgetfulness is explained by the very difficult moments surrounding her pregnancy, which happened when she was 27: “The worst (pregnancy) I had was this one. I think it was the worst one.” Once again the gestation happened without intercurrences. She underwent pre-natal examinations, no abnormal changes were detected. However, in the seventh month of pregnancy, she had intense bleeding, and she had to seek emergency medical assistance. Difficulties in getting access to a public maternity ward with a neonatal intensive care unit—to assist the premature baby—contributed to another stillbirth. Under these circumstances, Joana’s own life was at risk, as her health was jeopardized by birth complications. A serious infection, against which medicines seemed to have no effect, led her to realize the risk she was taking: I almost died the last time [. . .] it was [. . .] a big infection, really serious. [. . .] I almost died too, because I wasn’t able to get better with the help of the medicine I was taking.

The act of forgetting the situation might have been an important psychological mechanism to move on with her life and try another pregnancy. So on her fourth gestation, by the time she was 28, Joana decided to seek help in a public maternity ward specialized in recurrent miscarriages. In this ward, she received the first diagnosis for her history of successive gestational losses, a possible problem with her placenta. Besides this, she was offered more frequent assistance, in order to observe any changes in her pregnancy in time for an effective medical intervention. Notwithstanding, and despite all adjustments, the tragic ending repeated itself. When Joana went for an ultrasound exam during the sixth month of pregnancy, the doctors realized there was some irregularity in the baby’s heartbeat. Following medical prescriptions, Joana returned home to wait a few days to repeat

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the test. after returning for the second exam, she received the diagnosis of fetal death. After the loss, the doctor of the unit specializing in recurrent miscarriages suggested that Joana go through clinical investigation in order to discover what was provoking the gestational losses, by doing a series of clinical and laboratory exams. However, Joana returned to the maternity ward only a few months later, pregnant again. In the meantime, another event marked her reproductive trajectory, renewing her hope of becoming a mother: a spiritual healing in an evangelical church she had attended. Joana reports that the healing was performed by a minister of another church—not the usual minister who already knew her. Thus, during the service the “outsider” minister invited all those faithful with some kind of trouble to go to the altar of the church for prayer. However, Joana reports having remained where she was, this time establishing a dialogue with God through prayer: “Look, You know what my problem is; I’m not out front, no. If You have to heal me, heal me here.” At the end of the prayer, however, the minister went to Joana and invited her to go to the altar, then, gave a prayer of healing: “You’re being healed now, God is giving a healing for you now [. . .] the healing is not what you wanted, is not the cure of your time, is the time of God.” Joana reports having felt intense emotion during this experience: “I cried, I cried a lot.” This healing experience enabled her partner to encourage her to get pregnant again. It happened for the fifth time, the time during in which I interviewed her for this research. Joana reported feeling more hopeful to succeed in controlling all possible gestational intercurrences, through the use of medical technologies, such as medicines and cerclage—a small surgical intervention, whose purpose is to maintain the cervix closed until the end of the gestation, avoiding a late miscarriage or premature childbirth: Now there are more possibilities [. . .] We’ll do everything to hold this one now [. . .] I’m taking medicines I never took during any other (pregnancy). [. . .] She (the doctor) said it is a way to help the child . . . I did the blood exam and she said it would be necessary to sew up [. . .] in the uterus, in order to close, so it wouldn’t open before time [a procedure called cerclage], she told me to do it now, during this [gestation] here, now.

In spite of the presence of new resources and information, which helped deal with future uncertainties, Joana decided not to buy the baby layette before he/she was born. Thus, the hope of being successful in the present gestation was permeated by fear and insecurity characterized by recurrent negative thoughts and constant surveillance of the movements of the fetus. At this moment, Joana felt she needed psychological counseling:

30    V. VOLKMER PONTES Even if we don’t want to do it, we have negative thoughts. You think: ‘oh, it’s not moving’ [fetal movements felt during gestation], so when these thoughts go away, because the baby starts to move again, we want him/her to move all the time. When the baby doesn’t move, we have that neurosis: ‘Oh, my God, is the baby all right? Is the baby not all right? Should I talk to somebody?’ What he [her partner] wanted was someone that would listen to us. It is very good for us, because we have someone to talk to, someone to tell what we are feeling. When we talk about our feelings, the baby is also relieved, isn’t he? He is protected here, inside of me, but is also relieved. What is the use of saving all the agony for us?

SELF DYNAMICS: THE ATTEMPT TO BUILD A SENSE OF CONTINUITY The case presented here reveals a woman’s experience of a non-normative transition toward motherhood, triggered by the unexpected occurrence of gestational losses, which can be understood as ruptures in the course of development, according to what is expected to happen. Rupture, in cases like this, appears at different levels: One is the individual level, inside the woman, with a sudden change in the identity related to motherhood, which was starting to be built on the micro level (her social role as a mother). According to Zittoun (2004), periods of transition consist of moments in which certain events, like the experience of gestational loss, put at stake certain rooted understandings and/or identities—such as becoming a mother. These events may be understood as ruptures in someone’s regular flow of experience. Such ruptures demand processes of repositioning and may necessitate new acquisitions, understanding and personal redefinitions (Zittoun, 2004). This way, one can say that in the beginning of Joana’s reproductive trajectory, she experienced an apparently normative situation, a stable relationship with her partner, in a way that the desire to become a mother was a way to give continuity to the socially expected stages of the life course: marrying and having children. Notwithstanding, subsequent experiences of gestational loss and all the associated suffering call into question the desire, which leads Joana to ponder the possibility to abandon future attempts to have a baby. After all, the pregnancy after the experience of gestational losses earns the connotation of a multivalent symbol, with meanings and emotions associated with both positive and negative, creating a semiotic friction between competing ideas and emotions (Abbey, 2004). The ambivalences life and death, wanting and not wanting motherhood, continuing and stopping efforts to give birth, hope for success and lack of such hope, emerged. The relatively stable sense of becoming a mother, which characterizes the beginning of her reproductive history, changed as time passed, increasing the level of

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uncertainty. This uncertainty was intensified by the emergence of conflicts and tensions between the voices of meaningful people, within her family and social network of support. Thus, when Joana became pregnant for the first time, the signs pregnancy and motherhood raised a minimum level of ambivalence—i.e., consisted of experiments that were expected to happen personally and socially, and meant to continue the life course. However, with a succession of miscarriages, there emerged competing ideas, prompting the construction of new meanings, often irreconcilable (e.g., pregnancy prompting the construction of contradictory meanings and feelings such as joy and suffering, life and death, family support and lack of support). Thus, the ambivalence is strengthened in that the tension between the irreconcilable meanings increased. And in this sense, the construction of meaning has become more and more eradicated, as Joana comes and goes with different suggestions for self (e.g., it is appropriate and expected for me to be a mother, it’s inappropriate for me to try getting pregnant again and I’m not expected to insist, it is appropriate that I try to get pregnant again, despite the lack of support from family and friends) (Abbey, 2004). Therefore, in dynamic fields characterizing the self, where self-negotiations, contradictions and self-integrations take place (Hermans & Hermans-Jansen, 2003), different perspectives co-exist, many times opposing internal to external self positions. Some of her family members (especially her father) are against her persistent attempts to get pregnant, representing not only the difficulty to support successive losses and the pain associated with it, but also the prominent possibility of losing Joana. Joana’s family understands there are two possibilities of losing her: she could either die or become insane. Concerning the first possibility, the perception of the risk to Joana’s life was co-constructed after the complications she had on her third gestational loss. Joana narrated that her father was extremely upset and wrathful: “the third time I almost died, my father was really upset.” Agreeing with her father’s voice, there are many other voices opposing her continuous attempts to get pregnant: A lot of people stand for the opposite; they think I shouldn’t have tried again [. . .]. There is a lady, who is a relative of his (her partner’s), who spoke to me in these terms: ‘Oh my God, I received the news you lost the baby, I think you deserved it, may God forgive me. Well done, no one told you to get pregnant again.’ So, support is something we don’t have.

In terms of the second possible way of losing Joana, her going mad, she refers to stories told by her relatives about a female relative whose three children were stillborn, because of which she went insane. Thus, as a result of the difficulty, her relatives had to deal with loss as an event, and the fact that they did not agree with the couple’s pursuit of

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a healthy baby, they withdrew from them, and Joana became isolated, supported only by her partner, by God—through her prayers—and sometimes by health assistance professionals: I can’t even understand what goes in my family’s mind.[. . .]The lack of support coming from them happens because they have no idea, they think like this: ‘It is better for me to stand back because [. . .] this way I won’t be watching her suffering. I’m not going through the suffering with her.’ But I think it’s the opposite. We have to stick together, not only in happiness, but also in moments of pain.

To Joana, the disagreement of her family members regarding the couple’s choice, withdrawal and lack of support happen because they are “weak of spirit,” they have no religious beliefs. It prevents them from offering any kind of emotional support (stressed position: I as a daughter). Thus, despite the high affective power of these voices, Joana uses disqualifying the other as a strategy. Indeed, she disqualifies what is said by the other, subordinating the position I as a daughter to the domain of other I-positions: I as a wife, I as a woman, and specially I as religious (I as evangelical). After all, she finds recognition and empowerment through this position I as religious, which constitutes a powerful position, as it advances her toward motherhood in the face of opposition from such significant people. And through these symbolic communications, Joana negotiates aspects of her identity. Opposing the voices of family, a different perspective co-exists: her partner’s voice, translating and defending his desire to become a father: “He (her partner) always wanted, he dreams of having a child.” This hierarchically dominant voice, when compared to other voices (and associated with the position I as a wife), related to her own desire—which, in spite of all ambivalence, is directed toward motherhood (I as a mother is a potential position directed toward the future). This desire, according to her, is shared by all women and is therefore inherent in the female condition: “all women have the tendency to become mothers (stressed I position: I as a woman).” It is important to emphasize that these dialogical relations, established along her reproductive trajectory, are immersed in an assistance context characterized by crucial deficiencies in the assistance, such as fragmentation of assistance, the insufficient number of vacancies and absence of assistance of emergency medical personnel. This scenario figures as an additional obstacle to motherhood, especially because, in the flow of time, meanings were co-constructed with the family and social network and associated with the idea that many of Joana’s losses might have been avoided had the context been different. All these events, taken together, lead to what Sato, Hidaka and Fukuda (2009) call the bifurcation point (i.e., a point of difference influenced by past experiences and limited possibilities in the future). In the reproductive

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history of Joana, this is the point at which there are alternative paths to follow: getting pregnant again or not. A high level of ambivalence is present, and at least two tensioned influences work here: the power of the proximal social network (social guide)—marked by heterogeneous and even contradictory social cues, as the voices of family and partner—and the socio-cultural power (social direction), in which motherhood is valued, consisting of a desirable condition for the woman. Faced with these different social powers, which are in conflict, Joana must make a decision that is built from a personal and cultural process of synthesis. This is the “synthesized personal orientation,” which takes the form of a goal or a dream (Sato, Hidaka, & Fukuda, 2009; Sato & Valsiner, 2010). On the face of it, a crucial question emerges: why does Joana choose to insist on having a child through gestation, with past experiences marked by so much pain and suffering, recurrent miscarriages, and risks to her own life, and as her future is shadowed by the possibility of another gestational loss, risking her life and mental health? Why does she continue to follow this direction in face of an increasing level of ambivalence regarding her own desire, when conflicts and tensions between meaningful I positions increase; when close friends withdraw; when the context of assistance is perceived as responsible or co-responsible for at least part of her suffering? There is no simple answer to these questions. Joana’s narrative sheds light on possible answers. In this case, a hypergeneralized sign is at stake— motherhood—associated with superior affective fields (highest level of generalization), which regulate the whole lived experience. The cultural understanding of motherhood is imbricated by values, being socially promoted and personally internalized. It figures in a social situation, culturally regulated and permeated by social suggestions present in human environments, semiotically organized or structurally based on the combinations of several signs, which function as social guides. The power of this social experience and its hypergeneralized meanings guides and organizes humans’ behavior, thoughts and affections (Valsiner, 2007). Currently in the Brazilian reality, the experience of becoming a mother is characterized by a remarkable valorization of the pregnant body and by motherhood as a pervasive value strongly associated with female identity. Motherhood is conceived as a unique experience that transforms the woman and adds positive values to the construction of female identity. In addition, the bodily experience of motherhood is also connected to another dimension of female identity: the goals of autonomy and social empowerment of women. Thus, the sign motherhood contains elements of choice and self-realization (Vargas, 2006). In the case analyzed here, Joana internalized this sign in a very particular way, making it part of her personal culture. After all, she used a semiotic strategy to enhance the positive aspects within the field of meaning of the

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sign—that directs the future—while ignoring or neglecting the aspect of the sign that appears most uncertain. In this sense, I as a mother appeared as an I position projected toward the future, understood by Joana as the “most important thing in life,” associated with positive emotions such as “joy,” “happiness” and “renewal.” It changed over time, acquiring nuances of idealization and attributions of many positive values: A mother is the most important thing in life, because if the person does not have a mother, he/she is nothing [. . .] I see mothers as the ones who teach another creature that is going to be like a seed you grow. So I think being a mother is all that, a very important thing.

Associated with this idea is her partner’s desire to become a father, which is another hypergeneralized sign working as a promoter sign toward the search for a child. Fatherhood seems to be her “partner’s dream,” something “he always wanted,” which Joana feels an urge to accomplish. Thus, there seems to be an alliance between some I positions, which are highly relevant to Joana’s self system, such as I as a wife (who should give her husband a child), I as a woman (whose tendency is to become a mother), and I as a mother (future I position highly valued). Positions that are grounded in another highly relevant I position, which dominates self system: the Ireligious position (I-evangelical). The experience of religious healing deserves special mention. After all, after the experience of four miscarriages, the co-construction of the threat to life, the opposition and the helplessness are constraints that inhibit the occurrence of a subsequent pregnancy. For this reason, the choice of nonmotherhood was often considered by Joana throughout her reproductive history. However, the experience of religious healing, performed by a “new minister,” acts as a kind of catalyst, reducing the activation of these constraints and empowering Joana toward becoming a mother, as well as giving support to the partner’s desire for parenthood. It is noteworthy that the experience of religious healing is preceded by a dialogue with God, knowing her “problem,” but performed by a minister who was unaware of it. And, as if God is answering her prayer, Joana is called by the minister to actively engage in healing prayer, in a space of experience and sociability. After all, this is a public ritual in which she was personally invited to participate. The “new minister” thus works as a catalyst, giving her an encounter with the sacred, the divine, in an affectively oriented situation, a situation that mobilizes Joana’s “sick” body as well as her emotion, leading her to cry a lot: “At the moment [. . .], I cried, I cried a lot. It was one thing that made me feel good.” From there, a powerful hypergeneralized sign emerges, guiding their thoughts, behaviors and emotions—“Hope”: “Then,

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when it was in June [. . .] I stopped the medication (contraceptive). So what gave me the greatest hope is that, right? Because when He gives, he says.” Thus, the emergence of the position I as religious-healed-by-God offers a powerful support to the alliance between I as wife, I as woman and I as mother, working as a promoter position (i.e., a position which creates some order and direction in multiple positions of self organizing, innovating and developing the self over time; Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010). From this position, it is possible for Joana to face the contradictions and conflicts from voices that go against the direction of motherhood. Over these conflicts and contradictions, the signs suggested by social others (especially relatives) can be rejected, under-qualified or forgotten. The continuity of a highly relevant internal I position (I as a mother) and the emergence of a field that maintains a minimum level of ambivalence for the experienced condition, is enabled by a process of positioning and repositioning, marked by self-negotiations. In this way, her future is still associated with motherhood, promoting the continuity of the attempt to get pregnant, even if another gestational loss takes place: If this (current gestation) happens again, I will patiently wait for the time the baby is born and all that. But if it doesn’t work, I won’t give up. I will search for a new path, do the treatment I have to do, do what I have to do to have a child and try again.

THE USE OF SYMBOLIC RESOURCES AND AGENCY Joana uses a set of symbolic resources, available in the cultural context in which she is inscribed, in order to make sense of past experience, manage her interactions with others, and minimize future uncertainties (Zittoun, Duveen, Gillespie, Ivinson & Psaltis, 2003). It happened specifically from the fourth gestation on, after she experienced not only her third gestational loss, but also constructed the perception that she was risking her own life. At this moment she improved the way she took care of herself. Besides taking better care of her body, such as by resting, Joana resorted to other resources from the religious and medical fields—two social institutions culturally associated with the ability to secure a measure of certainty over life. When she introduced and used each new symbolic resource, hope for a new ending for her reproductive history (future expectations) was renewed, as a different element emerged and was compared to previous experiences of loss (memories of past events). Thus, the hope that the unexpected (a successful childbirth) could happen increased.

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So when Joana was more fragile, in a situation of extreme vulnerability—with the perception of risk to her life and not relying on support from heron family of origin—she will get experience in other spheres on how to give herself support and recognition, to legitimize and empower the position I as mother, which was being threatened. And she gets this recognition and social support in other culturally recognized and valued resources, like the doctor and the minister. They act to empower the I as mother of Joana, promoting a coalition of internal positions around this central position in the system of self. Therefore, on her fourth gestation, Joana resorted to a branch of public health assistance service specialized in gestational losses, where she would be more frequently assisted by a specialized doctor: My pregnancy . . .  I thought my baby would come to life [. . .] because sometimes I saw Dr. O. twice a week [. . .] attending the baby.

The signs “doctor” and “specialist,” associated with the frequent use of ultrasound technology, made Joana feel safer, more confident regarding the possibility of reproductive success. In the field of medicine, promises of a technological solution for several health problems may relieve uncertainty and make life more predictable, controllable. Medical knowledge and its power, as states Moulin (2008), are inscribed in the collective imagery. Therefore, doctors figure as a powerful social group, which imposes meanings about the world by ordaining and categorizing things. Use of medical technologies promotes the erection of symbolic borders as well as the process of identity construction (Malin, 2003). Moreover, the experience of involuntary childlessness leads many women to make an effort toward a normative identity, which is, in spite of their bodies, socially and culturally valued. After all, there is a social-cultural and political discourse on family, marriage and sexuality, which influences decisions on reproduction. This discourse emphasizes the cultural imperative of motherhood, as well as validation of gender roles through parenting (McDonell, 2011). Thus, the ability to procreate appears to be an important reference for gender identity. Despite the repetition of gestational loss and the tragic ending, despite all medical and technological apparatus, Joana resorted to another powerful institution: religion—tirelessly searching to overcome the ambivalences, minimize future uncertainties, and gain some control over her life, moving toward motherhood. She had the experience of spiritual healing in church, performed by the word of a significant other, a “representative of God,” the minister, and legitimized by the people attending the ceremony. At the same time, other symbolic resources from the medical field were introduced in order to help Joana deal with the present attempt: the use

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of medicine and the possibility of having a surgical intervention performed on her cervix, designated cerclage, in order to avoid late miscarriage or premature labor. Now there are more possibilities [. . .] I’m taking medicine I have never taken before (during previous gestations) [. . .] (It is) a way to help me keep the baby.

Thus, Joana chooses cultural elements available in the context in which she is immersed, using them to act and achieve a certain personal and social positioning. And more than that, to empower the position I as mother in the system of the Self, as it seeks recognition and legitimacy of this position in the social field—in the spheres of medicine and religion. It thus builds a new version of the self. In this sense, these elements become instruments, designated by Zittoun (2004) as symbolic resources, in order to emphasize their mobilization by a person in a certain situation (Zittoun, 2001 cited in Zittoun, 2004). When a person chooses some of the possible instruments for a certain purpose, personal agency emerges. Based on the perspective of cultural psychology, the person is considered an anchor for discursive processes, which dynamically contributes to the constitution of her subjectivity, which is supposed to be complex, situated, contradictory, unstable and with capacity for agency. Agency is understood here in terms of appropriation, rejection, transformation and modulation of various discourses in the choice and use of cultural elements and the construction of subjective positions (Falmagne, 2004). As such, the agentic person builds his/her own identity over time (Abbey & Falmagne, 2008). However, as Abbey and Falmagne (2008) emphasize, agency has limited flexibility: while the person is constructed through processes occurring on local and social levels, he/she is also constrained by these levels. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS The autobiographical portrait presented in this work depicts the subjective experience of a woman with a history of recurrent gestational failures, essentially marked by pain, suffering, solitude and neglect. In spite of the scars of her emotional and physical devastation, the imperative of parenthood is evident, impelling the author of this narrative to persist in the attempt to accomplish her dream. Many changes take place along her trajectory, surrounded by many experiences, feelings, and dialogical relationships established between different voices, changes in the meanings constructed around motherhood and the movement of self positions. Therefore, the event of pregnancy loss and its repetition over the course of a woman’s life may severely challenge the narratives of self. After all, this

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is a disruptive event that threatens the sense of self and maximizes uncertainty about the future. Through the case study, this work has attempted to understand how the self builds continuity through successive ruptures over the reproductive career. In other words, it sought to understand the dynamics of the dialogical self in the flow of time: how the self can meet the needs of reorganization, rearrangement, in order to remain whole—despite the disruptions or recurrent discontinuities. The experience of traumatic losses, such as a baby lost in the last trimester of pregnancy, establishes a life event radically inconsistent with the typical narrative in the life of a woman. In general, pregnancy represents for women the experience of waiting, directed to an event somehow imagined and expected (personally and socially), whose outcome is predictable: the birth of a new life—and following it a new social role for the woman who is supposed to be born as a mother. When, instead of life, death happens, a radical break from what was expected occurs. The sense of self-continuity can be significantly threatened. In an attempt to achieve some sense of continuity and stability, a process of repositioning is necessary, where new acquisitions, understandings and personal redefinitions take place (Zittoun, 2004). Agency will emerge, as the woman appropriates, resists, transforms and/or modulates social discourses and symbolic resources to negotiate her social location and discursively co-construct her position in specific situations. Thus, the person actively constructs her own identity over time, constrained by processes occurring at the micro and macro social levels (Abbey & Falmagne, 2008). However, in some cases, the experience of recurrent miscarriages can result in a dysfunctional dynamics in the system of the dialogical self. After all, some women cannot escape immersion in the traumatic experience of loss to discover alternative perspectives. And so the relentless pursuit of achieving motherhood through the dominance of the inflexible position I mother in the system of self, could result in obscuration of alternative ways of life and identity—such as the possibility of adopting a child who would be personally and socially recognized as one’s own, or even performing the mourning for the non-maternity, assuming the possibility of being a woman/couple/family without children. Being caught up in this dominant self-narrative, the woman through repetitive behavior is condemned to become pregnant and lose the baby. This repetitive behavior is influenced by the socio-cultural power of the biomedical discourse, based on technological advances and the widespread belief that there is always something that can still be done, that there is always a solution to problems, an effective treatment. And to the extent that the woman’s perspective appears severely limited the goal of becoming a mother, other types of losses may occur over many of these life trajectories, such as the partner/marriage, the next social

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network (friends, relatives), as well as her own mental health—as in cases of mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. REFERENCES Abbey, E. (2004). Circumventing ambivalence in identity: The importance of latent and overt aspects of symbolic meaning. Culture & Psychology. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on April 02, 2009. Abbey, E., & Falmagne, R. J. (2008). Modes of tension work within the complex self. Culture Psychology, 14(1), 95–113. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on April 02, 2009. Badinter, E. (1985). Um amor conquistado: o mito do amor materno. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira. Bruner, J. (1997). Atos de significação. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas. Cowan, P. A. (1991). Individual and family life transitions: A proposal for a new definition. In P. A. Cowan & M. Hetherington (Eds.), Family transitions. Hillsdale, New Jersey, LEA. Falmagne, R. J. (2004). On the constitution of self and mind: The dialect of the system and the person. Culture Psychology, 14(6), 822–845. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on April 02, 2009. Fogel, A., Kroyer, I., Bellagamba, F., & Bell, H. (2002). The dialogical self in the first two years of life: Embarking on a journey of discovery. Theory & Psychology, 12(2), 191–205. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on November 10, 2006. Gillespie, R. (2003). Childfree and feminine: Understanding the gender identity of voluntarily childless women. Gender and Society, 17(1), 122–136. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on November 10, 2006. Hermans, H., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (2003). Dialogical process and the development of the self. In J. Valsiner & K. Connolly (Eds.), Handbook of development psychology. London: Sage. Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Konopka, A. (2010). Dialogical self theory: Positioning and counter-positioning in a globalizing society. New York: Cambridge University Press. Maldonado, M. T. (2002). Psicologia da gravidez: Parto e puerpério. (16a ed). São Paulo: Saraiva. Malin, M. (2003). Good, bad and troublesome: Infertility physicians’ perceptions of women patients. The European Journal of Women’s Studies, 10(3), 301–319. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on September 02, 2010. McDonell, O. (2011). Striving towards a normative identity: The social production of the meaning of assisted reproductive technology in Ireland. In A. C. S. Bastos, K. Uriko, & J. Valsiner (Eds.), Cultural dynamics in women’s lives. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Chapter 6 (In press). Moulin, A. M. (2008). O corpo diante da medicina. In A. Corbin, J.-J. Courtine, & G. Vigarello (Eds), História do corpo: As mutações do olhar: O século XX. (E. F. Alves, trad., 2nd. Ed., pp.15–82). Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes.

40    V. VOLKMER PONTES Salazar, C. C., Filho, J. S. C., Shalatter, D., Mattiello, S. S., Facin, A. C., Freitas, F. M. et al. (2001/Novembro-Dezembro). Abortamento de repetição. Revista Femina, 29(10). Salgado, J., & Gonçalves, M. (2006).The dialogical self: Social, personal and (un) conscious. In J. Valsiner & A. Rosa (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. Sarti, C. (2005). Famílias enredadas. In A. R. Acosta & M. A. F. Vitale (Orgs.), Família. Rede, Laços e Políticas Públicas. São Paulo: Cortez Editora/PUC. Sato, T., Hidaka, T., & Fukuda, M. (2009). Depicting the dynamics of living the life: the Trajectory Equifinality Model. In J. Valsiner, P. Molenaar, M. Lyra, & N. Chaudhary (Orgs.), Dynamic process methodology and the social and developmental sciences (pp. 217– 240). New York, NY: Springer. Sato, T., & Valsiner, J. (2010). Time in life and life in time: between experiencing and accouting. Ritsumeikan Journal of Human Sciences, 20, 79–92. Thompson, R., Bell, R. Holland, J. Henderson, S.;McGrellis, S., & Sharpe, S. (2002). Critical moments: Choice, chance and opportunity in young people’s narratives of transition. Sociology, 36(2), 335–354. Downloaded from http://cap. sagepub.com at CAPES on August 12, 2008. Valsiner, J. (2007). Comparative study of human cultural development. Culture in minds and societies. New Delhi: Sage. Vargas, E. P. (2006). ‘Casais inférteis’: usos e valores do desejo de filhos entre casais de camadas médias no Rio de Janeiro. Tese Doutorado, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Medicina Social, Rio de Janeiro. Volkmer, V., Covas, I. G., Franco, A. L. S., & Costa, O. L. N. (2006). “Você se pergunta: por que não pode ter?”: aspectos psicológicos e sociais de mulheres com história de abortamento de repetição. Revista Vivência, n. 31. Volkmer, V. (2009). Significados de maternidade para mulheres com trajetória reprodutiva marcada por perdas gestacionais recorrentes. Dissertação de Mestrado, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA. Zittoun, T., Duveen, G., Gillespie, A., Ivinson, G., & Psaltis, C. (2003). The use of symbolic resources in developmental transitions. Culture & Psychology, 9(4), 415–448. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on April 11, 2007. Zittoun, T. (2004). Symbolic competencies for developmental transitions: the case of the choice of first names. Culture Psychology, 10, 131–161. Downloaded from http://cap.sagepub.com at CAPES on April 11, 2007.

CHAPTER 3

HEALTH PROFESSIONALS DIE TOO How an Anesthesiologist Looks at Death in Palliative Care Practice Olga V. Lehmann La Sabana University Emanuela Saita Catholic University

ABSTRACT A terminal state illness implies that the patient is dying—but death is an uncertainty that we all have to deal with. Using interpretative description from an Idiographic Science perspective, this investigation attempted to comprehend one Italian anesthesiologist’s sensemaking of life and death, by means of describing and interpreting: (a) her I-positions concerning medical practice in palliative care; (b) her sensemaking towards death-related experiences and expectations; and (c) the dialogic interaction of both health professionals, one interviewee (anesthesiologist) and the interviewer (researcher), when talking about death. We find that different I-positions of the anesthe-

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 41–73 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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42    O. V. LEHMANN and E. SAITA siologist in relating with patients are related to life-threatening experiences in the biography of the physician and their similarity to the patient’s condition. But also different I-positions of the researcher cope with the tension of talking about taboo topics linked to death, such as unhealthy conducts and life-threatening illnesses. Furthermore, findings give an account of contextual factors, such as the palliative teamwork or the compilation of electronic medical records that interfere with the rapport established during the palliative care practice.

Health care professionals die too. It is true that a patient having an illness in a terminal state is dying, but death is an uncertainty that we all have to deal with. Research about palliative care and sensemaking of death needs to look to the phenomenological world of physicians in order to describe and interpret their perspective of death and how discussion about death with the patient can be developed. Why does someone decide to care about dying people? What is the process for coming to such a decision and how does someone decide to be in daily contact with illness and death? It is not our concern to comprehend death but rather to understand the meanings that develop within the ambivalence of finitude (Lehmann, 2012) and within the boundaries of human attempts to explain existence. In this sense, it is important to consider dying-death and pregnancy-birth processes as Existence Transitions, realizing that the meanings given to them correspond both to social constructions and metaphysical concerns (De Vries, 1981). Meanings about Existence Transitions involving death understanding vary through development (Talwar, Harris, & Schleifer, 2011), but although personal they cannot escape the social influence of identity construction, being mutually interdependent. This interdependence between the Self-constructions of meanings—such as meanings of death- and its social constructive influence, can be understood as dialogical if one considers that the Self is not a mere unit but a multiplicity of positions (Hermans, 2001). Furthermore, the uncertainty of life makes the emergence of different I-positions necessary so that a unity of meanings can be achieved through time, even if such positioning of the Self emerges from social meanings and vice versa (Valsiner & Han, 2008). In the same line of reasoning, affect has a crucial regulatory role in these personal—yet social- processes of meaning-making and decision making (Branco & Valsiner, 2010) which reminds us the crucial importance of sensemaking when considering the intersubjective nature of human phenomena studied through language (Salvatore & Venuleo, 2008). Concerning death and dying from the perspective of health professionals, a higher quality of practice in palliative care has been linked to affective rather than mere cognitive positions towards patients (Reyes, 1996). More attention should be given to affective processes of elaboration of such meanings during scholar education and fellowships in health care centers

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(García-Caro et al., 2010; Gómez, Lehmann, & Amaya, 2011; Gross, Mommamerts, Earl, & De Vries, 2008). Other than Biotechnology and intellectual expertise, the quality of palliative care practice involves reconciliation of health care professionals with their own personal understandings about death (Kübler Ross, 1993; Moon, 2008). Even recognizing its importance, there is a lack of scientific literature about the sensemaking of health care providers concerning death and life. Attempts to comprehend sensemaking of Existence Transitions among palliative care professionals would be important for the development of a theoretical frame that could be used in university teaching and in psychosocial intervention programs in hospitals (Gómez, Lehmann, & Amaya, 2011). Therefore, in this case study of an Italian anesthesiologist, we sought to comprehend the interdependence between sensemaking processes and I-positioning about Existence Transitions in a palliative care professional. Following this inquiry initiative, the objectives of the study were: (a) to describe and interpret her I-positions concerning medical education and practice in palliative care; (b) to describe and interpret her sensemaking process towards death-related experiences and expectations; and (c) to describe and interpret the dialogic interaction of health professionals, one interviewee (anesthesiologist) and the interviewer (researcher), when talking about death. We expected to find a predominance of affective, rather than intellectual/scientific I-positions, when talking about death in palliative care practice, linked to an optimistic reconciliation of Existence Transitions. HEALTH AND PALLIATIVE CARE CONTEXT IN ITALY The World Health Organization [WHO, n.d] defines palliative care as an approach oriented in improving the quality of life of patients with a lifethreatening illness and their families, intervening physical, psychosocial, and spiritual problems as well as preventing pain and suffering. Italy is on the forefront of health care in the World. Its health care service is one of the most advanced systems of Europe. Sociological, political and economical changes of post-World War II Italy, promoted the increase of frequency in medical interventions, medicine’s use and contact with physicians by public health administration (Whitaker, 2003). Since 1978, the Italian government has included all resident population into a national health service, eliminating other illness services and crossing public deficits and legal changes; since 1998, health is almost totally covered by citizens’ taxes, and hospitals as well as health care units were recovered into public administration (Guillén, 2006). Italian law introduced welfare palliative care policies in 1999 (Spizzichino, 2010). This law also included a palliative care net

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expansion, which focuses on giving attention at hospice, practice, domiciliary care and day-hospital (Società Italiana di Cure Palliative [SICP], 2010). While research progress in medicine is real, it is not enough to cure a lethal illness and to defeat death, nor to give to everyone the continued and complex treatments that chronical illnesses need for long periods of time or life (Ministero della Salute, 2010). SENSEMAKING OF DEATH The generalization of human experiences is possible because of the creation and use of signs that represent affective instances of the psyche (Branco & Valsiner, 2010). In this context, sensemaking can be understood as the flow of multiple interpretations assigned to objects, subjects and contents, including affective as well as cognitive mediation of signs (Salvatore, 2011). It is an aim of cultural psychology to contribute to the study of such semiotic mediation, as it focuses on: (a) the microsocial (specific discourse phases) and macrosocial (discourse types and history in society) discursive traditions; (b) the semiotic mediation in the construction and use of meanings; (c) the socially organized settings, the action environments; and (d) the evolutionary readings of cultural histories regarding the emergence of cultural meanings and actions in ecological conditions (Valsiner & Rosa, 2007). Moreover, contemporary studies of human experience emphasize transitions within diverse positions of the Self, rather than merely considering the Self as a unitary instance (Hermans, 2001). The multiplicity of positions of the Self and their dialogues, as well as the dialogues with the I-positions of other persons, are involved in the power dynamics of taking turns in a dialogue, where precisely the alternation of dominance between different I-positions—or between persons is crucial to make a dialogue possible (Hermans & Gieser, 2012). Cultural Psychology contributes to the understanding of Self-positioning during development by describing the semiotic mediation of its trajectories (Valsiner, 2002). During any dialogical interaction there are social boundaries for the topics of talk, and the human made structures that construct these boundaries in daily life are known as “Semiotic Demand Settings” [SDS], that involve culturally guided Zones of “Possible Talking” [ZPT], “promoted talking” [ZPrT], and “Taboo of Talking” [ZTT], and in which the opinions that emerge are in opposition to another opinion following the model Anon-A (Valsiner, 2000). The latter ones are sought to avoid as long as they are disallowed by any society, and because of that their boundaries are thicker (Valsiner, 2006). In this sense, one should focus on comprehension of the maintenance and changes in the bond between diverse I-positions, and its relationship with the environment (Valsiner & Cabell, 2012).

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Sensemaking is also about coping with uncertainty about the future (Valsiner, 2002). But, nothing is more uncertain than Existence Transitions. It is impossible to comprehend our impending death. Indeed, in his master piece “Totem and Taboo” Freud (1912/1999) recognized death as a taboo, and we develop dialogues with Gods and dead persons in order to cope with finitude. Think about visiting a grave in order to speak to a lost loved one. The grave can hold the significance of “being the beloved person” (Josephs, 1998). Because it is difficult to have a relationship with someone that is not bodily present, the grave helps to make sense of the loss and cope with one’s awareness of finitude (Josephs, 1998). Another nuance of coping with finitude—and the one we focus on this paper—is the one of chronic illness in terminal states. Chronic illnesses are often related to meaningless suffering and a pessimistic view of life. Existential psychotherapies, such as logotherapy (Frankl, 1994), could promote optimistic meanings in life, the development of adaptive coping strategies, and the internal locus of control in order to diminish the psychological repercussions of the illness (Rodríguez, 2006). Phenomenological-existential approaches to psychology give a special importance to the emotional tonality of human life experiences by differentiating existential meanings from sociocultural or cognitive facts (Bruzzone, 2001). This kind of meaning is directly related to Scheler’s (1954/2000) axiology of values and thus, meanings and values are often used as synonyms (Bruzzone, 2001). Furthermore, acts of creation can be understood and studied as a response to the dramatic nature of the finitude of life (Cigoli & Scabini, 2006). Thus, they transcend the unavoidable duty of taking care of what has been generated by love, necessity or fate (Erickson, 1968); that is, being generative involves desires, beliefs and behaviors towards the actions of giving life, caring, and letting go of family members (Cigoli & Tamanza, 2009) In this same line of reasoning, Terror Management Theory sees the incomprehensibility of death as a complex symbol, whose meanings are not always repressed, but rather transmuted towards developmental processes (Becker, 1973). Furthermore, making meanings about existence by establishing values, beliefs and cultural ideologies are a coping response to the unconscious threat of existence/non-existence (Goldenberg, & Arndt, 2008; Hayes, Schimel, Arndt, & Faucher, 2010). DEATH COMMUNICATION PROCESSES AND PALLIATIVE CARE It is said that palliative care professionals who are able to reconcile their personal beliefs and fears with clinical practice promote a more consistent care,

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a higher satisfaction treating dying patients, and an internal sense of congruency (P. Moon, personal communication, February 12, 2011). But, unfortunately, there is still the need of improving patient–physician communication by the means of establishing a rapport, exploring their own internal world, mental constructs, feelings, and symbolic universe (Ruggiero, 2007). In fact, The American Psychological Association ([APA], 2010) calls the researchers’ attention towards communication in the end-of-life-care, focusing on education, culture and socioeconomics’ influence in the quality of care. For instance, some indicators of quality in hospitals (The Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, 2011) are given by the lower risk in hospital-mortality and the effectiveness in complications avoidance (Hitt, 2011). Although, the same way death itself is not something to avoid, but to integrate into the complex dialectic of lifespan comprehension, it would be interesting if those indicators also include the quality of life in dying situations, and the effectiveness to cope with the dying process. That is to say, with the rising number of deaths in the hospital context (Pessina, 2004), the attention towards quality of life during the dying process is being integrated with the attention on its related practices and education programs for health professionals and students (Kübler Ross, 1993; Moon, 2008; Gómez, Lehmann, & Amaya, 2011; APA, 2010; Lehmann, 2010). Further education needs to concern itself in the way the diagnosis has to be delivered, as it implies opposite beliefs between relatives and clinicians (Saita & Cigoli, 2009). Educational challenges must take into account the students experience beyond medical schools and give the necessary importance to emotional lived experiences in students’ development (Gómez, Lehmann & Amaya, 2011). For instance, being admitted into a medicine faculty, even being booked into a single class or later on approved, is not only about obtaining grades or, at the end, getting a diploma; as it also helps the student to build his/her character (Gross, Mommamerts, Earl & De Vries, 2008). That is, as long as becoming professional “is the time of re-creating the Self through the dialogue with a culturally organized environment that guides students toward new worldviews and affects their self-understanding” (Kullasepp, 2010, p. 112) it is assumed that their experience of “becoming” physicians and dealing with others’ death and life is also a matter of sensemaking of one’s own life and death. Helpful communications concerning such difficult topics as illness, deterioration, and death must involve the capability of giving sense to this experience while living it (Thorne, Oliffe, Kim-Sing, Stajduhar, Harris, Armstrong & Oglov, 2010); thus, they should be both informative and therapeutic (Thorne, Oglov, Armstrong, & Hislop, 2007). It is suggested for further researchers to explore the existential threats that influence perceptions of life as senseful, as well as the personal structure and the possible prosocial outcomes of strategies towards death awareness (Vess, Routledge,

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Landau, & Arndt, 2009); more qualitative and phenomenological research is needed, concerning to meanings and experiences of learning programs (Sullivan, Lakoma, Billings, Peters, Block & PCEP Core Faculty, 2005; 2006). METHODOLOGY Design Interpretative Description (ID) emerged as a conceptual, philosophical and methodological framework with the scope of comprehending the dialectics of conceptualization-practice, and subjective-objective arenas of health care environments, where nursing takes place (Thorne, 2008). That is, its goals are those of improving practical needs as well as generating knowledge from empirical lacks of evidence about health care. Although, ID does not have the intention of being considered a methodology ad hoc, neither of creating extensions of traditional research methodologies or schools of thought, rather it seeks to integrate and apply procedures and techniques from phenomenology, ethnography, and grounded theory in order to respond to particular needs of caring (Thorne, 2008). That way, ID seeks to: (a) gain rich and deep descriptions of human lived experiences as they are comprehended by study participants, such as phenomenology seeks to; and (b) put those belief systems in contrast with social structures, as ethnographic methods do, by means of (c) doing an accurately discursive analysis of the fieldwork, based on ground theory (Thorne, 2008). Furthermore, ID gives epistemological consistence to our investigation as it links description to sensemaking (Benner, 1994 in Thorne, 2008; St. George, 2010), which recalls the comprehension of dialogical processes immersed in the end-of-life care. However, there are two considerations one must take into account when applying ID from the idiographic science prospective. First of all, it is assumed that the research must be moved by an abductive, not inductive logic. While the inductive logic builds generalizations or theories by open and exploratory observations of a particular phenomenon (Thorne, 2008), the abductive logic looks for the rule upon the phenomena in transition (Salvatore & Valsiner, 2008) which implies an exhaustive time series reconstruction of its trajectories (Valsiner, 2010). On the other hand, when doing research from idiographic theory, interpretation and interventions face the dilemma of epochè, “that is the need of avoiding of having a normative model on the phenomenon under scrutiny in order to encounter it in its dimension of otherness” (Salvatore & Valsiner, 2008, p. 18), so that the dialectics of both describing and interpreting from the ID, serve to comprehend, distance, and transform the dialogic

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relationships of the researchers and the study participant, opening sensemaking paths to make accurate hypothesis for generalization. Techniques and Instruments In-depth-Interview Format In-depth-interviews addressed to comprehend the trajectories of meanings related to death-life in education, clinical practice, and personal life in the study participant biography. An adaptation of the In-depth-interview format used by Gómez, Lehmann, & Amaya (2011) was made. The current format includes the following five sections: (a) an introductive section, with questions about the socio-demographic information, and expectations about an interview about death; (b) the second section has questions about health education; (c) the third section is about clinical practice; (d) the fourth section contains questions about beliefs and lived experiences concerning death; and (e) the last section is about death expectations in own life. In order to see the interview format, please go to appendix A. Using an in-depth-interview format serves to direction questioning towards comprehension of the trajectories of meanings related to death-life in education, clinical practice and personal life in the study participant biography. Further, the feelings and thoughts that emerge during the whole interviewing process are also useful when analyzing the dialogical interaction of the death-life conversation. Participant Observation The participant observation permits to establish empathy between the interviewer and the interviewee, and contrast some information given during the interview with contextual issues, which also gives information for the analysis of microsocial and macrosocial structures of meaning. Field notes are taken. Field Notebook The field notebook gathers the researcher’s beliefs, feelings and thoughts during the investigation process and thus, when analyzing the interview, it could serve to make distance from own conceptions about death-life, in order to interpret the interviewee perspective in a wide sense, but also to understand the dialogical interaction in a better way during than the interview. Study Participant CR is a 53-year-old woman, who was born in a city of northern Italy, where she actually lives with her 12 and 17 year old sons. She got married and divorced twice. Meanings related to Independence are constantly repeated

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through her discourse, beginning with her first marriage at 20 (when she moved out from her parents’ house), then when talking about her divorce (when she moved back with her parents) and now with the desire of maintaining her financial solvency to raise her sons as a single parent. Independence gives her a great satisfaction about her job, plus makes her feel grateful towards her practice as an anesthesiologist. She does not give further information her couple relationships, being more emphatic about her achievements as a health care professional. It is very important to mention that CR suffered from breast cancer in 2007 and, even if neither the researcher nor the advisor knew this information until the development of the in-depth-interviews, this lived experience is crucial for the investigation. CR is doctor and surgeon, specialized in anesthesiology, but she has also studied psychosomatic psychotherapy because of personal reasons that, she said, are not related to her professional activities. Although, she acknowledges being interested in alternative medicine, which often puts her in confrontation with hospital—scientific- procedures. She recognizes herself as someone very interested in mystery and transcendence, but does not follow any particular religion, even if she was raised in a catholic environment. She has worked in a polyespecialistic public hospital for 15 now, where she is actually in charge of pain management in advanced cancer patients. This hospital has been opened in early xx century on the land of a mansion house. Nowadays, the institution includes the mansion house, the historical first building, two other new structures, and a garden, encompassing a total of 24,000 square meters (in addition to the 30,000 square meters of surrounding park). Procedure The research supervisor first contacted CR through a common acquaintance who works in the same hospital. After getting an appointment by email, CR and the researcher met at the hospital and fill both the informed consent for the investigation and for the hospital allowance. Four months before the first meeting, the researcher began to write a field diary to register daily events related to death, such as dreams, memories about her personal history, inquiries, feelings, and thoughts. This information, even if not formally analyzed in the current chapter, is considered to be insightful for the comprehension of the dialogical interaction between the researcher and the study participant. Two in-depth-interviews were made. There were also made three participant observations—four hour each one-, having the possibility to observe the two offices CR works in at the hospital. Transcriptions were analyzed many times to categorize the information. The excerpts here presented

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were selected because they explicitly mention death narratives and illustrate the interview development. Meaning structures where organized from their contents as for example “Breast Cancer as a Lived Experience” or “Smoking and the Purifying Breath.” If observations made include a related issue, as for instance smoking in the hospital’s garden- a summary of what is seen, but also the impressions the researcher had in the moment, are also mentioned in tables. Finally, further restitutions of the interpretations and descriptions were followed up by e-mail. RESULTS Death Related Experiences Breast Cancer as a Lived Experience During the first interview, the breast cancer CR suffered in 2007 comes into the scene. The only question asked to her during the first interview was if she has shared her cancer experience with any patient and she said it has never happened. Starting the second interview she admitted that this question has surprised her a lot because she did not understand why such an obvious thing was asked (being obvious for her that physicians do not share their personal experiences with patients). But suddenly, she remembered she has shared it with a colleague who was facing her same cancer type. She justified it was a different context, a gender solidarity case. CR was the anesthesiologist involved in the treatment of a patient who was a physician too, and that was not the only woman she treated, but both shared the experience of being an ill doctor. In Excerpt 1 there is a fragment of her narration that illustrates this argument. Excerpt 1. Interview Number Two English version.



155 CR: [. . .] The only person with whom I have shared (.) has been [. . .] a colleague [. . .] and as she already had a tumor diagnosis that was almost identical to mine (..) I told her(.) Hey(.) you know, I had the same surgery you’re having (.) they put me to sleep the same way I’m doing with you and when you wake up you’ll see everything will be ok [. . .] but this was a different kind of relationship [. . .]and she was also a colleague [. . .] then she said she enjoyed the female solidarity so much 178 O: Nice 179 CR: So she took it just the way I wanted it to be [. . .]

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185 O: Sure (.) but you yourself (.) did you, while you were ill, talk to anyone? (.) Did you find that female solidarity? 188 CR: No (.) It is difficult for a doctor to be ill (.) because no one cures you

Furthermore, CR expresses it is very difficult for a physician to be ill, as well as for the treating physicians to attend a physician-patient, because the knowledge they are supposed to have about the diagnosis and prognosis of the illness creates a tension, as she expresses in Excerpt 2. But then, she realizes medical specialists, such as oncologists and anesthesiologists, do not know the same about cancer, which puts in doubt the functioning of this existing tension between the treating physician and the physician-patient. Excerpt 2. Interview Number Two. English version.

179 O: [. . .]another patient (.) as he/she has not the knowledge (.) charges the responsibility lay in the doctor (.) but the doctor 181 C: Yes (.) but does not have the knowledge of all the specialities (.) for charity (.) I am not an oncologist [. . .] but for doctors it is very difficult to help each other [. . .] I lost 25 Kg of weight in three months (.) I was desperate (.) and I heard (.) e (.) I don’t know (.)But (.) ok, look (.) you will have a psychophysical slowdown and it will take time to recover [. . .] you say (.) UH (.) BUT (.) TELL ME FIRST (.) I am an anesthesiologist (.) I do not sell potatoes [. . .] Maybe I do not get frightened when it happens [. . .] that is (.) fright of Cancer you will always have it (.) not just when you are ill [. . .] because this thing is so phantasmagoric that happens to anyone (.) no? (.) is archetypical

Smoking and the “Purifying Breath” CR mentions she smokes as a death related experience, as long as she thinks that lung cancer could cause her death. In addition, she says she feels guilty about this awareness, and desires to stop feeling guilty (without quitting smoke), as it does not produce any benefit but smoking, instead, helps her “breathe” and takes away the tension produced by the intensity with which she assumes her experiences in life and the tensions of work. In Table 3.1 a summary of observations made at the hospital’s garden is presented. She states that there is a need for purification before and after getting immersed into work, and in that sense, there is a desire for switching thoughts and feelings at the same time we switch from one place to another. Concerning the meaning of getting immerse into work, she refers to: seeing

52    O. V. LEHMANN and E. SAITA TABLE 3.1  Summary of Hospital’s Garden Observations Protocol Description

Impressions

Day one

I felt the calm she was talking about in the garden and I did not feel smoking is dangerous for her, this purifying feeling really comforts her.

Day two

Day three

We went to the hospital’s garden for a walk, and she begun to smoke. This garden is very important for her because, as it is located between the parking area and the hospital, she must walk through it every day to get to her office and so, she is obligated to “purify” herself. There was a mistake in her agenda and patients’ attention was delayed. She needed to do something and when we got into the garden; she talked about breathing while she smoked her cigarette.

Attending patients is nice, but makes me feel exhausted, same way as she does. I noticed her face expressions changed when we got to the garden, I felt calmed too. We went out for a cup of coffee and a Even if a lot of people do it cigarette, but into a garage so I mentioned there, the garage was not the the garden and she insisted for us to go place for smoking. When we there because we needed to breathe. She returned to the garden, it talked about some difficulties when her was nice to accompany her to colleagues and the quality of the service smoke, as I was also immersed given to the patients. in the breathing routine.

patients, communication difficulties between colleagues, and institutional logistic problems. Smoking seems to calm her down and thus, she perceives it allows her to do a better job treating her patients, even if she is aware of the role smoking can play regarding to cancer and the guilt she feels towards it. Death of Patients When a patient dies, CR elaborates a farewell ritual, asking for excuses if there was a mistake and blessing the patient’s soul. She also refers it is a very personal ritual, as she does not share it with anyone else at the hospital. Furthermore, she wishes that it was a collective farewell ritual between physicians and the dead patient, but unfortunately, she says, it is not that way. Medical Practice Related to Palliative Care Studying Medicine and Anesthesiology Physiotherapy was one of the careers she was interested in but, by suggestion of her father, CR ended up studying medicine, a career with a prime power position inside healthcare faculties. Then, in her search of what a doctor is about, she acknowledges the desire of going back to ancient

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approaches of medicine. At the same time, in further conversations she also stands that even if one must attend and approve an undergraduate program at University in order to become a doctor, such formal education is just a part of what being a doctor involves. She uses the example of Essene’s in order to express how in ancient cultures, shamans were also priests and thus the sense of wholeness of human dimensions was integrated when healing. CR mentions some desires that kept her moving towards the wholeness. During the in-depth interviews CR acknowledges the importance of the physician role in her identity and spiritual growth—here understood as the awareness of surrounding energies/forces that interwove mind and soul as well as human being with “goodness.” Practical Experience Referring to empathy, CR says cancer did not change her way of relating to her patients. She states that both age and professional experience are considered to influence that approach. When she was going to have a cancer surgery, she asked for supervision as she did not want to affect neither herself, nor patients; in Excerpt 3 there are these arguments in her own words. She feels she has now elaborated the illness event and that the years of professional experience (more than 15) is a fact that could have helped her to integrate the cancer lived experience. Excerpt 3. Interview Number Two English version.



92 CR: I started to do palliative care [. . .] in ’86–’87 (.) and I must say that the empathy and my feelings are exactly identical[. . .] I faced problems at the beginning when I was asked to return to this job so shortly after my surgery (.) so I really had problems [. . .] I asked for supervision in order to avoid hurting me or them (..) now (.) I must say (.) it is going better (.)but (.) yes (.) I believe the difference Is the fact that I am twenty years older [. . .] not to the fact I have had cancer [. . .] 109 O: more to the age (.) yes (.) more to the professional experience than to111 CR: to the professional experience and my personal growth (.) but not at all to the cancer event

Interaction with Other Clinicians When referring to her interaction with other physicians, CR tells us that there is a quite disarticulated relationship between specialists. In Table 3.2 reports the notes of a casual encounter between CR and the oncologists, where they discuss about a couple of patients at the cafeteria.

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TABLE 3.2  Observation at the Hospital’s Cafeteria Description Day two

Impressions

In the cafeteria, there were three physicians If she didn’t explain to me that taking a cup of coffee. One of them told CR those were the oncologists something about a patient, so she joined I would not even notice it, their conversation at the table. When she because their conversation was came to me she told me: “this is the way that so distant, that I thought it was relationship with oncologists is developed, just about any colleague. when we meet by chance.” We drank our coffee There is not teamwork in the while talking about the relationship with hospital and only until now I colleagues that she describes as distant, came to realize how important adding she does not agree with the way they communication boundaries manage patients, because communication between physicians are when problems between physicians, does affect treating patients. the quality of care.

At the same time, during the second in-depth-interview, she states there is an establishing teamwork, but she is not part of it. CR says to be tired because she has to limit a lot herself during interventions as well as she considers that the inclusion of a palliative care specialist implies the recognition of end-of-life and thus, the emergence of some representations about lack of medical actions. In the same line of ideas, it is evidenced in Table 3.3 how the digitalization of medical records makes available the information about interventions of other medical specialists, but it is also the only way physicians have access to such information about the patients’ treatment, which could block crucial TABLE 3.3  Observation in the Medical Practice Description

Impressions

Day three

I was worried when the doctor could not find the information about past interventions at the system. The patient and her husband were also worried, and tried to explain the doctor about other interventions; but I consider that it is not up to them, it is the responsibility of the hospital service to attend to the information on the treatments given.

CR was trying to find the electronic medical record of the patient in the computer, but she couldn’t and so, she could not know about other physicians’ procedures. When she found it she realized the radiologist recommended suspending the pain pills. Instead, the patient was claiming to be still in pain. CR discussed this issue with the patient and her husband, because taking pills was in fact something she had recommended before. Afterwards, when the patient left the office, the doctor said to me she was very angry, because the radiologist had suspended pain therapy without telling or asking her.

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issues at the consult. For instance, during one consultation CR, noticed that the radiologist recommended the patient to suspend the pain pills, but the patient was claiming to feel pain, feeling confused about taking medicines. CR, whose job is precisely that one of pain management, had prescribed pain pills in past encounters, and was upset about realizing by digital medical records important changes in the directions of the treatment. In fact, during participant observations, the topics of conversation among the physician, the patient and the caregiver(s), were pertaining to diet, pain medicines, and delay in attention, blocking the emergence of other topics such as the prognosis of the illness, the feelings of the patient and the caregiver about the progress of the treatment, anxiety about impending death, and so on. Conversations about Death with Patients When she was asked about death-related conversations with patients, CR referred she managed it regularly and the topics or circumstances of the conversation depended on some aspects of the patient, such as age, spirituality, and stage of illness. She pointed out that unfortunately many times there was not enough time to establish a relationship with the patient, because she met him/her very late. In some cases, she said physicians do not allow patients to ask those kinds of questions, concluding that our fears pull up barricades on such conversations. But, the conversations about death between CR and her patients just occurred one time during observations. The only conversation occurred between a caregiver and CR after a consultation. As it is reported in Table 3.4, the caregiver constantly expresses to CR the tiredness, while the anesthesiologist asks why they are still coming to the hospital instead of requiring a domiciliary palliative care service. Moreover, CR has suggested further times to apply for a hospice program. The patient’s sister avoids the topic, asking to CR how long will her sister live, but the doctor says she does not know and continues her discourse about other caring programs they can have access to. Dialogical Interaction during the Interviews CR claims to be a very introspective and reserved person, very interested in wholeness—here understood as the integration of the spiritual, biological and psychological dimension of human being. She went to the analyst for a long period and so on; her discourse makes reference to the awareness, of fulfillment of unconscious desires, such as desire for care giving when she decided to study medicine and anesthesiology. At the end of the first interview she asked if the entire conversation had been recorded, because she felt she had spoken about private matters that she does not often share; which suggests she was being honest with her answers. Furthermore,

56    O. V. LEHMANN and E. SAITA TABLE 3.4  Observation of a Conversation about Death Description Day three

Impressions

Because of the patient’s conditions and When the caregiver tried to age, Doctor CR had already suggested speak with me I was really requiring home palliative care services, or worried I could not answer her a hospice; and the oncologist the same. questions; but also I was not Her sisters, instead, haven’t done it. So, sure I was the one she had to she again called other anesthesiologist in speak with. order to require domiciliary palliative care I was surprised about how for the patient. outspoken was doctor CR, but Each time the caregiver tries to talk about then I understood she knew her tiredness, the doctor describes the the caregiver wouldn’t accept home palliative cares and hospices as an the home care, and this is alternative. After a while, the caregiver something needed. complains about the fact that her ill sister smokes and tries to do ordinary things that she cannot do anymore. The caregiver asks: “How long will she live?” and CR says she does not know. She is very straightforward in her discourse; she constantly speaks about accepting the suggestion of home palliative care or the hospice. The doctor said to me that even if they have a hospice service that is located very near their house, they keep coming back to the hospital.

during further visits to the hospital, a very close relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee was established, and CR often repeated to be grateful to find someone interested in the discussion of these untouched topics, as well as a confidant with whom she could express such private things calmly. Tension When Asking About Illness and Death There was an excessively worried position in the novice researcher about possible taboos during the interview. Tension is felt when asking about cancer experience during the first in-depth interview. CR described breast cancer as an experience related to death, but the interviewer did not ask further questions about it; she changed the course of the interview towards conversations with patients. Then, the researcher called her advisor to talk about the topic, and asked for suggestions to introduce it on the second interview. Instead the interviewee introduced the cancer experience, saying that she was surprised when she was asked if she had ever shared it with any patient. It is important to acknowledge that, when compiling the field diary, there were constant

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reports of the fear of having an illness such as cancer. Afterwards, when smoking was introduced, the interviewee expressed a few judgments about cigarettes but she did not make any emphatic comments. It was only until the observations in the hospital’s garden, where the purifying breath metaphor emerged, that further conversations regarding smoking took place. DISCUSSION Having Cancer and Treating Cancer There is a common belief in “keeping professional distance” between the medical doctor and the patient, in order to maintain the assistential and scientific role. But, for instance, Tierney & McKinley (2002), two oncologists that suffered cancer, describe in their autoetnography how after the diagnosis, a great number of fears arise, such as those involving the dying process (imagination about patients they have treated), physical disabilities, and the diminished sense of Self, generated by drastic changes in daily life routines. The authors also pointed out that the fear of cancer recurrence is reduced over time, even if never disappears. For this reason physicians often hide their personal discomfort with regard to cancer and dying by being distant. Further, the authors conclude that an opposite behavior is also possible, overdoing their care of patients and overestimating their condition; thus, it is important—but very difficult to establish a balance. Consider that physicians should explain/teach to patients about the illness they have, giving information about its diagnosis and prognosis course. Although when it happens that a patient is also a medical doctor, explaining or teaching actions imply to contrast the knowledge of both physicians, even if one has the role of patient. Figure 3.1 presents a hypothesis of what could be named the “healing tension” that emerges between the external I-position of a “patient that is also a physician,” and her inner I-position as a “treating physician.” As CR notes in Excerpt 2, this confronting knowledge is relative to the specialization of both physicians, because even if she works in the same illness she was suffering her focus on cancer is different from the focus—and knowledge of an oncologist or a radiologist. But here the dynamics of the dialogues between the “I as patient-physician” and the “I as treating physician” go beyond medical knowledge. Her lived experience of having breast cancer and the affective resonance with the lived experience of the patientphysician are crucial for making the decision of breaking the “professional distance” and sharing her biographical experience about the illness. For instance, as a medical doctor, CR gains more power during interaction with patients, because she has more knowledge about the cancer that the

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Figure 3.1  Healing tension: I-positions of a physician.

patients have not. But the tension emerges when a patient is also a physician (see Excerpt 1), because of the fact that the patient, being also a medical doctor, has more knowledge about health-illness processes than an “ordinary patient.” Simultaneously, the lived experience of breast cancer—the illness she treats, promotes the emergence of her inner position of “I as a patient-physician”— even if at that time she was not a patient anymore, and the external position of “I as a patient-physician” that was going to have the same kind of breast cancer surgery she had had (see Excerpt 1). At that point, holding the “healing tension” CR faces the possibility of sharing or not her experience as a patient, and given the crucial biographical similarities between both physicians, she realizes that there could be a powerful relief by breaking the professional distance, and this empathetic feeling transcends the scientific/intellectual role. That is, CR feels motivated by the “I-as-a-survivor-woman” beyond the mere “I as a physician,” because of the affective resonance of reviving her experience, and the expectation to encourage her same gender patient-colleague. The Purifying Sense of the Smoking Act CR interprets her decision of studying medicine as coherent with unconscious desires of taking care of people, but also acknowledges that thanks

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to her profession she gained independence both from her parents while studying anesthesiology, and from her ex-couples so that she takes care from her sons all alone. During aging, the sensemaking of life must deal with the threat of our impending finitude, revealing it trough imagination and orientations towards the future, so that Self-narratives tend to gain coherence from late adolescence and become especially important in middle adulthood (Zittoun, Valsiner, Vedeler, Salgado, Gonçalves, & Ferring, 2013). At the same time, and according to Erikson’s (1968) theory, the main goal of adulthood is acquiring generativity and wisdom during the reconciliation process among life, finitude, and loss (Baltes, Staudinger, & Lindenberger, 1999), which is something she has integrated into her job because, even feeling tired about the institutional problems she assumes to exist, CR still remains working at the hospital because of the meaning that helping patients has for her. But, it is interesting to note how the fact that she smokes helps her to maintain precisely the position of “I as a physician,” as it is described in the Figure 3.2. By one hand, there are two meanings that make CR feel guilty because she smokes. That is, she acknowledges the breast cancer lived experience makes her afraid of having lung cancer in future (which is the type of cancer she often treats in the hospital), as well as she recognized that smoking is a risky behavior for health and she often suggests patients to quit

Figure 3.2  Social guidance of the smoking act.

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smoking. On the other hand, the fulfillment meanings are that smoking works as a stress breaker and the purifying breath metaphor gives her a sense of calmness while working. This, to emphasize the tension stemming from “construction-destruction” death ambivalence, which is one of the bases of human—yet culturally constructed- relations with the environment (Zimmerman & Valsiner, 2009). For instance, Gupta & Valsiner (1996) describe the ambiguity of tobacco as it is evidenced in Levi-Strauss studies of myths in South American indigenous communities. The authors describe the ambiguous tension that builds up when tobacco is considered both a “supreme food” and a “death poison,” which “leads to the central role of the experiencing person in the activity of sense-making. The latter is indeed embedded in distinct situated activity contexts, in which the person is a more (or less) central (or peripheral participant)” (p. 10). In the case of CR, tobacco is assumed as a “death poison” because it is a medical fact that smoking is a risky behavior, and one of its side effects is precisely cancer, the illness she treats, but also the illness she has suffered. That way, the social guidance of the scientific contexts, attracts her to the destructive side of the tension. At the same time, one can say that she experiences tobacco as a “supreme food” because it a subjective recourse to “breath” and gain energy in order to cope appropriately with the pressures of medical practice. To assume smoking as a habit that contributes to the maintenance of the “I as a physician” position helps CR to resist and continue working at the hospital, altogether with the internalization of a social need, such as staying at the hospital as a palliative care anesthesiologist to help patients. That way, even feeling guilty about it, CR does not want to quit smoking. The decision to make is that one of working to eliminate guilt by the reconciliation of the contraries: the purifying breath and lung cancer, holding the smoking practice as the nearest recourse she finds, beyond the side effects she already acknowledges. Medical Practice Related to Palliative Care CR talks about the existing gap between contemporary medicine in hospitals and spirituality—meant as the human inner desire of wholeness. It is known that, from ancient times, the first human communities survived living around a healing person, woman or man, whose power was also political and/or religious—such as a shaman (Eliade, 1996). It is possible to object that the contemporary trends in medicine tend to increase the gap between “the body and the soul” leading to merge healthcare with economic administration. This is why CR refers to the Essenes’ medicine. It is clear to her that this ancient healing practice was closely connected the medical level with the spiritual one which is currently being hampered in palliative care. Moreover,

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technological advances applied to medicine provide so many tools to keep patients alive, that death is being relegated every day more and more to a second place. In congruence with this statement, Rovaletti (2002) recalls for a cultural change [return] where death can be accepted, not as a failure of a healing process, but as some cases as a culmination of it. For instance, this acceptance of death has been studied as personal and social affective processes. Inner aspects of the reconciliation with finitude are driven by the emotional awareness of existence transitions and the transformation of this awareness into responsible behaviors (Becker, 1973; Kübler Ross, 1993; Frankl, 1994; Moon, 2008), but it can be also realized by the fact of living a chronic illness while being a medical doctor (Tierney, & McKinley, 2002). Otherwise, education programs have also documented improvements in the quality of care, but also in the quality of life of health care providers (Bruzzone & Musi, 2007). But, beyond these strategies, there are other contextual transitions that must be considered when studying the approach to death in health care, such as the displacement of communication related to death and dying (e.g., anxiety about death and afterlife, taking decisions about end-of-life treatments, saying good bye to the beloved ones, and so on) within the care services could be produced by the management of electronic medical records, but also by the power dynamics that emerge during conversations between physicians with other colleagues, and with patients. Dialogical Interaction During the Interviews as Death Talks The development of tensions between I-positions during talks functions in a culturally guided setting where some topics are promoted instead of others, and the taboo topics are considered separated zones sought to avoid (Valsiner, 2000). But what happens when the taboo topic becomes a necessary topic of talk? Here, and because of the research objectives, the researcher might ask about illness, death, and the sovereignty of medical practice when treating those topics, but this can also occur in everyday life. For instance, during daily life relationships established in a palliative care practice or setting, conversations about pharmaceutical prescriptions or delay in attention are promoted (see Table 3.3), and even if some contextual events can block the emergence of death related talks—as it has been exposed previously, in some conditions they can be promoted (see Table 3.4) evoking a particular tension between diverse I-positions. But before explaining in depth this tension we want to propose a variation of the SDS proposed by Valsiner (2000), as it is exposed in Figure 3.3. That is, even if the ZPrT is more permeable to have a social marking than the ZTT, there

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Figure 3.3  Semiotic demand setting.

is an interconnection in between them, and this interconnection works as a bridge, so that for the emergence of a taboo topic into a conversation, those topics may pass by the ZPrT. Furthermore, the opinions that emerge from the ZPrT (being them taboo topics or not) are in opposition with another opinion from the zone. As has been said, in some cases taboo topics are immersed into the ZPrT because of initiative of one of the participants of the conversation and with a particular goal. The ever-present tension of dealing with taboo topics, such as unhealthy conducts or life-threatening illnesses, involves the desire to avoid them during the conversation, and the duty to make sense about them, allowing the emergence of different I-positions in order to cope with opposing opinions. Now, in order to describe the dialogical interaction during the interviews with CR, it is crucial to differentiate the analysis made by both authors (researcher and advisor), which implies to talk as “We,” from further references to the “I,” which are meant to illustrate I-positions of the interviewer during the talks developed in the research process. The dialogic tension of the different I-positions of the researcher that emerged during the conversations about taboo topics, such as unhealthy conducts and life-threatening illnesses, is shown in Figure 3.4. On one side of the figure, there is the “I” as interviewer and on the other side, the “I” in relation to the interviewee, both dealing with the tension of talking about taboo topics featured by the consequent emergence of I-positions that explain the development of the tension: the biographical I, the Frightened I, and the Assertive I. Smoking is the first taboo topic during the dialogues. The Biographical I of the interviewer comes into scene because of the fact she does not smoke—considering it unhealthy. But, during the interview she implies the “Assertive I” trying to maintain a neutral attitude, hiding personal

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Figure 3.4  Dialogical tension of I-positions during the interviews.

beliefs about the “unhealthy” conduct in order to refrain from judging CR, as the researcher does not want to hurt the interviewee with questions or comments that block her honest answers, but acknowledging her contradictory beliefs about the topic, the Frightened I” promotes the tension whether asking or not. Besides, cancer is the second taboo topic that comes into scene during the interviews. The “Biographical I” of the researcher feels afraid of the possibility of contracting cancer—guided by a mistaken diagnosis of Leukemia made to her in the past, and when she realized, during and not before the research development, that CR had suffered breast cancer, her “Frightened I” was quite shocked about coping with this private event during interviews, even realizing this topic was crucial for the investigation, and that way wanting to introduce questions without feeling intrusive, nor demonstrating sorrow for the lived experience of CR. Certainly, what is crucial for coping with the tension is the final intentionality of the topics of the talk. Beyond—but in dialogue with— the “Biographical,” “Assertive” and “Frightened” positions, the “I as an interviewer” decides to introduce both the smoking act and the cancer lived experience of CR, realizing the important of these issues for gaining an accurate comprehension of the study participant approach to death, which was one of the objectives of

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the investigation. That is, by acknowledging a powerful purpose, I-positions in dialogue can unify efforts leading a metaposition to act in order to cope with taboo topics that come into scene during conversations. CONCLUSIONS Because of their incomprehensible nature, Existence Transitions are surrounded by taboos, such as the one of death that is often avoided in daily life conversations. But, even if it is true that the core purpose of palliative care is to promote the quality of life, patients are dying, which recalls the necessity to pay attention to the development of dialogues between different internal and/or external I-positions when such topics cannot be avoided anymore. We expected to find a predominance of affective, rather than intellectual/scientific I-positions of the study participant when talking about death in palliative care practice, linked to an optimistic reconciliation of Existence Transitions in her biography. But even recognizing the circularity between beliefs and life experiences related to death in health practitioners (Gómez, Lehmann, & Amaya, 2011), the findings of our investigation provide information about other elements of the palliative care context to consider within the patient-physician relationship. First of all, digitalization of patients’ medical records makes information more available at the consultation, but when there is no palliative care teamwork, there is no discussion of the diverse intervention processes between treating physicians. In this order of ideas the predominant topics of conversation during the consultation would be about the maintenance and changes of the treatment, and the related confusion generated in the patient and the caregiver(s) about the illness development and prognosis. This fact would permit each physician to change medication and therapies in their practices from isolated perspectives, which other than affecting the quality of care would block the emergence of Existence Transitions talks. In the same line of ideas, health care systems which make it possible for patients to access other services, such as a hospice or home care, could also be blocking the emergence of teamwork discussions about particular cases, and the development of death talks between the patients, their families, and the health care providers. For instance, if no health care service knows exactly what has been discussed about impending finitude—and it is not usual to describe such things in patients’ medical records, nor remissions— the predominant topics of conversation could be about characteristics of the recoveries, medication, past experiences with other physicians and so on. Even if these topics are important, conversations about Existence Transitions and the emotional resonance of the terminal condition of the illness can be lost again, as it happens inside the hospital. Furthermore, another

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consequence of this blocking is that it would serve to hide every professional approach to death so that the avoidance of taboo topics is gained. This avoidance impacts the quality of care, because death related conversations in palliative care practices are helpful for the elaboration of anticipated grief elaboration. These conversations are linked to high levels of perceived quality of life (Bayés, 2001; Kübler Ross, 1993; Moon, 2008). But, how can one have an assertive communication about death related topics in palliative care practices? One should consider not just the awareness of one’s own death, education programs or sensemaking during development, but the social emergence of these conversations considering the health care contexts where those talks could take place within conversations about clinical procedures, quality of attention and remissions to other services. Educative actions still need to become stronger, going beyond theoretical instruction, paying attention to emotions and communication. Future training/intervention programs should consider organisational fields as the scenario for clinical improvements in palliative care, highlighting work on power dynamics linked to death avoidance and awareness during the dialogues between physicians, patients and their families. The dialogical process presented when a physician is also a patient— even more when there is the treatment of the illness suffered by the same— explain the possible dynamics of power and sensemaking tensions during the development of medical consultations. For instance, power dynamics of the I-positions involved in the patient-physician relationship imply issues like the general knowledge about the illness, the medical specialization, or the identification with the patient’s case and the lived experiences of the physician—such as if he/she has been ill of the illness he treats. As a “treating physician,” the knowledge that about the illness diagnosis and prognosis gives medical doctors a higher power during conversations with patients. This power is threatened when the patient is also a physician because even if the “patient-physician” has not the same speciality than the “treating physician,” the tension increases because the interaction is between two colleagues. But when there is a biographical identification with the patient’s lived experience (e.g., the patient who is also a physician is suffering the same illness I have suffered in the past) the tension can decrease, breaking the “professional distance” and developing an alliance with the patient, where even the physician can share personal experiences in order to encourage and relief the patient and/or the family. Furthermore, not just the I-positions of the study participant, but also the ones of the researcher when inquiring about death—and related taboo topics such as unhealthy conducts or life-threatening illnesses, are very useful in explaining dynamics of patient-physician conversations. That way, the “Interviewer” position that can be enrolled by any physician in dialogue with a patient beholds three other positions: the “Biographical I,” “Frightened

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I,” and the “Assertive I.” The “Biographical I” of the interviewer adds values to health menace events and unhealthy conducts (considering smoking as unhealthy and feeling very afraid about having cancer), and when those topics come into scene during conversations with the interviewee a “Frightened I” appear to intensify the desire of avoidance of such topics, but the “Assertive I,” is called to overcome fears of talking about taboo topics, trying to position a neutral attitude. Having a final purpose to introduce the taboo topic, even desiring to avoid it during health care conversations, serves to get over the tension. At the same time, this purpose is guided by a social demand (such as research, or a health care topic that a health professional must deal with) or an ethical instance (such as the grief elaboration, the bioethical procedures in the hospital, talking with a patient or his family member, or a health care peer). In consequence, understanding the tensions that emerge during conversations is a great foundation for the development of strategies that promote assertive talks regarding death. Further research on death-related conversations should study: (a) the sensemaking of death- related experiences (and not just the lived experiences); (b) personality features of physicians and patients; (c) the quality of relationships; (d) the physician sense of role identity; (e) the reflexions the patient has made about the illness in his/her personal life; (f) the place where interaction with patients takes place in hospitals (practices, dormitory, surgical rooms, wards; (g) follow-ups of the transition of patients from hospital to the hospice or their homes and the transition of physicians, in order to study the development of death talks and whoever would be giving them; and (h) the availability of medical records between physicians during transitions inside and outside the hospital. Finally, interpretative description from idiographic science approaches widens comprehension of communication phenomena regarding death as well as the acknowledgement of other aspects of physicians’ interaction, thereby opening many other considerations for further research projects. Including abductive logic in Interpretative Description methods allowed the research development to comprehend the phenomena in depth, without considering samples or schematic procedures. But it also served to present some generalization hypothesis about palliative care professionals and their relationships with patients, with colleagues, and with the health care system. The theoretical and empirical literature mentioned here recognizes the importance of investigating these topics and the APA (2010) stresses the lack of information about them. Some seeds were planted but they must grow with corroboration of hypotheses in other contexts and restructuration through further analysis of this phenomenon.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We want to especially thank Dr. Jaan Valsiner for his generous trust and valuable aid. We also want to thank Dr. Sergio Salvatore for his accurate and insightful suggestions during the preparation of this paper, and Dr. Sally Thorne for her encouragement and kindness. APENDIX A In-Depth-Interview Guidelines I. Introduction

1. Sociodemographic Information a. Name: b. Date of birth: c. City: d. Religious orientation: e. Persons living with you: f. Marital status: g. Studies: h. Hobby: 2. What do you think about having an interview about death? 3. How do you feel about having an interview about death? 4. What do you expect this interview to be about? What would we speak about? 5. What would we not speak about? 6. How do you think this conversation could enrich clinical interventions? II. Education 7. Why did you decide to study medicine? 8. Why did you choose to work in palliative care? 9. How was your university program organized? 10. What lessons do you consider to be most important for the work you do now? What lessons did you think were the most important when you were a student? 11. What would you like to learn about coping with death? Did you realize this when you were a student? 12. In your opinion, what should students be taught regarding palliative care? 13. What important experience do you remember in your work as a physician that you would like to share? 14. Do you remember an important tool you used during your learning process and how it helped you? (a book, a song, a poem, a film)

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III.  Clinical practice 15. What is your working experience like? 16. Can you describe the people you work with in the hospital? Your Teamwork? 17. Some patients insist that hospitals are not the right places for dying. What is your own opinion? 18. Are you tutoring any student practice right now? 19. What do you consider to be the challenges in your work? 20. When these challenges arise, to whom do you speak about them? How do you cope with these challenges? 21. What feelings do you experience during your work? 22. Some physicians argue that time is a barrier when establishing rapport with patients and their families. What do you think? 23. Some physicians prefer not to talk about death with their patients but to encourage them to live. What do you think about this? 24. Have any of your patients ever talked about a book, a movie or a song in order to bring up the subject of death during conversations? 25. Have you suggested any book, song or movie to a patient in order to talk about death? To their family? To your colleagues? 26. Do you talk about death? With whom? 27. How do you feel about your rapport with the patient’s family? IV.  Beliefs and lived experiences related to death 28. Do you believe there is a connection between your choice of medical specialization and your life experiences? 29. Some physicians say they find it difficult to speak about death with patients and their relatives. What do you think? 30. How is death assumed in your religion? 31. Do you take part in cultural or religious rites when a person dies? 32. If death had a fragrance, what would it be? 33. Could you describe to me what death is about? 34. Could you speak to me about some of your dead patients? 35. Which have been the worst losses in your own life? 36. Have you had any near death experience in an illness or an accident? V.  Expectations in life 37. Do you think about your own death? Maybe leaving a testament or an advanced directive? 38. What would you like to do before dying?

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39. What have you done that makes you feel proud about your life? Closing questions 40. 41. 42. 43.

How do you feel when talking about death? What did you expect to find in this interview but you did not? What did you not expect to find and you did? Is there any other subject you want to speak about? REFERENCES

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70    O. V. LEHMANN and E. SAITA García-Caro, M., Cruz-Quintana, F., Schmidt Río-Valle, J., Muñoz-Vinuesa, A., Montoya-Juárez, R. Diego Prados-Peña, D., et al. (2010). Influencia de las emociones en el juicio clínico de los profesionales de la salud a propósito del diagnóstico de enfermedad terminal. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 10(1), 57–73. Guillén, A. (2006, March). Los sistemas sanitarios públicos europeos y el sistema sanitario público español. Jornadas sobre La sanidad pública en España: reflexiones Consejo Económico y Social del Principado de Asturias. Marzo 15 y 16. Oviedo España. Goldenberg, J., & Arndt, J. (2008). The implications of death for health: A Terror management health model for behavioral health promotion. Psychological Review, 115(4), 1032–1053. Gómez, A., Lehmann, O-V., & Amaya, L. (2011). Vivencias y creencias acerca de la muerte en estudiantes del área de la salud. Tesis de grado profesional sin publicar, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía-Colombia. Gross, J., Mommamerts, C., Earl, D., & De Vries, R. (2008). Perspective: After a century of criticizing premedical education, are we missing the point? Academic Medicine, 83(5), 516–520. Retrieved from http://www.personal.umich. edu/~rdevries/medicalsoc.html Gupta, S., & Valsiner, J. (1996, September). Myths in the hearts: Implicit suggestions in the story. Second Conference on Socio-Cultural Studies. Geneva. Hayes, J., Schimel, J., Arndt, J., & Faucher, E. (2010). A theoretical and empirical review of the death-thought access concept in terror management research. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 699–739. Hermans, H. J. M. (2001). The dialogical self: Toward a theory of personal and cultural positioning. Culture & Psychology, 7, 243–281. Hermans, H., & Gieser, T. (2012). Introduction to dialogical self theory. In, H. Hermans & T. Gieser (Eds.), Handbook for dialogical self theory (pp. 1–23). New York: Cambridge University Press. Josephs, I. (1998). Constructing one´s self in the city of the silent: Dialogue, symbols, and the role of “As if” in self-development. Human Development 41, 180–195. Kullasepp, K. (2010). Why become a “shrink”? Psychology studies as an extension of Self. In S, Salvatore., J, Valsiner., J, T, Simon., & A, Gennaro. (Eds.), Year book of idiographic science (Vol. 3, pp. 95–114). Rome: Firera & Liuzzo Group. Kübler Ross, E. (1993). De la muerte y los moribundos. Barcelona: Grijalbo-Mondadori. Lehmann, O.-V. (2010). De la logoterapia a la bioética: herramientas para el abordaje psicológico. Revista Redbioética/UNESCO, 1(2), 37–49. Retrieved from http://revistaredbioetica.wordpress.com/ Lehmann, O-V. (2012). Book review: Children’s understanding of death, from biological to religious conceptions. Culture & Psychology, 18(2), 285–286. doi: 10.1177/1354067X11434840 Ministero della Salute (2010). Schema di piano sanitario nazionale 2011–2013. Retrieved from http://www.salute.gov.it/imgs/C_17_pubblicazioni_1454_allegato.pdf

Health Professionals Die Too    71 Moon, P. (2008). Death-talks: Transformative learning for physicians. American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine. 25(4), 271–277. Retrieved from http:// ajh.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/25/4/271 Pesina, A. (2004). Il tempo breve: questioni etiche di fine vita. In A. Pesina (compilator). Scelte di confine in medicina, sugli orientamenti dei medici rianimatori. Milano: Vita e Pensiero. Reyes, L. F. (1996). Curso Fundamental de Tanatología: Acercamientos Tanatológicos al Enfermo Terminal y a su Familia (Tomo I). México: Dr. Luis Alfonso Reyes Zubiria. Rodríguez, M. (2006). Afrontamiento Del Cáncer Y Sentido De La Vida: Un Estudio Empírico Y Clínico. Tesis Doctoral, Universidad Autónoma De Madrid Facultad De Medicina, Departamento De Psiquiatría. Retrieved from: http:// dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/tesis?codigo=2335 Rovaletti, M. (2002). La Ambigüedad de la Muerte: Reflexiones en Torno a La Muerte Contemporánea. Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría. 31(2), 91–108. Ruggiero, G. (2007). Tutto il dolore che non riuscimmo a dire: Storie di famiglie che si ammalano di cancro. In V, Cigoli & M. Mariotti (Eds.), Il medico, la famiglia e la comunitá, l`approccio biopsicosociale alla salute e la malattia. Milano: FrancoAngeli. pp. 171–183. Saita, E., & Tamanza G. (2009). Cure palliative, qualità di vita, passaggi generazionali. In E, Saita (Ed.), Psicooncologia, una prospettiva relazionale (pp. 40–66). Milano: Unicolpi. Salvatore, S. (2011). Social life of the sign: Sense-making in society. In J. Valsiner (Ed.), Oxford handbook of socio-cultural psychology. Oxford Press. Salvatore, S., & Valsiner, J. (2008). Idiographic science on its way: Towards making sense of psychology. In S. Salvatore., J. Valsiner, S. Strout-Yagodzynski, & J. Clegg (Eds.), Year book of idiographic science (pp. 9–22). Rome: Firera & Liuzzo Group. Scheler, M. (1954/2000). El formalismo en la ética y la ética material de los valores. Madrid: . Caparros. Società Italiana di Cure Palliative [SICP]. (2010). Presente e Futuro delle Cure Palliative in Italia, Normative, qualità e sfide. Retrieved from http://www.thinktag.org/documentstore/documentsFiles/807758/Zucco.pdf Spizzichino, M. (2010). Le Cure Palliative Nella Prospettiva Della Programmazione Nazionale. Monitor, Trimestrale dell’Agenzia nazionale per i servizi sanitari regionali, 7( 26), 14–15. St. George, S. (2010). Applied interpretation: A review of interpretive description by Sally Thorne. The Qualitative Report, 15(6), 1624–1628. Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR15-6/stgeorge.pdf Sullivan, A., Lakoma, M., Billings, A., Peters, A., Block, S., & PCEP Core Faculty. (2005). Teaching and learning end-of-life care: Evaluation of a faculty development program in palliative care. Journal of Acedemic Medicine, 80(7), 657–668. Retrieved from http://www.hms.harvard.edu/pallcare/Testimonials.htm Sullivan, A., Lakoma, M., Billings, A., Peters, A., Block, S., & PCEP Core Faculty. (2006). Creating eduring change; Demonstrating the long-term impact of

72    O. V. LEHMANN and E. SAITA a faculty development program in palliative care. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21, 907–914. Retrieved from http://www.hms.harvard.edu/pallcare/Testimonials.htm Talwar, V., Harris, P., & Schleifer, M. (2011). Children’s understanding of death, from biological to religious conceptions. New York: Cambridge University Press. Tierney, W., & Mckinley, E. (2002). When the physician-researcher gets cancer understanding cancer, its treatment, and quality of life from the patient’s perspective. Medical Care. 40(6), 20–27. The Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence (2011). Did Your City Make the List? HealthGrades Quality Study Identifies Hospitals in Top 5% in Nation; Cities that Have Highest Concentration of Top Hospitals. Retrieved from http://www.healthgrades.com/cms/ratings-and-awards/2011-HG-Distinguished-Hospitals-For-Clinical-Excellence-Award-Announcement.aspx Thorne, S., Oglov, V., Armstrong, E.-A., & Hislop, T. G. (2007). [Abstract]. Prognosticating futures and the human experience of hope. Palliative and Supportive Care, 5, 227–239. Thorne, S. (2008). Interpretative description. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press. Thorne, S., Oliffe, J., Kim-Sing, C., Stajduhar, K., Harris, S. R., Armstrong, E.-A., & Oglov, V. (2010). Helpful communications during the diagnostic period: An interpretive description of patient preferences. European Journal of Cancer Care 19(6), 746–754. Valsiner, J. (2000). Culture and human development. London: Sage. Valsiner, J. (2002). Irreversibility of time and ontopotentiality of signs. Estudios de Psicología, 23(1), 49–59. Valsiner, J. (2006). The semiotic construction of solitude: Processes of internalization and externalization. Sign Systems Studies 34(1), 9–35. Valsiner, J. (2010, April). Climbing the sacred mountain of knowlegde: Psychology at its eternal crossroads. XIV Congreso Colombiano De Psicología, Ibagué. Valsiner, J., & Cabell, K. (2012).Self-making through synthesis: Extending dialogical Self theory. In H, J. M. Hermans & T, Gieser (Eds.), Handbook of dialogical self. New York: Cambridge University Press. Valsiner, J., & Han, G. (2008). Where is culture within the dialogical perspectives on the self? International Journal for Dialogical Science, 3(1), 1–8. Retrieved from http://ijds.lemoyne.edu/journal/3_1/pdf/IJDS.3.1.01.Valsiner_Han.pdf Valsiner, J., & Rosa, A. (2007). Editor`s introduction: Contemporary social-cultural research: Uniting culture, society and psychology. In J. Valsiner & A, Rosa (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology (pp. 1–22). New York: Cambridge University Press. Vess, M., Routledge, C., Landau, M., & Arndt, J. (2009). The dynamics of death and meaning: The effects of death-relevant cognitions and personal need for structure on perceptions of meaning in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 97(4) 728–744. Whitaker, E. (2003). The idea of health: History, medical pluralism, and the management of the body in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, New Series, 17(3), 348–375. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3655389 World Health Organization [WHO, n.d]. WHO Definition of Palliative Care. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/

Health Professionals Die Too    73 Zimmerman, A., & Valsiner, J. (2009). The living, the un-living, and the hard-to-kill, acting and feeling on the boundary. In R. Sokol Chang. (Ed.), Relating to environments: A new look at Umwelt (pp. 120–143). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing. Zittoun, T., Valsiner, J., Vedeler, D., Salgado, J., Gonçalves, M., & Ferring, D. (2013). Human development in the life course. Melodies of living. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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SECTION I COMMENTARY

MODERN QUALITATIVE APPROACH1 TO PSYCHOLOGY Art or Science? Aaro Toomela Tallinn University

After reading the three chapters (Canguçú-Campinho, Bastos, & OliveiraLima, 2014; Lehmann & Saita, 2014; Pontes, 2014) I was asked to comment upon, I realized that my scientific world-view does not belong to this kind of sciencing2 at all. So, I had several choices in front of me. Obviously I could refuse to write a commentary. But that would not fit with my understanding of what science is and how it is sciented. Among other things, I would lose a possibility to be criticized for my possibly ungrounded or badly grounded critical views. Thus, I decided to write a commentary as I had promised. I still had a choice to be made. One option would be to pretend to “belong” and write something as if I accept the principles behind the studies I actually disagree with. This option looked even worse than not writing anything. It would be just a waste of time both to me who needs to write and later to those who would perhaps read my text with expectations to find something

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 75–82 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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worth the time spent on reading. The only option left over was to write a critical comment and disagree with . . . well, almost everything. My reasons for disagreement are not in details. I disagree with the methodological approach taken by authors of the chapters. I think if the methodology is not valid, whatever is done with the methods, the results of studies cannot be scientifically valid also. And in my opinion the chapters represent an approach which methodology is based on very questionable principles. Let me be clear here: I am not going to criticize these particular chapters as such. Rather, my critique concerns the approach exemplified with the chapters. So, as the saying goes—“Nothing personal, just science.” SCIENCE OR ART? A commentary is not a place to analyze thoroughly the basic principles. So I am not going to elaborate on what I think science is, what is methodology, which ways of scienting there are and what are the weaknesses and strong sides of them. I have done it in more details elsewhere (Toomela, 2000, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2009, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2010d, 2011, 2012). Among other things, I suggested in these works that quantitative methodology is not suitable for revealing what mind or psyche is and how it functions. I also suggested that the only remaining way is to take a qualitative approach. All three chapters in question are based on qualitative methodology. And yet I find their qualitative approach questionable. In some sense I would say that what we find in this approach is closer to arts than to science. What I mean by saying that can be introduced with the following quote: Science is not merely a collection of facts and formulas. It is pre-eminently a way of dealing with experience. The word may be appropriately used as a verb: one sciences (i.e., deals with experience according to certain assumptions and with certain techniques). Science is one of two basic ways of dealing with experience. The other is art. And this word, too, may appropriately be used as a verb; one may art as well as science. The purpose of science and art is one: to render experience intelligible, i.e., to assist man to adjust himself to his environment in order that he may live. But although working toward the same goal, science and art approach it from opposite directions. Science deals with particulars in terms of universals: Uncle Tom disappears in the mass of Negro slaves. Art deals with universals in terms of particulars: the whole gamut of Negro slavery confronts us in the person of Uncle Tom. Art and science thus grasp a common experience, or reality, by opposite but inseparable poles. (White, 1949, p. 3)

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So, science aims at discovering universal principles that go beyond individuals whereas art represents universal through individual. All three chapters represent art in that sense; we could experience something about pregnancy loss through case of Joana (Pontes, 2014), about gender and identity through case of Lucimeire (Canguçú-Campinho, Bastos & Lima, 2014), and about death-related experiences through case of CR (Lehmann & Saita, 2014). Here seems to be a contradiction. Psychology aims at understanding human psyche. Even though quite many scholars search for abstract generalizations about mind that apply to groups of organisms with mind, every time we wish to apply psychology, we meet real individuals—such as Joana, Lucimeire, or CR. And then, it might seem, we do not care so much about abstract principles revealed about groups but rather about the individuals. Individuals are not universals; they are unique particulars who we need to understand. So, it seems, we need to study these individuals in great details if we want to understand them. The problem is that we cannot understand individuals as unique individuals; we can understand them only as specific cases of more general principles. . . . Shit! . . . Does this word look strange here? Very likely so. But why I wrote it? Maybe I am one of the relatively rare cases of patients with a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder called Tourette’s syndrome (Singer, 2005) who has coprolalia (Goldenberg, Brown, & Weiner, 1994)—or coprographia in my case—caused by certain brain disorder (Gates, et al., 2004)? So the word just reflects my condition? But maybe I expressed emotion that emerged because I realized the deep sadness of human limitations; humans are not able to understand unique in principle? Maybe I just spilled coffee on my trousers, expressed my emotion with the word and forgot to delete it later? Maybe? . . . Maybe? . . . Maybe? . . . Maybe I am building an example for the point I am going to make next? One externally observable product of behavior—in this case a word that usually is unsuitable in the academic text—may have very many different processes underlying its production. Or more generally, externally similar behaviors may rely on internally very different mechanisms; the opposite— externally different behaviors based on a similar mechanism—is also possible. This is why it is not possible in principle to understand unique things or phenomena: any behavior observed only once—every unique event—can be based on different mechanisms. If we want to reveal the mechanism, we need to observe the behavior again in contexts actively manipulated by the researcher; only then we can discover whether one or more mechanisms are involved in producing a particular kind of behavior and also what these mechanisms are (Toomela, 2010a). Now, in all three chapters, there are single case reports presented to illustrate some idea or ideas. But we cannot know through such studies,

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whether the description we find characterizes the particular individual being unique and thus in principle beyond human understanding. Or, what we encounter in these descriptions represent more universal human characteristics. Here, of course, I assumed that we are interested in knowing or in learning-to-know some universal. If the aim of these and such studies is arting (contra scienting), then the aim to study a particular as particular is legitimate. But then the result will be just particular art-experience with no further applicability either in theory development or in practice. What can I really learn from such studies? I am afraid not much beyond what I can find in any work of art—as you see, I agree with White that art provides meaningful ways to deal with experience. Say, we take the three chapters together, what kind of extendable to other life situations understanding we can find? Do the three chapters together provide more than each of them separately? We found some superficial descriptions (I come back to this “superficial” in the next section) of experiences. But beyond that? We can try with a simple thought experiment: after reading CR’s opinions about death, can we know anything more about Lucimeire’s or Joana’s opinions about the same issues? Or would we understand CR’s opinions about death better? And how would CR have experienced recurrent pregnancy losses or Joana challenges to her gender identity? I think there is no way to bridge these gaps. Shortly, thus, we find that this kind of studies also does not help us to understand a person as a whole but rather some very limited aspects of them. But relying on this kind of methodology we face the possibility to lose any way to go beyond unique particulars. SUPERFICIAL OR NOT? As I said, I am coming to the issue of superficiality. This is the question of methods used in studies. All three studies rely heavily on interviews; in one study also participant observation and field notes about the researcher’s self-reflected experiences were added to the interview (Lehmann & Saita, 2013). With or without participant observation and self-reflection, it is guaranteed that the researchers cannot go beyond superficial beliefs and statements in this way. The problem is known in psychology a long time: humans are not aware about many things taking place in their own mind. One directly inaccessible to us aspect of mind is the way we construct our mental experiences; we do not have access to psychological processes but only to (some) results of those processes (e.g., Külpe, 1901; Vygotsky, 1982; Woodworth, 1906). If it were not so, there would be no need to conduct psychological studies; self-reflection would be sufficient to understand oneself and interview the others.

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It is very important to realize that we do not access our own mental processes—therefore we are not actually able to give definite justifications for our acts and also to the sources of our experiences. We do become conscious about our experiences but not about the ways the experiences emerge or emerged. Thus, relying on the methodical techniques used in the three chapters, we can at the very best to become to know what the informant believes about her experiences to be true but not necessarily even whether the experiences reported were experienced in the past or created ad hoc for answering researcher’s questions that actually were never thought about before the interview. As to observation of behavior without artificially constraining the environment, the possible interpretations also are constrained to appearances (see more on this methodological constraint, Toomela, 2011). There is additional limit both to observations and to interviews: the researcher’s choice of questions to be answered and particular events to be observed is based largely on subjective and possibly unique criteria. What are the consequences of staying superficial? The consequences are, I think, quite clear: there is no way to distinguish between externally similar behaviors based on internally different mental structures as well as to realize that certain externally different behaviors are based on the same psychic structure. Without doing it, we cannot understand the mind we intend to study—mind’s work is largely inaccessible to introspection and conscious reports. If we do not study this directly inaccessible, we remain . . . artists. THE REST IS ALSO THE SAME I have analyzed the fundamental epistemological limitations of the modern qualitative methodology in details elsewhere (esp. Toomela, 2011). Some of the most problematic issues I raised before are already discussed. The three chapters, on which I am writing my possibly totally irrelevant commentary, demonstrate other limitations of the approach as well. Not to be overly repetitive, I am not going to discuss them here in more details. I just mention the additional epistemological problems that also, in my opinion, emerged in the commented chapters—as just examples of the approach as a whole. First, as can be commonly observed in modern qualitative research, the questions to be answered were fit to the methods and not vice versa. If it were otherwise, the research questions would not be in the “let-us-see-whatcomes-out” format. So, another problematic issue also emerged—studies are conducted (at least in substantial part) without clearly formulated questions. As the questions always must underlie any study—the world can be described in unlimited number of ways; therefore any study is always based on selection of

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descriptions—the only difference is whether a researcher is aware of her question before the study or not. In the former case, the common result of study is the discovery of what was the question; this is scientifically less productive way to understanding the world. Further, all the studies were adevelopmental—development can be studied only when it actually takes place, not on the basis of thoughts about the past experiences. Without knowing the process of emergence of a thing or phenomenon, it cannot be understood in principle (see esp. Toomela, 2009). Also the object of studies is not as clear as it might seem. It seems, superficially, that certain individuals and their life-experiences were studied. If, however, we study the methods of these studies, we find there only texts or narratives somehow isolated from the real experiences that were to uncertain degree the basis for reports in interviews. The research methodology actually studied not the individuals but the texts or narratives. But we, as psychologists, should be interested in minds and not in texts. Finally, data interpretation procedures are the problematic issue also— there is no transparent method of interpretations used in the chapters. Rather, the interpretations are mostly subjective; having been subjective, there is no access to the ways how from the interpreted narratives these and not other conclusions emerge. We do not know what were the criteria, according to which this and not that aspect was considered to be worthy to select. We also do not know according to which logical criteria exactly these and not some other conclusions should emerge on the basis of the selected data. CONCLUDING REMARKS The three chapters I commented upon, represent an approach to the study of psyche I have called modern qualitative. My critique was not so much about these chapters in particular but rather about the approach as a whole exemplified by the chapters. Based on criteria, which, according to Leslie Alvin White, distinguish arting from scienting, it can be concluded that these three chapters are works of art. I agree completely with White that arting is a way of dealing with experiences no less than sciencing. Both are highly valuable ways of making sense of human existence. But they lead to very different conclusions about the world. Arting and sciencing must be distinguished for the consequences of one and the other are very different in terms of how exactly we as human beings cope with our environments. And a final note. My critique is based on certain understanding of what we want to know as scientists, why we want to know these things, and how we can get answers to what we are looking for. I think, science achieves its aims best by revealing the hidden from direct observation structure of the studied thing or phenomenon—what are the elements and in which

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specific relationships that compose the qualitatively novel whole object of studies (see for justification of this question, Toomela, 1996, 2009, 2010a, 2010b, 2012). For this aim, the modern qualitative approach is as useless as quantitative (and mixed methods approach as well). My critique is totally irrelevant, however, if the aims of the researchers in modern qualitative approach are different from mine for some very good reasons. In that case the best thing that can be done with my comment is—Ignore it! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by the Estonian Research Council Grant No IUT03-03 (Academic and personal development of an individual in the system of formal education). NOTE 1. I distinguish modern qualitative approach from pre World-War II continental European qualitative methodology; the former has many fundamental limitations (Toomela, 2011, 2012) 2. The verb scienting was, as far as I know, introduced by anthropologist Leslie Alvin White (e.g., White, 1949).

REFERENCES Gates, L., Clarke, J. R., Stokes, A., Samorjai, R., Jarmasz, M., Vandorpe, R., et al. (2004). Neuroanatomy of coprolalia in Tourette syndrome using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 28, 397–400. Goldenberg, J. N., Brown, S. B., & Weiner, W. J. (1994). Coprolalia in younger patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Movement Disorders, 9, 622–625. Külpe, O. (1901). Outlines of psychology. (Originally published in German, 1893) (2nd ed.). London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co. Singer, H. S. (2005). Tourette’s syndrome: From behaviour to biology. Lancet Neurology, 4, 149–159. Toomela, A. (1996). How culture transforms mind: A process of internalization. Culture and Psychology, 2, 285–305. Toomela, A. (2000). Activity theory is a dead end for cultural-historical psychology. Culture and Psychology, 6, 353–364. Toomela, A. (2007a). Culture of science: Strange history of the methodological thinking in psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 41, 6–20. Toomela, A. (2007b). History of methodology in psychology: Starting point, not the goal. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 41, 75–82.

82    A. TOOMELA Toomela, A. (2007c). Unifying psychology: Absolutely necessary, not only useful. In A. V. B. Bastos & N. M. D. Rocha (Eds.), Psicologia: Novas direcoes no dialogo com outros campos de saber. (pp. 449–464). Sao Paulo: Casa do Psicologo. Toomela, A. (2008a). Activity theory is a dead end for methodological thinking in cultural psychology too. Culture and Psychology, 14, 289–303. Toomela, A. (2008b). Kurt Lewin’s contribution to the methodology of psychology: From past to future skipping the present. In J. Clegg (Ed.), The observation of human systems. Lessons from the history of anti-reductionistic empirical psychology. (pp. 101–116). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Toomela, A. (2008c). Variables in psychology: A critique of quantitative psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 42, 245–265. Toomela, A. (2009). How methodology became a toolbox—and how it escapes from that box. In J. Valsiner, P. Molenaar, M. Lyra, & N. Chaudhary (Eds.), Dynamic process methodology in the social and developmental sciences. (pp. 45–66). New York: Springer. Toomela, A. (2010a). Methodology of idiographic science: Limits of single-case studies and the role of typology. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J. T. Simon, & A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of idiographic science, Volume 2/2009 (pp. 13–33). Rome: Firera & Liuzzo Publishing. Toomela, A. (2010b). Modern mainstream psychology is the best? Noncumulative, historically blind, fragmented, atheoretical. In A. Toomela & J. Valsiner (Eds.), Methodological thinking in psychology: 60 years gone astray? (pp. 1–26). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Toomela, A. (2010c). Quantitative methods in psychology: Inevitable and useless. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 1–14. Toomela, A. (2010d). What is the psyche? The answer depends on the particular epistemology adopted by the scholar. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J. T. Simon, & A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of idiographic science, Volume 2/2009. (pp. 81–104). Rome: Firera & Liuzzo Publishing. Toomela, A. (2011). Travel into a fairy land: A critique of modern qualitative and mixed methods psychologies. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 45, 21–47. Toomela, A. (2012). Guesses on the future of cultural psychology: Past, present, and past. In J. Valsiner (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology (pp. 998–1033). New York: Oxford University Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1982). Soznanije kak problema psikhologii povedenija. (Consciousness as a problem of the psychology of behavior. Originally published in 1925). In A. R. Luria & M. G. Jaroshevskii (Eds.), L. S. Vygotskii. Sobranije sochinenii. Tom 1. Voprosy teorii i istorii psikhologii. (pp. 78–98). Moscow: Pedagogika. White, L. A. (1949). The science of culture. A study of man and civilization. New York: Grove Press. Woodworth, R. S. (1906). Imageless thought. Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 3, 701–708.

SECTION II IDENTITY IN MOVEMENT THROUGH CONTEXT

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CHAPTER 4

IDENTITY AND ORGANIZATIONS Articulations from Social Networks Studies Antonio Virgílio Bittencourt Bastos Ana Clara de Sousa Bastos Ingrid Rapold Federal University of Bahia

ABSTRACT Organizational studies have historically faced the ontological question about the nature of the phenomenon called ‘organization.’ Some authors take the organization as an ‘entity’ (noun); on the other hand, others assume the organization can be better approached as a ‘process’ (verb). Underlying these opposed points of view, are differences concerning the way individuals and communities are articulated. In the academic field of identity, including organizational identity, there is also a tension between a static perspective that emphasizes organization as ‘entities’ and a more dynamic, processual position, open to contextual elements. In the field of organizational studies, the polarity ‘identity-diversity’ has become a central issue for researchers and manag-

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 85–109 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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86    A. V. BITTENCOURT BASTOS et al. ers, especially as the process of globalization accelerates. Within this broader frame of reference, two studies are presented here—one cross-sectional and the other longitudinal—using the methodology of social network analysis. They are taken as examples of a strategy to capture the dynamics of identity (at the level of the individual, the group and the organization itself) over time and/or across different contexts.

There is currently a broad and diversified body of scientific literature on identity in organizations. Part of this diversity comes from the different ways to conceptualize and investigate the phenomenon we call ‘identity.’ A significant part stems from the multiple levels at which identity can and has been exploited in organizations: from the individual level, through the identity of groups and teams to the level of the organization as a whole. The renewed interest around the classic question of the identity of organizations is supported by two simultaneous and articulated movements. The first involves the expansion of organizations, which, in reaching countries with culturally diverse populations, began to face the dilemma of how to deal with the peculiarities of the different cultural contexts in which they operate. The second tendency is related to the issue of internal diversity, and implies the need to deal with differences between people and within groups, in order that such diversity is transformed into a factor of creativity and enhancement of organizational performance. Thus, identity and diversity have become important concepts to understand the internal dynamics of organizations and, simultaneously, the dynamics of its relations with the social context in which it operates. In the fields of psychology, social psychology, psychoanalysis and social sciences, there are many perspectives on identity and diversity, anchored in various theoretical and methodological perspectives (see Ravasi & Rekon, 2003). Such differences are absorbed by the field of organizational studies, where research may focus on identity at the individual, group and organizational levels encompass the different layers that structure and organize the texture of social context. As Almeida (2005) remarks, the literature in the field allows us to differentiate types of identity (actual, communicated, conceived, ideal, desired, perceived, designed, and implemented). As a result, we can identify remarkable fragmentation in the field of organizational studies, which imposes limits on building a more integrated and comprehensive theory concerning organizational identity. This study is located within this vast field, and distinguishes itself for articulating some discussions through two distinct areas of investigation which have been, so far, very sparsely connected. The first of these debates concerns the ontological nature of what we call ‘organization’: is it an entity or a process? Here, our task is to choose the dimension which basically defines, for an organization, its identity. Another considers the studies of social networks, which have been more and more widely used as conceptual

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and methodological tools to understand various organizational phenomena. Regarding this, the central argument is that the studies on social networks, at different levels, have a heuristic impact for those who consider the organizations as socially constructed processes. Therefore, this article unfolds two segments. In the first, the tension between organization as an entity and as a process, an issue that lies at the heart of the ontological status of the phenomenon ‘organization,’ is historically contextualized. Here is revealed the increasing role that a socioconstructivist perspective has played in the area: today, organizations are seen as processes that emerge from interactions between people as well as groups. In the second segment, two empirical studies are reported, using the social networks approach as a tool, aimed at demonstrating how this approach can be particularly useful for grasping the dynamic and processual reality of organizations. ORGANIZATIONS: FROM RATIONAL ENTITIES TO INTERSUBJECTIVELY SHARED PROCESSES AND MEANINGS When we take ‘organizations’ as subject matter, we are moving through a rough landscape, different from what one might expect. After all, organizations are empirical objects (Clegg & Hardy, 1999), have concrete existence outside of individuals, and are ‘social facts’. In reality, this field is extremely diverse, full of controversy, encompassing very distinct perspectives, starting with the definition of its own object—the organization itself. The uncertainty surrounding the very concept of organization—a typical syndrome of researchers—does not assume such magnitude when the term is searched in the dictionary to explore its everyday uses. Seven different uses can be found in the Dictionary Aurélio for the Portuguese Language:

a. b. c. d. e. f.

The act or effect of organizing The way in which the living being is organized; conformation, structure The method by which a system is organized Association or institution with defined objectives An organism (for example, UNESCO is an organization of . . .) Designation of certain organisms (for example, The Organization of United Nations) g. Planning, preparation (for example, organizing a party)

The term “to organize” is associated with three uses or axes of meaning: a. To constitute the body/the organism; to set the foundations for; to sort, to arrange, to dispose

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b. To give the parties of (a body/an organism) the necessary provision [or conditions] for the functions to which it is intended c. To become a permanent organization; to form An initial analysis of the multiple usages of the terms organization and organize reveals something interesting. As could be expected, the verb organize, in all its meanings, is associated with a different set of actions, diverse from those implied by organization as a noun. However, the noun organization merges, in its usages, actions and its results or products, as is clear when we consider the meaning associated with the first definition—‘the act or effect of organizing.’ That is, we use a noun—in this case, the organization—to describe the actions to build something (see a and g), as well as to describe the characteristics or qualities of something, or the result of the action (see b and c), and even as the result of this action itself (see d and e). That is, this name (noun) also has, through its various uses, a verbal but also an adjectival and an adverbial connotation. This polysemy does not cause deep confusion at the level of common sense, when the particular everyday contexts where the word is used provide a basis for an effective set of shared meanings. However, it has a sizeable impact when we move into the realm of scientific literature on organizations. The difficulties become more apparent when ‘organization’ begins to assume the status of an ‘empirical object,’ relevant to the development of a scientific field. Here, it will be necessary to understand the nature, emergence, transformation, and disappearance of organizations, as well as the boundaries which differentiate them from other related phenomena. In the scientific fields, there have been different attempts to approach the concept of organization. Depending on the definition one assumes (implicit or explicitly), different dimensions of the phenomenon will be considered. As an explicit focus of attention or simply a theoretical assumption, the concept of organization is the basis of all scientific constructs that shape the field of organizational studies. What is an organization? Two sources of tension underlie the task of answering this question: a. The relevance assumed by the polarity process versus entity, which entails the verbal and substantive dimensions that are present in everyday uses of the word ‘organization.’ Here, the ontological nature of the organizational phenomenon itself is present. b. The consequent priority that each author attributes to individuals (as agents) and to the organization (as something that emerges from a group of persons), in producing organizational phenomena. Here, a classic dilemma reappears strongly, concerning the antinomies individual-collective, individual-society.

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These two strains are intertwined, and enhance new understandings about what organizations are. We are not talking about dichotomic poles; there are continuities along them. Every conceptual approach in the field of organizational studies takes into account personal actions and their constitutive role at the collective level; on the other hand, no author will deny that there exists a collective dimension which is different from the individual. Therefore, we are discussing differences in the emphasis or ways of conceiving, ontologically, the nature of relationships between human actions and their results; in other words, between individual acts and actions involved in the interactions between people. In mainstream organizational research, as happens at the everyday level (common sense), organizations are seen as ‘things,’ with their own existence, separate from the people who constitute them. The search for a concrete basis to organizations inspires the authors which take organization as a social system, as Etzioni (1964, 1989), and Scott (1964, according to Hall, 1984). Their approach highlights the existence of relatively fixed boundaries for organizations, besides a normative order, a hierarchical structure based on authority, and systems of communication and incentives. Sociological descriptions emphasize the existence of a structure that is independent of people and persists when individuals leave the organization. As stated by Katz and Khan (1966/1987), the organization has a structure; it is not an amorphous aggregate of individuals in interaction, engaged in creating some random combinations of events. An explicit defense of this view is presented by Hall (1984), who tries to deal with the issue of organization as ‘reality.’ The author argues that a relevant part of people’s behavior is due to strictly organizational factors: thus, the organization has the power to shape individual actions. As organisms/ bodies, organizations act, create policies, make statements. They persist in time beyond the people who are part of them. When individuals join an organization—at this very moment—they already meet a social structure, a system of norms, values and expectations, which continue when they find their way out. To sum up, the author concludes, the organizations, being factual, tangible and relatively stable structures are part of the real world. Spink (1996, pp. 181) analyzes the changes in the use of the word concerning its becoming a scientific subject: The word “organization” changes its meaning. Now it becomes an object to be studied, a kind of big box where behaviors can be observed, and its characteristics and management begin to be increasingly discussed. More and more books focus on the organization as a modern phenomenon [. . .] The multiple elements of this ‘novelty’ are separated and joined in the struggle to identify the key variables which affect its performance, and soon this abstract big box has turned into a concrete entity able to present its own behavior; and

90    A. V. BITTENCOURT BASTOS et al. this trend becomes almost anthropomorphic when people refer the lean or the healthy organization, or the organization that learns (emphasis added).1

Even in this particular matrix of organizational thinking, one recognizes that human activities constitute the basis of the organization; but they have not been the central focus of theoretical work in the field. Theorizing about organizations involves, for example, understanding their level of formalization, centralization and complexity; their culture and structure of power; their strategies, adjustment to environmental changes, and changes and innovations—among many other aspects in which the personal dimensions remain subsumed in the background. The elements above, in general, shape the macro-oriented perspective historically delineated in the subfield of organizational studies more firmly grounded in Sociology, Political Science, Economics and Management. In a very explicit way, the studies within this framework share a common basis that considers the organization as an entity which exists independently of people and their activities. In this sense, the power of agency is given to the organization, which acts, interacts with other organizations, adapts to their environment and is able to learn. Adjectives also become applied to this entity: organizations can be bureaucratic, modern, complex, dynamic and competitive. Therefore, it becomes possible to speak of an organizational identity—an identity that is attributed primarily on the basis of the cultural characteristics defining the organization and involving its strategic decisions, management models, and the pattern of relations with its macro and micro environment. Throughout the history of organizational studies, a second matrix to understand organizations has been developing, in opposition to the view of the organization as an ‘entity’. Within this perspective, organizations are seen as processes that involve people who continuously interact. In the following paragraphs, we present some milestones reached over the course of the development of this perspective. The work of Chester Barnard, whose name is linked to the human relations movement, is the first reference to be presented here. Barnard’s approach anticipates many subsequent theoretical developments in the field, providing an initial structure with which to conceptualize the ontological status of organizations. By the 1930s, the author was already very concerned about the conceptual issues around the organizational phenomenon, and conceived organization as a social system. He elaborated meaningfully on this concept, working with the original definitions of formal and informal organizations, made clear the relevant difference between effectiveness and efficiency, added the notion of a non-economic motivation to the theory of incentives, and developed the controversial concept of authority. Burrel and Morgan

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(1982) consider the work of Barnard “one of the first systematic attempts to lay the foundations of an academic theory of organizations (p.148).” Barnard was also interested in the issue of cooperation, as something that underlies all human relations and has implications for the understanding of the systemic nature of organizations. Thus, he described organization as . . . a system of cooperative activities of two or more people—something intangible and impersonal, especially when it comes to relationships. (Barnard, 1938/1979, p. 95)

The formal organization exists—says Barnard—“when (1) there are people able to communicate with each other; (2) who are willing to contribute with their share; (3) to achieve a common purpose” (p. 101). The author makes an analogy between the organization as a structure involving a “personal force field,” and a field of gravity (electromagnetic field) in physics. And, by developing the arguments that lead to the definition of a formal organization, he makes a series of statements of interest to our purpose: It’s always the actions of persons, by words, looks, gestures, movements—and not physical objects, though things can be conveniently used as evidence of action, as in the case of writing—[. . . which are] part of the cooperative system. Physical things are always a part of the environment, but never a part of the organization. (p. 96) Therefore, the system that we call ‘the organization’ is a system composed of human activities. What makes these activities a system is the fact that the efforts of different people are coordinated. (p. 97)

A notion explored by Barnard, in his effort to define a structure of organization, is especially important to rescue. Perhaps many executives have been impressed verifying how imprecise is the location organizations in space. The feeling that it is anywhere is very common. And this impression of something vague increased with the great expansion of the electronic media. To be exact, since the material of organizations consists of acts of people, and since they are related in some degree with physical objects, or are fixed in a physical environment, they have some degree of physical location. [. . . however . . .] It is difficult to apply the notion of spatial dimensions to these systems. (p. 100)

And the author concludes the chapter with the definition of formal organization as “a system of activities or forces of two or more people, consciously coordinated (p. 100, emphasis added).”

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Two key elements in the concept of organization are established here: (1) the conscious, coordinated activities; and (2) the cooperative systems. They will be present in the work of other important theorists in the field, as shown in the following paragraphs. Taking into account Herbert Simon’s definition of organization, we find a key component that corresponds to what sociologists call the ‘role system:’ The term organization refers [. . .] to the complex system of communications and interrelationships that exist in human groups. This system gives to each member of the group a substantial share of information, assumptions, goals and attitudes that enter into their decisions, providing them with a set of comprehensive and stable expectations about what the other members of the group are doing and how they are likely to react to what is said and done. (Simon, 1945/1979, p. xiv)

The conceptual efforts of March and Simon (1958/1981), in their classic work Theory of Organizations, also converge with those of Barnard, when defining organizations as . . . aggregates of human beings in mutual interaction. They represent, in the human society, the largest aggregates, possessing something like a central coordination. (p. 21)

And they add: Propositions on organizations are [like] postulates on human behavior. This kind of proposition expresses or implies a number of assumptions regarding the properties of human beings to be considered when trying to explain his behavior in organizations. (p. 23)

For the authors, the structure and functions of organizations are produced by the human processes of problem-solving and rational choice: The structure of the organization is just those aspects of its behavior that are relatively stable and change very slowly. If the behavior in the organization is intentionally rational, some of these behavioral characteristics should be relatively stable. This will happen when these characteristics (a) involve adaptation to relatively stable environmental elements; and (b) constitute the learning programs that govern the process of adaptation. (March & Simon, 1958/1981, p. 237)

All these attempts to conceptualize the phenomenon ‘organization’ recognize that it consists of something emerging from a context of people interacting. This “emergent something” is generally conceptualized as a

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system or a social system. This structure, however, is embedded in the individual behavioral processes of organizational agents. The recognition of this emerging phenomenon—the organization—as something that goes beyond the mere aggregation of individuals, does not imply, however, that the central focus of the studies, research and reflection, will be applied to processes that involve people, individually or in small groups. The main focus is not the organization as a product, but the individuals’ processes and behaviors within the organization. The matrix that Barnard conceived delineates the field called Organizational Behavior, where people are the main concern—in contrast with the organizational theory, more focused on the organization itself. Organizational studies came to be marked by a split between a macro and a micro outlook. Currently, the former is hegemonic in the field, shaping the understanding of what defines and gives identity to an organization. However, by the end of the twentieth century, there is an important shift in the way the organizational studies conceive ‘organizations.’ The approach that reifies the organization is criticized, and new concepts are articulated in order to apprehend organizations as processual and fluid phenomena, which do not correspond to that rational structure previously assumed. In this sense, some important theoretical contributions are highlighted below. Rousseau (1997) believes that a major conceptual transition has been underway. Now, the researchers are recovering the older meaning of organization as a ‘process,’ and refusing to see it as an ‘entity’ – so far a widely used notion. In consequence, the analyses have emphasized processes at the level of the group, such as social networks, managerial cognition, and organizational sensemaking—among others—getting closer to the prevalent approach in Europe, which views the organization as a social construction. As a part of this movement, a different set of theoretical and methodological tools have been preferred in the area (Reed, 1999), entailing new definitions and emphasis on the agents and on the characteristics prevalent in the way knowledge has been produced in the field. At the conceptual level, these new perspectives: try to reformulate the concept of organization as a socially constructed and sustained ‘order,’ necessarily based on the local reserves of knowledge, on routines, practices and technical mechanisms activated by social actors/agents in their interactions and discourses in the context of everyday life. (p. 77)

A significant milestone is the emergence of what Burrell and Morgan (1982) call the “anti-organization theory,” therefore justifying the use of this term: It is anti-organization as it views organizations as having a precarious ontological status. It is anti-organization to the extent that it stresses the relevance

94    A. V. BITTENCOURT BASTOS et al. of the organizational mode as reflecting a wholeness ( . . . ) more than the discrete, middle range, units of analysis. (Burrell & Morgan, 1982, p. 311)

In this complex transformation, an interpretive approach to organizations is being consolidated, establishing a distinct paradigm in the field, well presented by Burrell and Morgan (1982): The social world is nothing more than the subjective construction of individual human beings, who, through the development and use of common language, and daily life interactions, are able to create and maintain a social world of inter-subjectively shared meanings. Thus, the social world has an essentially intangible nature, and exists in a continuous process of reaffirmation or change. (p. 260)

Therefore, inside this perspective, the phenomenon ‘organization’ does not exist in any ‘hard’—tangible or concrete—sense. As an alternative, Morgan (1995) approaches ‘organization,’ metaphorically, as a ‘culture:’ The representative view of culture leads people to see that organizations are, essentially, socially constructed realities, which are much more in their members’ heads and minds than in concrete sets of rules and relationships ( . . . ) [Thus,] organizational structure, rules, policies , objectives, missions, job descriptions and standard operating procedures play, similarly, an interpretative function. ( . . . ) They are cultural artefacts that help to sketch the reality . . .  (Morgan, 1995, pp. 135–136)

The movement that breaks the boundaries between macro and microoriented approaches and articulates a cognitive perspective to the analysis of organizational phenomena has been compellingly associated to Karl Weick. This author claims that an organization must be seen as ‘inter-subjectively shared meanings’—which requires careful attention to the interrelations that individuals construct and reconstruct there. To define organization, Weick (1973) says: Assume the existence of processes that create, maintain and dissolve social collectivities. Such processes constitute the work of organizing, and the ways in which these processes are continuously executed are the organization. (p. 1, emphasis added) Concerning the nature of organizational process, Weick’s central thesis is that “any organization is the way by which it goes through the process of its formation. Such processes consist of interconnected behaviors, which are related and constitute a system . . .” (1973, p. 90). Thus, “The organization is fluid, is in constant change, deals continuously with the need of reform/adaptation, and seems to be an entity only when the flow is ‘frozen’ at some point in time.

Identity and Organizations    95 We need, therefore, to define the organization through the process of its formation.” (p. 91)

The description of the organization as a loosely united system (Weick, 1987) aims to characterize the nature of the processes that create the interdependence and interrelationships among its elements. Cognition and action combine to support or hold together the fragmented mosaic that characterizes the organizational routine. The relationship between action and cognition is analyzed by Weick to justify his argument that organizations are ‘loosely united’. Under the influence of the theory of cognitive dissonance, Weick points out that the action guides and shapes the cognition, providing the raw material to organize the cognition. The second relevant aspect to the understanding of the organizational phenomena is what Weick systematizes as a ‘collective mind.’ Weick and Roberts (1993), after defining organizations as inter-subjectively shared meanings, introduce the concept of collective mind to describe the complex coordination of behaviors between individuals. That is, the idea of collective mind is not reducible to a set of shared meanings, since it involves actions or social practices. This collective mind emerges in the practices of social interaction, where such practices are mindfully conducted. “This transplant of the most celebrated property of the individual (mind) to the collective is a dramatic change (Nord & Fox, 1996, p.157),” given the historical resistance to the idea that a group can have mind. However, the concept introduced by Weick and Roberts is qualitatively distinct. It is located in the interactive processes – analogous to G. Ryle’s claim that the ‘individual mind’ is located in the activity itself. Therefore, the organization as a ‘collective mind’ is not a concrete entity, tangible and hovering above and beyond the individuals who compose it. It must be seen—even when designated by a noun—as a set of rules, an ability to generate actions, which resides in each individual, but interconnected and regulated by the actions of others: “the interrelated behaviors are the basic elements that make up any organization (Weick, 1973, p. 91).” It is precisely here that Weick links the micro and macro levels to approach organizational phenomena. The concern with the ‘process of organizing’ entails the assumption that social behavior is critical, not only in the ontogeny of the organization, but also for determining results. According to the constructionist perspective, the individual is an active agent, that is, he creates reality from the prevalent beliefs, values, mental models and cognitive structures. This whole process of construction of reality occurs through language and within social relations. In the trajectory by which organizations become seen as inter-subjectively shared meanings and processes within networks of social interaction (and much less as reified entities), the conceptual and methodological tools that

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characterize modern social network analysis play an important role. This is our focus in the second part of this paper. STUDIES ON SOCIAL NETWORKS: REVEALING THE FLUID IDENTITY OF ORGANIZATIONS Since Moreno’s classical study in 1934, going through British anthropology and the latest developments in American sociology, network analysis has been gaining momentum as an important model of social research (Wellman, 1998, according to Rossoni & Guarido Filho, 2007). The key aspect here is the idea that we live in a new social paradigm: the network society. The idea of network society is found in many fields that fit network analysis, for example: the interpersonal field, the fields of social movements, state and public policy, production and circulation. The notion of networks has grown, opposed to some dichotomous perspectives (individual/ society; actor/ structure; subjectivist /objectivist, micro/macro approaches to social reality). It converges to break an atomistic and individualistic view, and contributes to strengthen a systemic and relational perspective of social phenomena (Borgatti & Foster, 2003). Those dilemmas are avoided on behalf of a renewed concern with the concrete interactions between individuals: Network analysis sets up a new paradigm in the research on social structure. To study how the behavior or opinions of individuals depend on the structures in which they fall, the unit of analysis is not [centered] on individual attributes (class, gender, age), but on the set of relations that individuals establish through their interactions with each other. The concrete structure is perceived as a network of relationships and constraints reflecting on the choices, orientations, behaviors, opinions of the individuals. (Marteleto, 2001, p. 72)

The modern social network analysis is described by Wasserman and Faust (1994) by the following characteristics: (a) the agents and their actions are seen as interdependent units and not as independent and autonomous; (b) the relational ties between agents are channels for transferring the material or nonmaterial resources; (c) the network structure in which the agents participate promotes or constrains the opportunities for individual actions; and (d) the network structure represents persistent patterns of relationships between actors. Watson (2005) identifies two ways of characterizing organizational activities: the systemic-controlling and the processual-relational. According to the first way, large organizations are controllable systems, mechanical and results-oriented. In contrast, the second perspective is characterized by a

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focus on the processes which emerge from relationships between people and in social contexts. For the author, the systemic-controlling perspective characterizes organization as sizeable social machines, designed, maintained and controlled by managers, as built and re-built systems dedicated to achieving organizational goals (Watson, 2005). The same author, in characterizing the processual-relational model, considers organization as an emergent process—not as a stable phenomenon—and emphasizes the importance of studying the relational processes through which people and culture are produced and reproduced. Conceptual approaches and meanings are inseparable from what happens in any social and relational process (Davel & Vergara, 2005), which entails the need to take into account not only the organizing processes, but also the relations that generate such processes. The relational perspective accepts that the work of an organization occurs within the interaction of its members, that is, in the “space between” people. The relational approach, then, favors the study of the intersubjective and interdependent nature of organizational life, considering relationships as something that does not reside in one individual, but in the inter-relationships that emerge between individuals and evolve over time. Characterized in terms of patterns of relationships, organizations are seen as dynamic, unstable, and always susceptible to uncertainty—in opposition to the notion that organizational structures and processes are always rational. Thus, organizations can be seen as an interactive space, where employees tend to relate to their colleagues motivated by the sharing of similar characteristics or the need for mutual help and interchange (Minhoto & Martins, 2001). Relationships can develop inside formal and informal social networks, where different contents are negotiated, shaping the way in which the organization deals with their routine activities and unforeseen problems (Santos, 2004). If one adopts the processual perspective, and accepts that interpersonal relationships cannot be fully predicted or controlled by the company, investigating the informal relationships established by the employees proves useful for understanding organizational phenomena. The analysis of the informal social network can be a relevant conceptual and methodological tool, as long as it contributes to capturing the elements of stability and change inside the organization. The two studies reported in the next section—one of them cross-sectional, the other longitudinal—exemplify the use of social network analysis for demonstrating, at different levels (the organization and team work), how much dynamic and processual organizational identity exists.

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Study 1: Teams of Psychologists Working in Hospitals: Similar Tasks and Interaction Patterns that Constitute Distinct Modes of Organization Presently, teams are the main context where work happens and develops. The dynamics within teams, therefore, has the power to impact the various dimensions of individual and collective work. There exists meaningful evidence that the team potentiates the use of best practices and competencies of the employee, promotes their personal and professional development, and favors their becoming more involved in their work. Thus, a cohesive, committed team, where the members trust each other, is an important condition for the existence of motivated employees and for their performance level. Social network analysis has been applied to the study of work teams, considering not only structural dimensions, but also the roles played by their members. In this sense, this study originally sought to associate the quality of the relationships that characterize social networks within work teams composed by psychologists. The goal is to reveal how network analysis is able to capture different configurations within the same work team (in the context of an organization, in particular), and between organizations. While working to reach this goal, the study also intends to demonstrate the level of fluidity in the team’s identity, revealed through its particular relational pattern and dependent on the content which is interchanged in the network. Three types of interchanged contents were examined: friendship, trust and interaction, establishing three different kinds of networks. The network of trust is characterized by radiating confidence among the actors, strengthening co-dependence; in his network, the actor is allowed to take risks. The network of friendship, in turn, is based on socialization and companionship. Finally, the network of information is describe by the way in which information is exchanged concerning the goings on in the organization, which affect all the members. Data were collected through a semi-structured socio-metric questionnaire in the workplace and the information related to informal social networks were analyzed through the programs UCINET 6.0 and NETDRAW— the latter to visualize the macro-structural characteristics of the informal social network of the teams, as well as indicators of the positions and roles of the actors. Among the structural macro indicators there are: size (number of actors) and density (the ratio between the number of existing connections and the number of possible connections within a given network.). In the analysis focused on egos, the concept of centrality is stressed (prominent actors, who are shown with more links, are the most visible, the most central to the network).We used names of flowers (randomly chosen) to represent the participants, as pseudonyms.

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The Netdraw provides a diagram or sociogram which reveals the interactions among the actors of the teams. Such actors are connected by arrows that can be one-way (just the actor A chooses the actor B) or two-way (both choose each other). The two-way arrows indicate a relation to one another factor that impacts the level of cohesion within the group. The different colors in the diagrams built demonstrate actors who are members of the team of psychologists (red color) and actors who are professionals of other areas (blue color). The interactions between actors also generates an array in which each actor-actor relationship translates into scores 0 (no exists) or 1 (exists), which allows the calculation of various indicators, at both the level of macro-estrutural as actors. Hospital A has a team of eight psychologists, aged 24 to 38 years. Hospital B is characterized by a team of six psychologists aged 25 to 49. Finally, at Hospital C, the work team is composed of five psychologists, aged 26 to 39. In Hospital A, the three informal social networks were significantly different, as can be seen in the graphic representation shown in Figure 4.1. It is observed that the depiction/representation of the social networks in work teams of psychologists differs considerably according to the hospital (diverse institutional context) and, within each hospital, with regard to the type of relationship established (friendship, trust or information). Thus, the three work teams of psychologists, even if they perform in the same area, are very distinct when it comes to identity of the team. At this point, is relevant to highlight two elements which seem to distinguish/differentiate the identities of the teams. The first refers to the density (cohesion), obtained from the number of relationships established, taking into account the number of potential relationships. The second is the degree of expansiveness, given the size of the network that involves the number of other members that were involved in relationships. Some examples are relevant to illustrate the magnitude of the observed differences. In the Hospital C, for example, on the three networks is much larger the number of interactions with actors who are not psychologists, revealing greater interdisciplinary dialogue. Similarly, in this Hospital C there aren’t team members who are not connected to the main network, as happens in the Hospital friendship network. When comparing the three networks in the same hospital, they are also perceived differences in the pattern of interaction whereas transacted content. In the Hospital A, for example, the information network is one that delivers more professionals not psychologists; the same happens in the Hospital C and not in the Hospital B, whose networks of trust and friendship have more professionals from other areas of the network of information. At Hospital A, the staff has, in general, a lower density; in the case of the network of friendship, the density reaches the very low rate of two members that are not connected to the main network. On the other hand, we can

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Trust

Information

Informal Social Networks at Hospital A

Informal Social Networks at Hospital B

Informal Social Networks at Hospital C

Figure 4.1  Informal social networks at the Hospital A, Hospital B, and Hospital C. Note: ◼ Psychologists; ⚫ Other professionals

observe how the same team, in the same institutional context, changes with the type of content interchanged. Now let’s consider the example of Hospital B, where the network of trust reaches a density of 100% (all the possible relationships are accomplished between the members of the team), yet differs from what we see, within the same team, concerning the network of friendship and information. On the other hand, the team of psychologists at Hospital C, which is smaller and more recently created (only five psychologists), appears as the team that has more interaction with other professionals on the health care team, in terms of the three networks (friendship, information and trust). Expansiveness, in this case, strongly differentiates it from the two other

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Figure 4.2  Networks of friendship at Hospital A and at Hospital B, with emphasis on the levels of centrality of their agents.

teams (especially from Hospital A, which is remarkable, especially when the interchanged content is friendship and trust). The potential of social network analysis to detect and reveal differences between work teams is also revealed in the ego/individual-centered analysis, or when the roles and positions of different agents in a given social network are considered. Thus, social network analysis is useful to characterize the structure, and to examine characteristics of the individuals or social agents. Let’s consider, for example, the levels of centrality of agents on two networks of friendship of different hospitals, as shown in Figure 4.2. At Hospital A, the various agents have the most proximal levels of centrality (only one of them has low centrality); on the other hand, at Hospital B, there is clearly an actor who stands out with greater centrality—possibly a leader, a characteristic which appears to be more widely distributed for the other team. This element of diversity, as can be easily observed in Figure 4.2, can have a significant impact on all processes, as well as on the collective dynamics of each team, including decision-making processes. What singularize each organization and gives its own identity is consistent and recurrent pattern of interactions between actors beyond the established formal relations in the organizational hierarchy. In this sense, the networks, in describing such a pattern of interaction between people, make visible the element that gives uniqueness to each organization. Network analysis in this study reveals the importance of idiographic studies that seek to understand the uniqueness of each professional team, that are even being in hospital organizations and playing the same role in that structure, each team is configured with its own patterns of interaction that gives them identity and possibly relate to performance and impacts to individuals and institutions.

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Study 2: Stability and Change: The Dynamics of Informal Networks of Trust in an Organization This study sought to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of organizational processes through a longitudinal approach of intraorganizational informal social networks. Processes of stability and change were analyzed based on the configuration of networks of trust inside an organization that uses the mapping of social networks as a management/ managerial tool. The study elucidates how the use of social network analysis can be a powerful tool for explaining organizational changes over time, assuming, thus, that organizations are not something static, endowed with a clear and defined identity. The networks of trust have been mapped for the years 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, through a semi-structured socio-metric questionnaire, similar to that used by Kiupers (1999) and Silva (2003), and the data so produced were analyzed with the software UCINET 6.2, as well as NETDRAW—this one, as in the previous study, for recollecting macro and micro-structural features of informal networks. The network of trust was chosen based on the conception according to which trust is the element that can keep the group united and cooperating to reach organizational goals. Names of animals (kept in Portuguese here) were used as codes to maintain the respondents’ anonymity. The organization selected for the study belongs to the branch/sector/ area of technology for information, and operates primarily in Bahia, Brazil. Its core business is to implement corporate solutions in information technology. This organization also develops a well established culture of research on informal social networks, and currently implements a managerial project in informal networks, which has been well received among the networks of employees. This culture in that organization allows such project periodically lifting informations about informal social networks among its workers, setting up the possibility of longitudinal studies that has the organization (single case) as the unit of analysis. For our purposes in this paper, the main goal is to compare the characteristics of the organization—and its components—at the initial point, 2004, and at the end of data collection, in 2009. These two ‘pictures’ of the organization, allied to the analysis of macro-structural indices of the networks of trust (for the organization as a whole or its departments), were taken to identify changes and continuities in the levels of cohesion, size and density. The transitions observed in the intermediate evaluations are not considered here. Among the criteria for the structural analysis of social networks, we highlight size, density, geodesic distance, diameter and cohesion. The size of a

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network is the total effective links or potential links in a given group. The density is the ratio of effective links between the actors of the network by the total possible links between these actors (Silva, 2003). According to Silva (2003), the density measures the potential flow of information, rather than the real flow of information. The geodesic distance is characterized as the shortest path between two actors in a network and the diameter is defined as the largest geodesic distance between any pair of actors in a network (Silva, 2003). Cohesion is a relevant concept for network analysis and is related to the collection of cohesive subgroups within networks. The cohesive subgroups indicate some kind of “clique” that, according to Silva (2003), are characterized by a degree of affinity between the actors in which the links are established. Three of the indices evaluating the properties of social networks have changed remarkably: the geodesic distance was reduced, the density index increased, and isolated subgroups were not observed. Cohesion indicators increased significantly in the network of 2009. After the description of the structural results of trust networks mapped, Table 4.1 provides a glimpse on the changes that have occurred over the past six years. The cohesion of a network indicates the reciprocal links and is related to the interaction between the actors. The largest index of cohesion can be found by the variation in density and geodesic distance networks analyzed, i.e., the higher the density and lower the geodesic distance largest index of cohesion, as well as for the clicks found. The structural analysis of the networks evinces a preference on the part of the employees for establishing bonds of trust with colleagues in the same department, identified by means of colors, especially those who work with clients. These employees have a lesser amount of contacts with managers and co-workers in general, as well as less direct contact with the organizational hierarchical structure and culture. The study also evaluates the possible impacts of policies and management practices that sought precisely to strengthen cohesion and increase TABLE 4.1  Structural Comparison of Trust Networks

Actors Distance Density Cliques

2004

2005

68 4.31 (>4 contacts) 4% 5

59 3.01 (3 contacts) 6.75% 8

2008

2009

105 110 3.86 2.71 (< 4 contacts) (< 3 contacts) 4.62% 8.18% 19 43

Figure 4.3  Network Informal Trust in 2004. ⚫ Operations; ⚫ Contracts; ⚫ Back Office; ⚫ Marketing & Sales; ⚫ Projects

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Figure 4.4  Network Informal Trust in 2009. ⚫ Operations; ⚫ Contracts; ⚫ Back Office; ⚫ Marketing & Sales; ⚫ Projects

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the feeling of belonging to the organization—properties likely to increase the interactions between actors, and within and between the departments. The results present interesting elements for reflecting on how the continuities and discontinuities configure identities which persist over time. An example of stability is the relative separation between those who work at the company headquarters and those who work in other peripheral contexts (and are located in peripheral points in the networks of trust). This is a feature of the organizational processes in the company, which appear in all the networks, with implications for the business itself, since it depends on the people who are providing personal services (and are less integrated into the core network). Another point of stability is the central role of managers. This role remains strong in the structuring of networks over the years, especially in the case of ‘Mariposa’ and ‘Lince,’ who are the owners of the organization and maintain a very important leadership. This result reflects another characteristic of the company; its familial nature, linked to its creation, not to mention the personal attributes of these agents, who, according to one respondent, make a point to circulate around several departments and establish consistent contacts with the other members. The two managers call attention by the central connector role performance in the four mappings. As mentioned earlier in this paper, they are partners-directors of the organization and already circulated in the management of various departments. The literature in the area of informal social network states that the central connectors are actors with a high degree of network accessibility and much communication flows passing through them, revealing a concentration of power. This power depends on the degree which he monopolizes the flow of information, which requires a skill of the actor in track information and benefit opportunities (Hannemam, 2001; Marteleto, 2003; Silva, 2003). Therefore, the Mariposa and the Lince have a relevant role and power in the organization, because they are actors who have the prestige and the confidence of many company employees. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS This article addresses the issue of organizational identity, discussing the ontological status that underlies the debate in the field. The core aspect here—whether organizations are entities or are processes arising from the interactions between individuals—has profound implications for the construction of knowledge in the area. Based on this assumption, we originally sought to affirm an increasingly accepted view: organizations are socially constructed and emergent phenomena of human interaction. Unlike a realistic and positive attitude that considers organizations as independent

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of people, and existing as a thing, as something substantive, we assume the perspective according to which human interactions are the basis of the ontogenesis of organizational phenomena. Consequently, the issue of organizational identity becomes something more fluid and dynamic, instead of being reduced to immanent, supposedly stable characteristics, which are not time-dependent. This assumption is also on the basis of the subsequent argument that the field of study known today as social network analysis can offer conceptual and methodological tools, endowed with a heuristic value, and extremely useful for exploring the organizational processes and approaching, therefore, the issue of organizational identity. Two empirical studies were briefly reported to illustrate the fluidity and the dynamic nature of organization (and of its components). These properties were demonstrated for different contexts and—for the same context—in different moments in time. The figures, which can be considered as snapshots of the organization, evinces that organizational identity, or work teams’ identity, can be interpreted as something that emerges from patterns of interaction between members. As emerging structures, they are dynamic, fluid and context-dependent. Thus, informal social networks conform to a theoretical approach, based on a quite appropriate methodology of analysis, able to capture elements of the structure and dynamics of interactions among organizational agents. These processes can be clearly associated with the various phenomena present in the everyday life of organizations (Marteleto, 2001). The results of both studies support Ribeiro’s claim (2006) that the study of social networks can be of enormous importance in the investigation of organizational processes involving informal relationships, which often consolidate the organizational dynamics and processes of decision making. Therefore, these processes structure identities which need to be appreciated in their particularities. Although the two case studies presented do not provide the possibility of generalizing the results directly to other teams and other organizations, they allow us to identify characteristics of the processes of interaction between organizational actors, which may be general and common to other contexts. This is the case, for example, of the central role of managers in the second study, or the effect of the diversity of the team in the first study, to determine the pattern of interaction in social networks. The data and analysis discussed here have relevant implications concerning organization, the improvement of its processes, the quality of its results and its social impact, including the personal development and well-being of the members who build it daily and continuously. In summary, the two studies presented here quite small, sought to highlight the possible role of social network analysis as a idiographic strategy to describe and understand the social interactions that shape the organization as a singular phenomenon, dynamic and fluid. In this sense, it is a heuristic

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approach that is opposed to traditional studies that consider the organization as a rational entity and relatively static. NOTE 1. All quotations in Portuguese were translated by the authors.

REFERENCES Almeida, A. L. C. (2005). A influência da identidade projetada na reputação organizacional. Belo Horizonte, Faculdade de Ciências Econômicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. (Tese, Doutorado em Administração.) Barnard, C. I. (1938/1979). As funções do executivo. São Paulo: Atlas. Borgatti, S. P., & Foster P. C. (2003). The network paradigm in organizational research: A review and typology. Journal of Management, 29(6), 991–1013. Burrell, G., & Morgan, G. (1982). Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Clegg, S., & Hardy, C. (1999). Introdução: Organização e Estudos Organizacionais. In S. Clegg, C. Hardy, & W. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 148–174). London: SAGE. Davel, E., & Vergara, S.C. (2005). Desafios relacionais nas práticas de gestão e de organização. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 45(1), 10–13. Etzioni, A. (1964,1989). Organizações modernas. São Paulo: Pioneira. Hall, R. H. (1984). Organizações—estrutura e processos. Rio de Janeiro:Prentice-Hall do Brasil Ltda. Katz, D., & Kahn, R. (1966/1987). Psicologia social das organizações. São Paulo: Atlas. March, J., & Simon, H. (1958/1981).Teoria das organizações. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. da Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Marteleto, R. M. (2001). Análise de redes sociais: aplicação nos estudos de transferência da informação. Ciência da Informação, 30(1), 71–81, Brasília. Minhoto, L. D., & Martins, C. E. (2001). As redes e o desenvolvimento social. Cadernos FUNDAP, 22, pp. 81–101, São Paulo. Morgan, G. (1995). Imagens da organização. São Paulo: Atlas. Nord, W. R., & Fox, S. (1996). The individual in organizational studies: The great disappearing act? In S. R.Clegg, C. Hardy, & W. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies. London: Sage. Ravasi, D. E., & Rekon, J. V. (2003). Key issues in organizational Identity and Identification Theory. Corporate Reputation Review, 6(2),118–132. Reed, M. (1999). Teorização organizacional: Um campo historicamente contestado. In S. Clegg, C. Hardy, & W. Nord (Orgs.) Handbook de estudos organizacionais, Vol 1. —Modelos de análise e novas questões em estudos organizacionais (pp. 61–98). São Paulo: Atlas. Rossoni, L., & Guarido Filho, E. R. (2007). Cooperação no Campo da Pesquisa em Administração: Evidências Estruturais nas Redes Institucionais de Quatro

Identity and Organizations    109 Áreas Temáticas. In: Anais do 31º Encontro da ANPAD, EnANPAD, 2007, Rio de Janeiro. Rousseau, D. (1997). Organizational behavior in the new era. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 515–546. Santos, M. V. (2004). Redes sociais informais e compartilhamento de significados sobre mudança organizacional: Estudo numa empresa petroquímica. Dissertação de Mestrado, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA. Silva, M. C. M (2003). Redes sociais intraorganizacionais informais e gestão: Um estudo nas áreas de manutenção e operação da planta HYCO-8, Camaçari, Bahia. Dissertação (Mestrado) —Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador. Simon, H. (1945/1979). Comportamento administrativo. Rio de Janeiro: Editora da Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Spink, P. K. (1996). Organização como fenômeno psicossocial: notas para uma redefinição da psicologia do trabalho. Psicologia & Sociedade, 8(1),174–192. UCINET for Windows: software for social network analysis, 2002. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 25 set. 2008. Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. Watson, T. J. (2005). Organização e trabalho em transição: da lógica “sistêmicocontroladora” à lógica “processual-relacional”. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 45(1), 14–23. Weick, K. E. (1973). Psicologia social da organização. São Paulo: Edgard Blücher, EDUSP. Weick, K. E. (1987). Perspectives on action in organizations. In J. W.Lorsch (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 10–28). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc. Weick, K. E., & Roberts, K. H. (1993). Collective mind in organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 357–381.

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CHAPTER 5

THROUGH THE PROFESSIONAL ROLE TO THE WORLD OF NEW MEANINGS Katrin Kullasepp Tallin University

ABSTRACT In this contribution the entry into professional role is viewed as a socio-cultural process in the course of which by means of semiotically mediated cultural material a unique self-understanding is built. This contribution seeks to present results of an ongoing longitudinal qualitative study that aims to chart the dynamics of professional identity construction of Estonian psychology students over the period that embraces their studies of psychology in a bachelor’s program and two years after obtaining a bachelor degree. As the data illustrate, the creation of the new meanings that accompanied the entry into the professional role has an adaptive function that is aimed to eliminate tension in inherently ambivalent conditions I (me) as myself I (me) as a psychologist. The longitudinal study revealed four main different patterns of the constructed relations with the field of psychology over six years, as well as the probable role of promoter signs at the setting up directions of a development.

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 111–132 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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INTRODUCTION: THE PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST— MORE THAN A WORK Being a psychologist, a bus driver, or a prisoner in x society—it is all the same in some sense. Specifically, in a meaning-making sense. All these categories refer to socially constructed meaning complexes, the cultural tools that not only organize social life, but also the psychological functioning. These meaning complexes have the power to guide persons’ identity construction, and interpersonal dynamics. The question of how one enters into the role of a psychologist happens is also addressed in this contribution. There are different ways to rationalize the professional development like assessing professionalization on the dimension of the foundational competencies (e.g., skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes). However, giving objective evaluation to skills, knowledge and professional conduct is one of many options that illuminate a professional becoming, a professionalization. The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the becoming psychologist that is guided by the meanings of professional roles, and the linkage of the personal culture with the social role expectations over the years. It is assumed in this contribution that the meanings that one creates for oneself and for psychologist are significant agents in the process of becoming professional. Under the conditions when one has to choose the professional pathway after the studies in university, the actual level of the professional competencies may not play so central role as the meaning of the role of psychologist to the person, and meaningfulness of the role under selection. The professional role is approached in this contribution as a socio-cultural phenomenon that reflects/appears in the dynamics of a self-system, and in the creation of meanings. Being a psychologist is not confined to professional skills and knowledge applied in specific settings, but an extension of the self in the course of time resulting in a changed way of relating to oneself and the outer world. Thus, being a psychologist is more than acting in a professional role, it is more than a work. THE SOCIALLY GUIDED EXTENSION OF THE SELF According to socio-cultural perspective, identity formation is relational and influenced by cultural context. The becoming of identity is guided by socio-cultural surrounding that can be characterized on the bases of norms, values, roles, and other regulators that shape a persons’ psychological functioning. The professional role can be considered one of these social constructions that have an impact on the self-organization. Being interwoven with socio-cultural influences the becoming into oneself—the everlasting process—becomes inherently dependent on external conditions. Yet, being

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guided by social-cultural environment and sharing the same cultural context, the personal culture of every single individual remains unique. This is guaranteed by the constructive processes of internalization and externalization. These processes guarantee the lack of isomorphism between the collective and the personal cultures and lead to the formation of the uniqueness of every person (Valsiner, 2001). The internalized social input will be transformed into the unique version that, in turn, will thereafter feed forward into the creation of meanings in time. That makes the personal culture relatively autonomous of the collective culture and leads to the emergence of differences between persons. Thus, students who enrol in university and enter into the shared environment of the social-institutional representations meet the similar conditions, but their entry into the professional role of a psychologist is expected to remain different regarding the meanings that they create for the professional role of a psychologist, and for themselves and in relation with the profession. In other words, regardless of the knowledge acquired during studies of psychology students maintain the difference in images of a professional role. That shifts the relevance of the construction of meanings into focus. The ontogeny entails the construction and use of signs that regulate the emergent psychological phenomena (Valsiner, 2007). The persons constantly make sense of their experiences by using the semiotic devices. They borrow social material to create their own signs that guide their future meaning making. Such sign—semiotic entity—guides one’s becoming, while it offers semiotically mediated cultural material for construction of idiosyncratic self-understanding (Vygotsky, 1987). According to the semiotic meditational perspective, the result of a dialogue between a person and his/her social surrounding is the adaption or creation of new meanings which generalized versions—signs with sufficient abstractness—become promoter signs that canalize the action flavoring ones activity with valueorientation; these signs operate as personal value-orientation The promoter signs guide the meaning making by feeding forward into the construction of new meanings, and become internalized in the form of feelings (Valsiner & Rosa, 2007; Valsiner, 2007). An identity is conceived in this study as the process which directions are coordinated by two different levels: the level of social-institutional representations and the level of intra-psychological processes. The direction of a development of a professional identity can be shifted in every next moment when person faces the future, and moves through the different cultural frames. Young people, when they enroll in university move into the new environment that can be fruitful bases of changes of a self. Yet, not only the external input, but also the constructive dynamics in intrapsychological level are involved in a formation of a professional path over years. The framework that provides explanations for intra personal processes

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in identity development is the dialogical self theory (Hermans, Kempen, van Loon, 1992). The dialogical self theory describes the self as the whole that consists of different I positions. These I positions or voices that are parts of heterogeneous self can emerge due to different experiences bringing new perspectives into the inner dialogue. The multiplicity of voices creates a condition wherein different voices can pull to different directions, can mutually disagree or agree; negotiate (Hermans, Hermans-Konopka, 2010). The entry into the role of a psychologist is one of these experiences that leads to the emergence of the position representing psychologist. METHOD The Participants The ongoing study is positioned within the framework of idiographic science (Molenaar, 2004) as it enables to look at the intra-individual variability in time. Our qualitative study focuses on single cases with the aim to chart out individual trajectories of professional identity construction of psychology students over years. Consistent with the theoretical frame and with the perspective of cultural historical approach, the sampling concept of Historically Structured Sampling (HSS) has been taken into account (Sato, Yasuda, Kido, Arakawa, Mizoguchi, & Valsiner, 2007). HSS is a method of sampling that intends to select individual cases through consideration of their historical trajectories moving through a common temporary state (equifinality point—EFP). Within the equifinality point—as it extends in time it can be labelled a period—changes that can take place can be similar only in general lines (ibid) HSS makes it possible to contrast individuals who have arrived at the present state through different life course trajectories. The study embraces a 6-year period—four years in a bachelors program and the two years that follow. During the six-year period six contact points had been taken place with participants. The timeline of the longitudinal study: contact points in 2005 (9 months of studies in bachelor’s program), in 2006 (19 months of studies), in 2007 (33 months of studies), in 2008 (45 months after the beginning of studies), in 2010/2011 (69—73 months after studies) In the starting point of the study in 2005 the sample consisted of a cohort of psychology students (n = 23), who were admitted in the same academic year. Participation in the study was voluntary. All of the 25 first-year students were invited to join the study, twenty three of them decided to participate. Twelve participants exited the study for various reasons in different phases of the study. Eleven of the full list of students who started their psychology

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studies had been interviewed over five years once in a year. Six out of 11 students started their studies in a master’s program (five of them chose clinical/counselling specialization, and one chose social psychology), five out of 11 did not continue their studies in a master’s program after the completion of their bachelor’s program. Two of the students who did not continue on to a master’s program distanced themselves from the field of psychology (and in 2009 they did not have any intentions to move back to the field). The other three students who did no continue on to a master’s program had jobs that were linked with counselling/clinical psychology (e.g., employed by a counselling center). One out of the three students in a counselling/clinical psychology job chose to enter in to a master’s program with a clinical specialization. THE PROCEDURE To collect data about the meaning of psychology and the professional role of a psychology, students were instructed to write essays, fill out questionnaires and were interviewed. The open-ended questionnaires elicited information about the influence of studies of psychology on their lives, about possibilities to perceive a new formative aspect of the self when socializing with others, about other people’s attitude toward them as a psychology student, etc. The interviews were done to elicit information about the perceived differences in students’ behavior, and thinking over the years. Essays were written by respondents in the first year of studies to reveal information about their reasons for preferring to study psychology and dynamics of informal relations due to this decision. After obtaining a bachelor degree, students wrote retrospection about how studies of psychology had influenced their personal lives and activity in professional settings. All questions were expected to reflect the emergence of the I-position, “I (Me) as a psychologist” and intra-psychological dynamics of the identity formation as the result of the movement into the new environment of institutional representations. RESULTS In the next sections attention is paid to the construction of the developmental trajectories over the years. Instead of mapping out the directions of the long term movement, the focus of this study is shifted to the meaning-making that sheds light on the relations created by the students with the (possible) professional role in the future that have a part in professional choices.

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Different Ways to Approach the Role To study the construction of professional identity over time, the analysis focused on Obligatory Passage Points (OPP)—a phase/or event that individuals must inevitably experience (Sato et al., 2007)—when becoming a psychologist. In this study for defining the OPPs the understanding of inevitability of making decisions before arriving and after passing the equifinality point/period (studies in university) was taken as a basis. 0PP1 marks the decision to study psychology before enrollment in university, and 0PP2 refers to making decision after obtaining a bachelor degree concerning further professional and/or academic activity (including the specialization in master’s program). 0PP1 and 0PP2 were conceived of as qualitatively different points that guided future directions due to the knowledge they had about psychologists’ professional role. It was assumed that students’ decisions in 0PP2 allow taking a closer look at the linkage of the personal culture with professional role expectations, while familiarity with the field increases. Why and When—The Crucial Questions In this study a person’s interest is viewed in relation with the identity because it reflects the aspects/features of which one is. A person’s interest tells something about someone. This “something” can be, but does not have to be, consciously acknowledged and verbally described by the person. The reactions to the aspects of the world are guided by motives of which we are not always aware. But regardless to that we navigate quite well in the landscape of desires choosing the way of being that fits to our expectations, needs, wishes that motivate to take a direction, or to orientate ourselves toward something. An interest is conceived here of as a kind of inclination toward a field of a certain type of experiences, and as a reflection of identity in one’s motivational state against some kind of experiences that guide and initiate action. Thus, it can form a base for a person’s choices. Consistent with the TEM, the individual trajectories that converge at an EFP have different initial points. As the data indicates, the initial points of studies of psychology were different in terms of the reported interest: the claimed duration of the interest and commitment to the psychology. On the basis of students’ reports the participants can be divided into group of: (1) those who claimed prolonged interest, starting from their studies in high school; and (2) those whose reports did not reveal a deeper commitment to the field, although an interest toward the subject-field (human issues) was presented. Their choices to study psychology tended to be less planned.

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Group 1 A I decided to study psychology because I was interested (6th grade) . . .  I noticed that I am friendly, and ready to help. I like to be surrounded by people. . . . I think that I wanted to help. B I decided to study psychology out of sincere interest [siirast huvist]. First time I noticed that interest when I was 8th grade student. C I don’t know why, I just felt that psychology is something for me; it was my calling since 9th grade. Group 2 D All other fields seemed to be ‘so far’ from me; it is interesting to study psychology, it has given me a lot, useful knowledge, rewarding in the future E . . . I was little bit attracted to psychology . . . it wasn’t boring. At the end of summer I was convinced that I want to study psychology. I started like psychology because I knew that it will be useful to me in the future, in every sphere of life. . . . F My decision to study psychology was unexpected. Actually it was not my first preference. It was made at the spur of a moment. Reasons of studies of psychology were probably due to my wish to understand myself and others better. Plus, it seems that psychological knowledge is useful everywhere. The typical categories of reasons that emerged from students’ reports were: the wish to understand itself and/or others better, the wish to help it or others, to acquire an applicable knowledge and skills. Besides prosocial motives, practical needs were highlighted. Based on the collected data, the difference between the students appeared also in reported events that led to the studies of psychology. Some of students referred to these specific experiences as located in space and time and according to their opinions these experiences were behind their increase in interest toward psychology (e.g., witnessing an emotional situation). An interest towards psychology did not seem to grow through the repetitive activity frame that operates as a mesogenetic organizational level (e.g., attending classes of psychology in high school). Thus, without the repeating guidance of the cultural assistance and the cultural canalization of the experience as it tended to be the case of another group. The developmental trajectories that guided members of that group to study psychology were shaped by repeating cultural assistance (e.g., a repeating academic practice).

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To Be or Not to Be? The Dynamics of a Linking with the Field over Years The longitudinal study revealed that the EFP (studies in university) was the period that contributed to the further differentiation of the students’ selves, and to the emergence of the I-position “I (me) as a psychologist.” It was also the period during which the familiarity with the field and with the professional role of psychologist grew, revealing the created relation between the person and the professional role/the field of a psychology. As the data illustrates, different patterns of linking personal culture with social role expectations were identified. The following patterns were found: (a) an enduring or a tendency to maintain the direction toward a psychologist role or the field of psychology; the reported previous interest to the field or to the professional role culminated at the 0PP2 in the studies in master’s program or in a work of a psychologist; (b) the emerging of a trajectory (without a reported previous prolonged interest to the field or to the role of psychologist that culminated in studies in master’s program or in professional activity of a psychologist); (c) the disappearing of a trajectory (a reported previous interest or an interest that rose toward the role of a psychologist during the studies did not culminate in studies of master’s program or in professional work of a psychologist); and (d) an absence of a trajectory (without a reported prolonged interest to the role of psychologist that culminated in the withdraw from the field of a psychology). Thus, there were two main types of dynamics of trajectories of the becoming: maintenance of the direction (enduring, absent), and tendency to move toward or withdraw from the field of psychology or form the role of psychologist (emerging, disappearing). These directions are constructed on the basis of the reported interest to psychology /commitment to plans to study psychology and professional choices at the 0PP2, and are meant to illustrate the different tendencies to incline toward or withdraw from the role of psychologist/ from the field of psychology illustrating one’s relations created with the field/role. The examples in Table 5.1 demonstrate different patterns that link personal culture with the subject field of psychology/professional role of psychologist over the years. The student B’s report demonstrates the inconsistency between the role expectations and a personal culture. “It is difficult to me to bear the stupidity, and to make a ‘good face’, and direct indirectly /in a unnoticeable way/. . . Me, personally, I want that I have been told that I did something wrong, . . . Counselling presupposes the keeping tong behind the teeth. . . .” B’s answer brings on the surface the conflicting relations between the professional role expectations and the personal culture. B’s interview illustrated that some of the role expectations are rejected. It was similar to the student E who reported following: “X frequently repeated what we are allowed and not

Through the Professional Role to the World of New Meanings    119 TABLE 5.1  The Examples of the Patterns of Relating with the Field An enduring direction (inclination) to the field and to role of psychologist C In 2004 “I don’t remember why exactly psychology, but I felt that this is something for me. I knew long time before this Summer that I want to study psychology, I knew in the 9th grade that psychology is my calling. All close people have supported me, they think that psychology fits me and that in the future it is beneficial. In 2009 “I have a clinical specialization. . . . The clinical psychology (and counseling) is THE psychology . . . The organizational psychology is not my field. It does not cause passion. The tendency to withdraw from the field of a psychology or from the role of a psychologist (disappearing) E In 2004 “. . . But finally I decided in favor of humanities, because I understood that actually I am a people’s person” (natural communicator). In 2006 E pointed that could be also a clinical psychologist in the future In 2009/2010 “I would like to say directly to people what they are doing in a wrong way, I don’t like that kind of counseling that X introduced to us in classes. X frequently repeated what we are allowed and not allowed to say . . . I don’t like to control myself” . . . “Listening to another person has become more and more unpleasant for me” . . . I need a rest from psychology, maybe one day I come back to psychology

An emerging direction (inclination) to the field of psychology or to the role of a psychologist G In 2004 “Actually I did not know long time what to study. Only thing I knew was that it must be due to people. . . . I was also interested in the topic on how advertising influences people. I found psychology for myself after discussions with my school counselor. The other choice was a social work. . . . I also, alike friends, doubted whether psychology is that’s what I want to.” In 2009/10 “My experiences confirm that I made the right decision. In the beginning I was not very sure . . . / which confirms this was right/ It is interesting . . . I do not think at the moment that I distance from psychology..rather moving closer. /Why not the clinical specialization?/ I am not that strong that after having let the worries of the others through myself I am not sorrowful. In that sense I don’t fit The tendency not to incline toward the role of a psychologist over years (absent)

B In 2004 I decided to study psychology out of sincere interest [siirast huvist]. First time I noticed that interest when I was 8th grade student. Psychology was fascinating for me because if you study psychology, you can realize why people behave how they behave, . . . Psychology seemed so mysterious and also necessary, you can apply in it every situation.  . . . . I am sure that I would make the same choice again. I still want to study psychology 2009/2010 I started with studies of psychology because I was interested not that I wanted to work as a psychologist. I realized quite fast that I can listen people, but I am not able to stay in the background as a psychologist not telling my personal opinion . . . // It is difficult to me not to express my opinion if I see that something catches the eye  . . .  It is difficult to me to bear the stupidity, and to make a “good face,” and direct indirectly /in a unnoticeable way/ . . . Me, personally, I want that I have been told that I did something wrong,  . . . Counseling presupposes the keeping tong behind the teeth . . . .// I haven’t been thinking about coming back and continue studies of psychology . . . My present job gives me a freedom, and every next day is very different, no fixed routine, and no firm rules of the daily regime and you don’t have to wear a costume suit and be decent

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allowed to say . . . I don’t like to control myself.” Internalized material like the representation of a psychologist is crucial because it is involved in the construction of the future trajectory of becoming. In some cases, like the case of student B, the movement toward the role of a psychologist is avoided, and the extension of the self toward the direction determined by the personal image of psychologist, is blocked or delayed. The “voice” of a psychologist (a psychologist must stay in the background; psychologists must keep their tongs behind the teeth etc.) in the self-whole did not lead to the inclination toward the role of a psychologist; rather tended to maintain the withdrawing direction. Yet, the rejection of some directions does not exclude acceptance of the other directions. It will be discussed below how students extended their selves toward the prosocial direction regardless their professional decisions at the 0PP2. However, assuming professional role of a psychologist is a selected linking with the role expectations that sets up a developmental task for students. The condition that blocks some of directions of an extension of one’s identity may grow from the opposition of the I positions of I (me) as a person I (me) as a psychologist. The domination of the personal “voice” (“It is difficult to me not to express my opinion if I see that something catches the eye”) over the psychologist’s “voice” (“Counselling presupposes the keeping tong behind the teeth”) did not result in development of an identity toward the direction under discussion. A new standpoint “I don’t have anything against keeping tong behind the teeth,” could refer to the constructive dialogue between I positions that results in the extension of the self, and supports to construct the direction toward the role of psychologist. According to the collected data, the entry into the role was a second characterization, illustrated by the efforts to become different as a person. One of the developmental tasks that were set by students to themselves concerned, for instance, the regulation of the emotional reactions that were expected to be more consistent with the role expectations (psychologists do not get upset so easily). The becoming of a psychologist turns now into the becoming of a different person. The role expectations extended the self. This will be discussed further in a next section. The Image of Psychologist in Action The topic that needs to be enlightened within the context of the development in time concerns the emergence of the directions of the process of identity. To shed light on the dynamics of the construction of the professional identity, the focus was also shifted to the internalization of representations of a psychologist that leads to the creation of a personal culture. The becoming of a psychologist, a parent, a teacher etc is always a cultural

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becoming not only because it occurs through the use of the semiotic devices, but it also presumes the culturally constructed role that begins to regulate psychological functioning resulting in the emergence of a new Iposition, new “voices,” and new meanings that relates persons with the surrounding in a “psychologist way.” Studying these representations, the following groups of characteristics used to reflect an image of a psychologist were identified in students’ reports: personality features (empathic, tolerant, honest, high threshold of stress resistance etc.), skills related to interactions (listening and self-expression skills), cognitive peculiarity (e.g., analyzing, broad view of life, sees the aspects in people’s behavior which the others do not). Regardless of the awareness of the different fields of professional activity (“What kind of type of psychologist? It is so general a term (psychologist) . . . They work in different fields”), students’ responses revealed a tendency to describe psychologists in terms of professional practice and competencies of clinical psychologists/counsellors: the personality features that are needed to establish trusting-supportive relations with another person (e.g., empathic, tolerant, honesty) were moved into the focus. There was also a tendency to idealize psychologists during studies. That tendency seemed to change after the studies in bachelor’s program: participants reported in 2009 that their picture of a psychologist had changed. Their feedback to psychologists was more critical. For instance, “it seems those psychologists are ordinary people,” “not all of them are so smart as I used to think” (Kullasepp, 2011a). The data also illustrate that the representation of a psychologist is important and has a guiding role not only in making professional decisions at the 0PP1 and 0PP2, but also when moving through the EFP—the period of studies of psychology in university (Kullasepp, 2008). Specifically, the image of a psychologist sets up directions of development making students to extend their selves into directions that matched with their understanding about the features, characteristics of psychologist (Kullasepp, 2011b). This image based development reflected in the creation of transfer strategies like attempts to improve in interactions skills, and taking the professional approach in settings of informal relations to issues. Some additional findings related to the formation of a new I Position should be pointed out. Namely, regardless to some tension in interpersonal relations when students met others’ expectations, the changes that students pointed to (e.g., more tolerant) are positively valued in society. Students’ answers revealed that they extended (intentionally or not) their selves toward prosocial orientation. It is assumed, that the fact of the transposition of the new social position itself plays significant role, and not the objective changes in the personality features and skills (e.g., is more tolerant). The participation in the training program, attending classes, and expectations in interpersonal relations were involved in the construction

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of the understanding of the “changed Me.” The efforts to be different and to do something differently do not say much about the objective changes, rather describe one’s relation to the role. The extension of the self through positive changes when assuming the new role could be explained by self-enhancement theory (Baumeister, 1999) according to which the appearance of positively valued modifications in the picture of the self can be explained by motivation to increase the feeling of personal worth, and thinking well about themselves (Kullasepp, 2011a). Another tendency that describes an entry into the role of a psychologist was the incorporation of the personal domain with the professional one. The collected data affirmed students’ inclination to extend their role expectations beyond the professional settings leading to a kind of fusion of the borders between the professional role, and the self. The way how they described a psychologist enables to expect existence/emergence of a “certain type of a person” characteristic to whom is the creation of meanings that relate him/her with surrounding differently than non-psychologist. For instance, among many other expectations to psychologists, following items were rated with maximum points on a scale: psychologist should know better how to solve problems in personal life, be more satisfied with personal life, be better at keeping relationships, be more tolerant, be more moral, be happier than non-psychologist etc. The social role of psychologist extends the borders of a social role presenting developmental challenges, and demands to psychologist-to-be. Behind the Façade of a Seeming Stability During the studies a familiarity with the field of psychology increases and it influences the linking of personal culture with the field of psychology when students entry into the role. One’s interest in the field of psychology is shaped by the knowledge of the psychology. The growing awareness of the professional field initiates changes that are in accordance with students’ images of professional role of psychologist. The expectations of the social role of psychologist form a base for the development of strategies that students apply to become “more” a psychologist to decrease the discrepancy between “what is” and what is expected. For instance, student may want to become more emphatic because, according to her/his opinion, a psychologist is very emphatic. For that s/he is tries to be more empathic (whatever it means for her/him).The results of the linking of social role expectations with a personal culture reflect at the OPP2 when decisions about the future professional carrier will be made. As it was pointed above, the OPP1 and OPP2 are qualitatively different due to knowledge about the field of psychology.

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However, the students’ relations with the psychology are not claimed to be fixed over time. The trajectory, a tendency to persist in life course pattern (Wheaton & Gottlib, 1997), of a becoming is a dynamic movement that has different directions and distances from the psychology in different moments of time. To explain the creation of the direction of the developmental trajectory of an identity, attention was shifted in this study to the dynamics in intra-psychological level. The exploration of that level resembles a taking a closer look behind the façade of putative intra-personal sameness in time. Regardless to the same main direction (e.g., an enduring, an emerging) that emerges during studies (and later), this direction is shaped by inter-individually different subjective experiences, events etc. In other words, becoming is an inter-individually different process dynamics of which remain always different. Specifically, consistent with the theoretical frame, the trajectories of development of different persons can be similar, but never the same. It concerns also the intra-individual experiences in time. As Henry Bergson pointed, the every next experience in time is different due to the involvement and accumulation of the previous experiences that excludes the sameness (Bergson, 2005). The Flirt with Opposites The movement through the EFP can be characterized as a movement, roughly speaking, toward psychology or away/withdraw from the psychology. These pointed directions represent the two general directions that one can create. For instance, someone who does not want to become a psychologist anymore can be characterized as someone who is moving away/ withdrawing from a field of psychology. Another person may find that psychology is interesting and represents the cases of moving toward psychology. (These examples have only illustrative nature and do not embrace all reasons of the movements away or toward the field of psychology.) In other words, the self is fluctuating between A (toward) and non’A (withdraw), and on the bases of this movement the intra- and inter-individual differences can be determined. The experience or a feeling of being a psychologist can be characterized along variety of dimensions. Following examples illustrate one’s multidimensional relations to the role of psychologist demonstrate. To the question “Where do you locate yourself on the 10-point scale of ‘Feeling as a psychologist’?” students answered: Student A (is working as a school psychologist): “I am very psychologist, my documentation confirms it. I have knowledge, I apply it. 8 or 9 points. I think that I am lacking an experience. I don’t know how good psychologist I am. I must develop more.”

124    K. KULLASEPP Student C (studies in master’s program): “Difficult question, I have a strong will, but not too much knowledge, a little bit above the average /location on the scale/, I think that work experience gives a confidence that I am missing now.”

Putting their reports into different words—the documentation, and the will make feel that s/he is a psychologist, but lack of skills makes feel that s/he is not a psychologist. The meaning-sequences of herself/himself (a meaning 1: “I am a psychologist” that is followed by a meaning 2: “I am not a psychologist”) in relation with the field of psychology or with a role of psychologist that students create and that emerges during time, locate them in different positions in regard to psychology and determine also their distance from a psychology. In other terms, somebody’s subjective experience about something is dynamic, not fixed. The feeling “I am a psychologist” is changing. The meanings that one creates in time consist information about one’s the location. Every next meaning-sequence can refer to the new location, and semiotically expressed subjective experience can be described through the moved location point. The fluctuation from one point to another point forms a trajectory, an imaginative line between two points. As an example below (student S) illustrates, experiencing something in time e.g., one’s relations with x, is not a flow of the undifferentiated sequences of experiences. It is the flux of perspectives in which one’s complex relations with the social role (of a psychologist) unfold in the course of self-reflection. Student C Question: What do you think what could be your strength as a counselor? Answer: I think that that I like that profession . . . it is very difficult/to name strengths, because/. . . my self-esteem is not the highest, it makes difficult to point out the plusses, . . . but I don’t have problems in relations with others . . . maybe I know how to listen . . . I think I would do that work with the heart, even if it is always not good. Q: Not good? A: I mentioned that I think that I have a risk to burnout. Q: Why do you think so? A: I am afraid that after work you just keep on thinking about that . . . it is not good . . . it is hard to imagine that you go home and throw everything out of your head, but we will see it in the future. Q: What makes that job difficult? A: Skills, I don’t have skills. I am afraid of what the beginning of professional activity will be like . . . in time I

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learn, . . . maybe I am afraid that if I am not successful in the beginning then I have a bad feeling . . . Q: But you still keep that direction? A: Yes, I cannot imagine some other work that I would enjoy, this is my field. Q: What means ‘your field’? A: Something that I am interested in. Counselor has every day something new, but there is also the darker side—you see some persons across years, but at the same time that work is very challenging, creative. The formation of an identity is not a unilinear developmental process, but consists of multiple directions that construct the unique trajectory of an individual development. For instance, a person can feel in moment x that is “skilled psychologist” and then in moment y s/he feels that s/he is not at all skilled, and that relocates her/him in regard to psychology In some sense it is like a flirt with two borders that are approached and thereafter left. The movement through the different socio-cultural settings and socio-culturally organized interpersonal relations is the ground for a rise of specific meanings, emergence and domination of certain voices over others, and reflects in the fluctuation between different points in the field of experience. These contexts enable different self-understandings and feelings toward oneself. Different reasons were found to organize the experience of feeling as a psychologist. On the bases of the reports, the main reasons of the withdrawing (direction to non’A) from the subjective experience of “I am a psychologist” were perceived lack of professional skills, techniques, personality features, and lack of a professional placement, that made students feel that they are not yet ready. To move closer to A (feeling as a psychologist), the students developed on the bases of images of a psychologist the transfer strategies like a certain behavior that enabled a subjective experience of moving toward a “feeling as a psychologist” (e.g., listening carefully another person), and applied semiotic regulators (e.g., moral implication like “I must” x, y, z). Based on the use of these different transfer strategies (doing-thinking-relating to the world in Z way) students begin to see her/himself “different than before” or as moving toward A. To the question when do they feel as a psychologist, the informal relations were also pointed out. Namely, when they were asked to give advises, and were treated as the experts, or they were asked to express an opinion. Although students felt as a psychologist in informal relations (and in other settings), they did not do so (or “felt less”) when they were asked to evaluate their professional competencies. In general, students’ reports conclude that some of the aspects of the social role expectations can become crucial for furthering choices in

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professional field, and thusly, guiding the formation of a developmental trajectory. The meanings that one makes of oneself (“I am too weak) and of a psychologists’ professional role (“As a psychologist I must be strong”) can initiate in x moment of time the more durative withdraw from the field of psychology or approach to the field of a psychology/the role of psychologist. The example above (student C) illuminates that the entry into the professional role is affected by the understanding of oneself (how does a person see him/herself), as well as by the personal image of a professional role (e.g., the professional role demands). What do we see in data collected from student C is that regardless to the different directions and fluctuation the student maintains an approaching direction (to a psychologist role). Through the New Meanings to the Adjustment with the Role According to the concept of the dialogical self theory, the self embraces the different I positions that are engaged in the dialogue contributing to this from the different perspectives. The relations between I positions that need to be regulated to cope with tension that rises from the coexistence of inconsistent sub-systems (I am X I am not X, but should be) in the self are expected. Coping with the multivoicedness is also the task for a persons who entry into the role of psychologist, or into any other social role. The conduct, feelings, thoughts etc. of the person who is in a role are expected to reflect the personal or social expectations of that role. It is a developmental task that may result in the dynamics of self-understanding while the person extends his/her self toward the needed/suggested direction. Yet, the situation of “you are X, but should become Y” does not have to result in recommended changes, and the reaction to the role demands is not the integration of the features of the role into the self-system, but the avoidance/ rejection of the professional role. It could be the case of the students who withdraw from the field of a psychology due to the perceived inconsistency between the self and the features of the professional role. As they reported: X frequently repeated what we are allowed and not allowed to say . . . “I don’t like to control myself and It is difficult to me not to express my opinion if I see that something catches the eye . . . Me, personally, I want that I have been told that I did something wrong, . . . Counseling presupposes the keeping tong behind the teeth.” However, the entry into the role presupposes the adjustment with the novel expectations leading to the extension of the self, or to the attempts to cope with the ambivalence that creates tension.

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To cope with the different perspectives (I am not X, but should be) that have different directions, the person regulates the subjective experience toward the A or toward non’A (to feel as a psychologist) by using semiotic regulators. That can function as the keeper of the professional path. the condition of “i am not a, but should be” rises tension due to inconsistency direction 1 (withdraw) “i am not”    direction 2 (approaching) “i am” ← “. . . the skills, I don’t have skills. I am afraid of what the beginning of professional activity will be like. . . . Is Regulated With . . . In time I learn, . . . → that is expected to eliminate tension An example above illustrates how the application of the specific semiotic regulators (“I will learn”) are involved in the attempt to eliminate tension that rises from conditions when self is fluctuating between different perspectives (I am not àI am (want to/should be)). As data revealed, students developed personal transfer strategies (specific behaviour, moral implications) that were applied to adjust with conditions, to overcome tension etc. that, in turn, may support maintenance of the chosen (professional) direction and contribute to the extension of the self. For instance, a person who feels insecurity or has difficulties repeats that “I like that work, this is for me, I must move on,” and it functions as a keeper of a certain direction (e.g., continues studies). The following example sheds light on the construction of the new meanings to adjust with the professional role, and to cope with tension. The student P. (a person who continued studies in master’s program and is working for the first year as a school psychologist) demonstrates an effort to eliminate tension that grew due to the dissonance between the images of a professional school psychologist and the perceived (present) level of professionalism through the construction of a new meaning: As a school psychologist I need to learn to take moments of silence as normal when working with children. Silence, the moment when I don’t know what to say, is a tense situation for me . . . When it occurs, I think that, indeed, it should be like that [silent moments] Some people need to think too (when interacting) I don’t have to know everything when the teacher comes and asks something. And I think that children also think that the psychologist doesn’t have to babble all the time.

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As we see, P. is engaged in applying the semiotic devices that are expected to support the elimination of tension in psychologist’s role. According to P., the moment of silence that she describes as “the moment when I don’t know what to say” refers to something that should not happen when working as an expert. To eliminate tension, P constructs a new meaning: something (“silence”) that SHOULD NOT happen becomes → something that SHOULD happen (“Indeed it should be like that”) The moment of silence acquires a positive connotation through the construction of the new negatively flavored meaning of “talking all the time” > that becomes > “(Not) babbling all the time. . . .” What is seen as a professional imperfection (“silence”) is turned into the congenial, something that belongs to the professional conduct (“Indeed, it should be like that”)” (Kullasepp, 2011a). Developmental changes are assumed to be due to ambivalence that marks co-presence of differently orientated processes within the same whole (Abbey & Valsiner, 2004). To cope with the tension that grows from inconsistency of the parts of the dialogue within the self, one of the options is to create new meanings or apply already developed semiotic tools to fit with the constructed image of a psychologist. This was also apparent among the students who participated in this research. The Promoted Construction of the Relations with the Professional Role The creation of the new meanings that operate as regulators of a tension contributing to the differentiation and construction of a personal culture illustrate the impact of a professional role to one’s relations with the surrounding and with itself. The emergence of the new meaning like “silence is right or good” are involved in meaning making in the future increasing, for instance, the self-confidence in professional settings through which one can see her/himself as a competent psychologist. To explain the inclination to create a certain direction (e.g., clinical psychology), it is supposed in this paper that the promoter signs can have a regulating role. It is assumed here that the promoter signs form the base for the repeating similar experiences (e.g., person wants to help repeatedly, and that activity has a value for him/her) and feed forward into the creation of meanings that relate them with the surrounding in a certain unique way. These signs can initiate activities, and contribute to the maintaining

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direction. Thus, these signs are involved in the construction of the future, including in making decisions at the bifuracation points. Student R (2005, spring). I was interested in understanding myself better. I decided long time ago that I want to study psychology, it was in the 9th grade. Since then I have not had other plans . . .  I want to became counselor (my friends said that I am crazy, that I am the person who takes everything in, and how can I manage all this) . . . I want to work with younger people. (2010). (After obtaining bachelor degree) I had temporary job . . . preparing documents . . . like a secretary. I noticed that this time I dedicated more and more to the on-line counselling (R was also involved in this activity during studies) When I was offered a job as administrator of counselling center I didn’t doubt  . . . Even if I was still afraid to come back to university I knew that I want to remain in psychology.  . . .  I have always had the wish to continue studies of psychology, but I have had also doubts . . . I am afraid of ‘real counselling’  . . . I see sometimes psychologists who are burnout . . . it is scary (2010). I used to be more like a person who wanted to change the world into better place  . . . , but now I am more realistic . . .  I want not to help so much, but to support. You cannot help everyone” (repeated it many times during interview) (About the possible direction toward the science) . . . seems that I need more interactions (suhtlust) During studies I frequently tried to find something additionally to the theory. We had lots of free time after classes . . . (web-counseling, working with people suffering with mental disorders) . . .  (What affirms that your choice is right?) All this process . . . that I help someone in the web;  . . . I like to read books of psychology—it shows that I still have an interest . . . —it means that this is right thing

This example introduces reports of a student who was interested in a clinical/counselling specialization over the years but who did not continue studies in master program that would make clinical specialization and professional activity in this field possible. The student reported many times during the interview a fear of burning-out, revealing one of the possible events that formed the choice at the OPP2. Regardless to the student’s avoidance of further studies in psychology after the student’s studies in his/her bachelor’s program, the student became engaged in activities that seem to match with an activity that had a value for that student. While it is suggested that the promoter signs canalize the action flavoring ones activity with value-orientation, motivate some actions and enable the repeating experiences that have a value for the person (Valsiner, 2007). In sum, we could assume that in the reconstruction of the directions the promoter signs were involved.

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Through the Novelty to the Keeping Feeling of Sameness Taking into consideration the results presented above we can describe the entry into the professional role through the two processes that are involved in the becoming: the creation of the novelty, and the emergence of the coherence between the past, present or future self when the system is going through the changes. The case P above illustrated the emergence of the new meanings that are applied to adjust with the professional role, and to contribute to the chosen professional direction. Additionally, on the bases of the data, students extended their selves and perceived themselves as more tolerant, emphatic, skilled, etc. They created the novelty in self through the assuming the professional role. The another tendency that emerged from results coincides with the standpoint that an identity refers to the continuity, to the feeling of sameness that is maintained under conditions where changes are called into existence (Valsiner, 2007). For example, the student R illustrated the possible role of the mesogenetic events (Valsiner, 2007) (e.g., web-counseling) that may lead to the continuous (similar) experience of the self that the person prefers/needs through the selected cultural canalization. There were students who were aware of their readiness to help (“I think that I wanted to help”), or wished to be surrounded by others (“I am a people’s person”) etc., and on the bases of these inclinations, or in some sense predispositions that were created through the accumulation of the past experiences, they organized their future (e.g., studies of psychology, clinical specialization). They preferred activities that were cohesive with their selves. All activities that reflected students’ tendency to create the coherence between the past, present and the future could point to the creation of the sameness of the feeling of the self when the system was going through changes. It can be viewed as a conservative tendency in the construction of self that reflects in the flavor of the past in the formation of the present (I am) and the future self (I should be). It coincides with the position in psychology that becoming oneself is the process of remaining, maintaining an emerged state of a system (Valsiner, 2000). CONCLUSION This chapter introduced the results of the longitudinal study of professional identity construction of psychology students. Besides mapping out the directions of the long term movement over years, the focus was shifted also to the meaning making that was expected to shed light on the relations

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created by the students with the role of psychologist, and to the linkage of the personal culture with the role expectations. Our study illuminated, that the entry into the role of psychologist introduces students expected extensions of the self and offers new directions of a development of an identity. The movement into the new social position marks the beginning of transformations that embrace understanding of itself, others, events etc... Some aspects of the world around the psychology students changed after the enrollment in the university not only in a sense of the movement into the environment of the new social-institutional representations, but also in terms of personal meanings. Becoming a psychologist appeared to be the process that is based on the image of psychologist and comprised the attempts to extend the borders of the self: students reported that made efforts to react emotionally, cognitively, behaviorally in a new way. The construction of a professional identity reflected also in the perceived changes of the personality features. Our study illuminated that one of the conditions wherein new meanings may emerge is the situation wherein students attempt to eliminate tension that elicits in inherently ambivalent conditions of a “persons in role.” The attempts to adjust with the professional role led to the creation of new meanings and to the further differentiation of a personal culture. The professional role of a psychologist appeared to turn into something that is “more than a work” and emerged in intra-psychological level as a part of the self. The longitudinal study also enabled to shed light on the dynamics of the linkage of the personal culture with the expected features of professional role. It reflected in the four patterns of the constructed relation with the role/field of psychologist (enduring, emerging, disappearing, absent). It was assumed that behind the construction of the direction of the professional path are promoter signs that add into the future directions the flavor of the past, and the constructed image of psychologist. The results from our longitudinal study allow suppose that an identity functions as a compass in the landscape of multiple (professional) choices extending itself by moving through the professional role maintaining its uniqueness and similarity in time. Thus, withdraws from and approaches to the role/field are possible when students study psychology. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The elaboration of ideas presented in current article was made possible by the support of the Archimedes Foundation who supported participation in seminars organized by Department of Educational, Psychological, and Teaching Science of University of Salento and by the center of Ars Vivendi

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of Ritsumeikan University. The feedback from these seminars is gratefully acknowledged. I am also grateful to the Institute of Psychology of Tallinn University for flexibility in teaching schedule that made my travels possible. The linguistic help from Kenneth R. Cabell is kindly acknowledged. REFERENCES Abbey, E., & Valsiner, J. (2004). Emergence of meaning through ambivalence. FQS (On-line journal) 6(1) Art.23 Available at http://www.qualitative-research. net/fqs-rests/1-05/05-1-23-e.htm Baumeister, R. F. (Ed.). (1999). The self in social psychology. USA: Taylor & Francis. Bergson, H. (2005). Loov evolutsioon. Tartu: Ilmamaa. Hermans, H. J. M., Kempen, H. J.G., & van Loon, R. J. P. (1992). The dialogical self. American Psychologist., 47, 23–33. Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Konopka, A. (2010). Dialogical self theory: Positioning and counter-positioning in a globalizing society. NY: Cambridge University Press. Kullasepp, K. (2011a). Creating my own way of being a psychologist. The Japanese Journal of Personality, 217–232. Kullasepp, K. (2011b). Why become a “Shrink”? Psychology studies as an extension of Self. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J. T. Simon, & A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of idiographic science (Vol. 3). Italy: Firera & Liuzzo Group. Molenaar, P. C. M. (2004). A manifesto on psychology as idiographic science: Bringing the person back into scientific psychology, this time forever. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 2, 210–218. Sato, T., Yasuda, Y., Kido, A., Arakawa, A., Mizoguchi, H., & Valsiner, J. (2007). Sampling reconsidered: Personal histories-in-the-making as cultural constructions. In J. Valsiner & A. Rosa (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of socio-cultural psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press. Valsiner, J., & Rosa, A. (Eds.). (2007). The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology. NY: Cambridge University Press. Valsiner, J. (2007). Culture in minds and societies. New Delhi: Sage. Vasliner, J. (2001). Comparative studies of human development. Madrid: Fundación Infancia y Aprendizaje. Valsiner, J. (2000). Culture and human development. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thought and language. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Ma: MIT Press. Wheaton, B., & Gottlib, I. H. (1997). Trajectories and turning points over the life course: Concepts of themes. In H. Gottlib & B. Wheaton (Eds.), Stress and adversity over life course: Trajectories and turning points (pp. 1–25). New York, NY: Springer.

CHAPTER 6

FAMILY BUSINESS DYNAMICS Generational Change as Identity Transition Ruggero Ruggieri Nadia Pecoraro University of Salerno

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that only half of family businesses survive the first five years after succession. One reason could be due to the overlap between business and family. Many aspects linked to family tradition and myth are so strong that they influence the decision-making system in management. In fact, the business requires business process reengineering that sometimes may conflict with family rules. Generational change is a complex process where two generations, senior and junior, compare their own “theories in action” as well as points of view. Generational change therefore, represents a symbolic transition where it is possible to observe the tension between different identities.

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 133–160 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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INTRODUCTION It is well known that the economic boom distinguishing Italy and Europe in the 1960s recorded an increase in the number of family businesses. FIAT—Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino—is probably the most emblematic symbol of this economic process in Italy. Some of these businesses are currently undergoing some form of generational change. When considering the impact of these businesses on the economic structure of different countries, the increasing amount of political, financial, institutional and academic attention being given to this issue is clearly evident. In fact, the presence of family businesses in different nations generally ranges from 40% to 90%. Even in the United States, which is considered the homeland of the Public Company, family businesses account for 60% of the work force and 40% of the Gross National Product (Dell’Atti, 2007). In the case of Italy, the number of family businesses in the economy is equal to 90%, and 80% in terms of employees (Montemerlo, 2000). Various statistical data have identified a problematic scenario, with failed generational change resulting in business closure and obvious repercussions on socio-economic development. In fact, generational change can be a highly significant issue, with a global impact due to the support and importance that family businesses have on the national economy and in particular on the gross domestic product. In 1987, Ward highlighted how only 25% of businesses complete the transition from first to second generation, while a mere 10–15% succeeding in reaching the third. More recent data confirm this trend: 13% of businesses survive to the third generation and less than two-thirds do not progress to the second generation (Crescentini, 2007). 45% of Italian businesses struggle to ensure continuity: 50% of family businesses reach the second generation and 15% the third and only 3–4% the fourth (Pasqualetto, 2007). The difficulties associated to this particular phenomenon and its impact on a socio-economic level have led to a growing amount of interest by several academic, financial and government institutions. In fact, the European Commission has issued several directives and acts on the correct management of business transfer (1994; 1997; 2002a; 2002b; 2003; 2006). At the same time, it has collaborated with academic institutions in order to monitor the phenomenon (Mandl, 2008; Voithofer & Mandl 2009) as well as draw up a clear political manifesto (Poutziouris, 2010) which defines successful generational change, due to the awareness that it can be a complex phenomenon, which includes organizational, managerial, cultural and family aspects. On the basis of these considerations, this paper proposes the theory that generational change is a process of symbolic transition in which the aspects of identity are played out between the parties. Identity shapes the way of conducting business, organizational models, as well as family relationships,

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with obvious implications in terms of its failure, survival and development. Therefore, discussing generational change implies a transition process of identity with the difficulties that this change results in because of the circumstances in which it occurs. ISSUES RAISED IN CURRENT LITERATURE ON FAMILY BUSINESS Current literature on family businesses is varied and complex, due to it not only reflecting an abundance of scientific approaches in relation to the social relevance of the theme, but with it also being influenced by the differences in disciplinary approach. In fact, it is characterized by its multidisciplinary nature, a composite of contributions from law, economics, finance, management, as well as psychology. The aim of this work is not to propose a detailed review, as this would require a discussion that is beyond the set objectives. Nevertheless, it is worth specifying how each subject area has the same difficulty identifying appropriate theoretical constructs to read and interpret this phenomenon. A first obvious element is the difficulties in defining the family business because of its variability. The various dimensions of the businesses (small and medium businesses, enterprises), the sector in which they operate, the relationship between family and management, the generational level, relationships with credit institutions, ownership (presence of shareholders, number of families involved)—and so on—are all examples of a complex and difficult area (Dell’Atti, 2007; Demattè & Corbetta, 1993; Gudmundson, Hartman, & Tower, 1999; Montemerlo, 2000; Littunen, 2003; Zahara, Hayton, & Salvato 2004). However, several authors have tried to reduce this complexity through the creation of categories based on criteria relating to the degree of control and involvement that the family has in relation to the business.1 This creates, for example, linear classifications—such as: businesses that are not separate from the family, predominance of the family on the business, autonomy business—family (Istud Foundation, 2006), which are not suited to a comprehensive classification of the phenomenon. On the other hand, there are similar generic definitions for example: “the family business becomes a second home to the family” (Schillaci, 1990). It can therefore be concluded that a set of variables has yet to be identified that can clearly distinguish what is and is not a family business.2 A second element is that this difficulty has a significant influence on trying to define a phenomenon linked to family businesses: that of generational change. In this case, several attempts have been made to model the transition in light of the multiplicity of the set of variables involved in the process.

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For example, a distinction can be made between studies (Piantoni, 1990, 1995) on the classifications of the change based on its outcomes,3 and those related to the positive and negative factors in the change (Cremonesi, 2006).4 Other studies identify the typicality of generational change based on the generations involved, whether they be the first, second or third (Allegra, 1995; Corbetta, 1995; Fiori, 2007; Piantoni, 1990; Scabini & Rossi, 2007; Ward, 1987/1997/2011; Zocchi, 2007). Further research has identified how the first generational change has greater difficulties that are generally not present in subsequent ones, due to the influence of the figure of the founder of the business. Even personality variables, such as leadership, values and attitudes that stakeholders (senior and junior) express, seem to determine different outcomes in generational change (Bellotto, 2008; Favretto, Sartori, & Bortolani 2003; Favretto, Pasini, & Sartori, 2003; Ferrari, 2005; Guidi, 2005; Favretto, Cubico, & Sartori, 2007a, 2007b; Mezzadri, 2005). In this perspective, the choice of heir does not appear to be an insignificant detail. Thus, even the business skills of the children become a construct to be measured, reason for which ad hoc questionnaires are constructed.5 These studies also share the possibility to build a sort of recipe for generational continuity (i.e., a sort of instructions, best practices) to achieve success in generational change that is reflected in the strategic planning of generational change with the developing of training for the heirs, as well as for the family members not involved in the succession (Dell’Atti, 2007; De Vecchi, 2007; Tiscini, 2001; Tomaselli, 1996; 2006; Ward, 1987/1997/2011).6 A third and final element relates to the status of “institutional overlap” (Lansberg, 1983) between family and business rules. Therefore, the family uses decision-making criteria that are different from those used by the business. Such differences become enucleated according to the author in the process of: • Selection. While the family takes the employees into their family group, the company employs valid professionalism. • Salary. Wages are based on the individual needs of family members, wages on the basis of the labour market. • Evaluation. There is no differentiation process among family members, while on the contrary, in the business, the differentiation between employees makes it possible to identify better performance. This is widely reflected in current literature, with it being characterized as a common matrix upon which several studies have been based. However, the recognition of this “regulatory ambiguity”—as called by Ferrari (2005)—is often set through a careful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses due to the different social functions these institutions have. Such an operation becomes expressible in the phrases “transform a constraint

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into an opportunity” or “make a defect into a benefit.” Business and family have a different nature: the family pursues protection and security, while the business, competition, revenue, risk and innovation. Nevertheless, this distance is reconciled by the fact that very often family businesses have an edge due to their the family (Cigoli & Sabini 2006), being able to activate resources inaccessible to other types of businesses. Similarly, this opportunity becomes a constraint when the development of innovative strategies becomes impractical because of family traditions or rituals. On the other hand, this systematization is affected by the adoption of theoretical models that struggle to accept the presence of an affective dimension to businesses, and therefore insert it into conceptual models. For example, Bauer (1997) defines as a “fundamental law,” the idea that a businessman acts in a threefold rationality: economic (the pursuit of profit), politics (securing the position of power), family (to help their children). Bauer, therefore, attributes to the system of family businesses the presence of different types of logic. In this context, he discusses a complex rationality that governs the processes of a family business. In fact, operating in this way leads to a scotomization of the affective process from the cognitive one. Most organizational theories that deal with family business assume either a paradigm of rationality, albeit limited (Simon, 1976), or excessively the paradigm of complexity (Morin, 1985). In contrast, the family business is a very interesting phenomenon for psychological science, as it can highlight the link between symbolic/affective logic and cognitive logic. Current literature recognizes the role of emotions (Bellotto 2008; Dell’Atti 2007; De Vecchi 2007; Favretto, et al., 2003; Favretto, et al., 2007; Tiscini, 2001; Tomaselli, 1996; 2006; Ward, 1987/1997/2011;) in the family business because emotions are a signal of overlap between business and family. Nevertheless, they are never adequately and systematically discussed because the emotions belong to family not to the business process. This aspect sheds light on emerging separation between business and family, so all the stockholders, which are involved, are to some extent obliged to give up a part of their identity. This is impossible due to the family business or business/family being at the very root of the identity for both the senior as well as the junior. CULTURE: THE SCIENTIFIC CONSTRUCT TO READ GENERATIONAL CHANGE Culture has attracted interest from various sciences (anthropology, pedagogy, sociology), with there being different definitions of it as well as different measurement systems (Tosi & Pilati, 2008). Organisation behavioural

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studies have also highlighted the emergence of what are defined as soft approaches in relation to the hard ones, which according to Bonazzi (2002) can be distinguished into cultural approaches (Schien, 1985; 1990; Hofstede, 1991; 1992; Kunda, 1992; Martin, 1992; Normann, 1985; Gatrell, Jenkins, & Tucker, 2001) and interpretive approaches based on the subjectivity of the sense-making processes (Weick, 1995). Contemporarily, psychology with a socio-constructivist origin (Bruner, 1990; Harré & Gillet, 1994; Valsiner & Rosa, 2007; Zittoun, 2007) to a psychodynamic approach (Salvatore et al., 2003), has overcome, and in some way integrated, this dichotomy through the concept of culture, which today has become a scientific construct, due to it being observable and measurable (Carli & Paniccia, 1999; Salvatore & Scotto di Carlo, 2005). Culture is therefore, the result of a system of collusion—the same process of attribution of meaning and significance—a shared code to be used and consumed by the actors engaged in a given situation. According to an integrated cultural and psychodynamic approach, it can be conceived of as a shared affective symbolization of reality intersubjectively constructed and expressed through the bi-logical model (cognitive/affective, conscious/unconscious) of how the mind works (Matte Blanco, 1975). Culture is a specific outcome of the processes of coexistence and co-presence of cognitive and affective codes, of feeling and understanding, where the affective code (feeling) restricts, limits or defines the cognitive one (understanding) (Salvatore & Scotto di Carlo, 2005). Emotion is not a disturbing factor as considered by most of the authors, but rather a form of thought (Soave, 1989) which is the principal and fundamental basis of behaviour, as it can give meaning and significance to human actions. It contributes to the sense making of reality along with the cognitive code. Culture and Identity. Active Symbolic Orders in Generational Change In order to understand the relationship between culture and identity, the concept of culture should be operationalized with suitable examples to highlight how it works. The culture works like a mental software in which information is decoded, interpreted and behaviour created. In other words, it is a specific symbolic mental order, object and context dependent, hierarchically organized. It is changed in relation to the objects and contexts in which people relate (Cesaro & Ruggieri, 2011; Ruggieri, Pozzi & Ripamoniti, 2014).7 On the basis of this definition, every individual is the carrier of a culture with which he socially positions himself (Hermans, 2002; Varisco, 2002;

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Ligorio & Hermans, 2005), namely in what relationship he has with others in relation to some objects/contexts, voicing his own identity. In greater detail, when the objects/contexts change, the symbolic order also changes because the affective code associated with them is modified. In fact, according to a psychoanalytical approach, each object exists when it is emotionally invested, namely when it acquires a specific sense and meaning for the subject (Lis, Stella, & Zavattini, 1999). For instance, keeping the generational change as the object and the family business as the context, it is possible to be faced with people who would be able to plan and organize certain choices in the business just as in a hypothetical family, but would not be able to do so in their own business or family due to the changing of objects and the affective code related to them—the their own family and the their own business are not a general business. If a businessman is unable to plan his own generational change but is able to advise others about how to support it, it is worth asking—keeping the metaphor of software used above—why is he unable to open the file “succession” and work on it when it deals with his own? The answer is placed in a recent workshop carried out by a group of Italian family firms in North-East Italy. The aim of the workshop was to obtain information on generational change from the businesses, while at the same time get a response from the businessmen about management. In other words, it was expected that at the end of the day the businessmen would come up with the idea of having to plan the change so as to manage every aspect. The workshop had both a theoretical as well as a practical phase. For the latter, role-plays were prepared through which the father-founder should set up and manage the process of generational change with his family, which included among the aims, the division of assets, the inclusion of children into the company, the planning of generational change (how, where and what business roles corporate etc.). The exercise was a complete failure from the perspective of mere practical execution, due to the aims not being achieved on time and in the set way. On the contrary, from a psychological point of view, the role-play made it possible to witness some important aspects of the functioning of culture and identity in generational change. In fact, towards the end of the exercise, one of the participants who was playing the business role, suddenly and loudly said, “but why should I retire and give it to my children. I just don’t understand!” The businessman in question had built a chain of hair salons and had decided to take part in the workshop because he was worried about the future of both his children as well as his business. However, his final sentence as well as his behaviour during the role playing clear highlights which cultural model he represents. A model for which the business is not merely a financial investment but rather a life plan, his place and his home. The business

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therefore is part of his identity which he cannot give up. It is a trait that holds the image of the Self together, which is organized according to a symbolic order and identified in the following associative system: father = businessman = family = home = risk = investment = wealth, etc. Organization studies in literature proposed reading these kinds of behaviours as a form of conflict between the identity aspects of the individual. For example, Bruscaglioni (2007) used the image of a “Daisy” to explain and resolve any possibility of conflict between the different features of our own life. Each petal represents some identity aspects that can conflict with each other. In this prospective, the role playing shows the conflict between the professional, father and administrator identity. The idea that we play multiple roles—as a result we have a multiple identity, defined as social identity—is widely accepted (Bauman, 2003; 2005). Hall (1992, 2000), for instance, suggested treating identity as a process, to take into account the reality of diverse and ever-changing social experience. According to Hall, identity is contextual and relational, with it depending on the context, the role they want to assume in this context and position, due to the network of relationships in which they are active. From our theoretical prospective, the role play situation, clearly highlights how the affective connotation given to the business, the family as well as the culture of the active role (father-founder) does not only make the development of certain thoughts possible but also their implementation.8 In other words, it is possible to have a workshop on the “passing the baton,” but when the object (from a generic generational change to their own) and the context (from family business to my family business) are changed, the behaviour of the businessman is modified too (from planning the generational change to refuse to plan). Identity implies the notion of behaviour that takes shape in a particular system of relationship and context: the behaviour is a sign of expressed identity in a specific circumstances as defined above. According to the adopted theoretical model, these identity aspects are linked to the active culture by the object and context. SYMBOLIC TRANSITION: CULTURAL AND IDENTITY ASPECTS A close relationship between culture and identity has been proposed. It has been seen how the cultural model of which we are carriers becomes the key to reading and interpreting any event that the actor is living. In other words, the dynamics of meaning based on the identity process is initially activated from the projection of our own symbolic order to the outside.

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A useful contribution to the understanding of this concept is the work of the philosopher Waldenfels, who, discussing the phenomenology of the unknown, writes: «If we were to treat the theme of the unknown as a special issue, we would have already missed it from the beginning. In fact, doing so we would take the moves from one area of the familiar and well-known and, at best, we would simply return there» (2008, p.7).9 Waldenfels focuses on the following question: how someone could know something unknown since it belongs to an unfamiliar reference system? The Philosopher emphasizes that turning an unfamiliar system into a familiar system of reference is a difficult operation so that the latter often remains unknown because the subject rests inside its own mental frame. Starting from different aims, methods and theories, psychoanalytic theory pointed out the relationship between the familiar and unfamiliar in a different way: focusing on the relationship between the internal and external reality According to this approach, the intra-psychic reality coincides with the external one, the real one.10 It therefore represents the reality of the subject, an internal reality with which the subject interprets the world (i.e., external reality). Thus, the objects of knowledge reflect the internal reality of the subject, that is, broadly, its own mental frame.11 These elements allow to understand that reality is a knowledge process that has as its point of departure, its own mental scheme as well as its own symbolic order. In other words, the knowledge process requires the construction as the change of a symbolic order through which the unknown becames known, the unfamiliar familiar. This process becomes possible when it is able to activate a symbolic transition, namely a transition from one symbolic order to another one. It is therefore possible to propose that the process of symbolic transition is within a dynamic polarity inside/outside the Self, Subsequently, this same dynamic determines transitions of a symbolic order to another through the transformation processes that see the initial symbolic order redefined. Ultimately, any discussion of transition implies carrying out a symbolic transformation through a generative act of meaning, with a new perspective on the world as well as a new social positioning. In other words, the symbolic transition is a knowledge process, a process to build a new reality. It is a definitive change of cognitive and affective codes related to objects. What makes this possible change? The most useful psychological construct in interpreting this change can be found in studies related to Piaget’s cognitive activities of assimilation and accommodation, which are essential in order to adapt to the environment. Assimilation refers to a cognitive process for which there is no need to change schema, but simply apply it to the situation. Accommodation, is a process that involves the restructuring of cognitive schema.

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Moreover, many studies on identity transitions recognize these types of process (Vignoles, Regalia, Manzi, Golledge & Scabini 2006; Manzi, Vignoles, Regalia & Scabini 2006; Manzi, Vignoles & Regalia, 2010). For example, the work of Bosma and Fumnenn (2001) on the way of constructing identity highlights how assimilation and accommodation are interactive activities, being subject to constant repetition. In this sense, the cognitive process of identity construction is permanent: the final output is the starting point of the new process. Without discussing the model in detail, these psychosocial studies use the notion of cognitive conflict as an element of triggering action to reconfiguring identity. Salvatore & Scotto di Carlo (2005) in relation to the ability to take purpose oriented actions by the subjects, in accordance to the language of Piaget, discuss the function of assimilation as an appropriate system for the maintenance of the invariance, predictability and reproduction of their behaviour and function of accommodation capable of dealing with environmental variability and adapting to it. In other words, for the authors assimilation means «[...] retracing the variability of environmental stimulation back to the given system of categories» (idem, 222–223). The subject assimilates when he interprets the environment in terms of his own symbolic order. When the environment offers unfamiliar stimuli (i.e., which cannot be traced to the meanings given), «[...] the subject is asked to review his own categories system, to adapt it to the change, to expand it, modify it, differentiate it in order to make it compatible with the new circumstances» (idem, 223).12 All these studies, while identifying some of the operations necessary for change, do not clarify what leads the subject to either accommodate or assimilate. In other words, it gives the final result of the transition process but not the how and why. In fact, continuing the example of previous role playing—, it is clear that the businessman in question is using a cognitive mode typical of assimilation, but it is not clear why he is unable to accommodate. Our theory is that, given a co-presence and co-existence of affective and cognitive codes, it is possible to understand how assimilation responds to a need for meaning, coherence and continuity of the Self that is based on a defensive responsiveness to environmental stimulation, perceived as threatening. Ultimately, it is an inability to deal with the unknown. In order to clarify further what has been discussed so far, we can use the clinical case of vaginismus. The subject was a 35 year old woman who decided to follow treatment in order to try and solve this problem. It had stopped her from having any form of intercourse as well a stable relationship. She had never had a boyfriend because of this condition. In the first session, she claimed to have visited numerous doctors all over Italy, but was tired and disheartened due to not having managed to solve the issues that prevented her from having her own family. For some time, she had been forcing herself to have

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intercourse with men, but any attempts had all failed miserably. The therapist replied with a definition of the working method and her own organization. He also told the patient that men should be put aside and that she no longer needed to prove herself in any way. At the end of the therapy, the patient confided to the psychologist that the first session was crucial in being able to finally begin the analytical work that up until then she had always refused. It is now worth focussing on denial. The same denial that has characterized the businessman to plan the change. Unlike the businessman, the patient was able to start an accommodation process leading to the start of a symbolic transformation.13 What made this change possible? Our theory is that the patient experienced an affective and cognitive categorial continuity that allowed her to give a non-threatening meaning to the meeting with the psychologist, on the basis of the affective connotation that is coherent with the Self-image, which is similar to activating the function of assimilation. This was made possible due to the patient being faced with a man, the psychologist, who did not want any form of intercourse, with this having been a highly frustrating experience for her life as well as coded as extremely dangerous because of sexual abuse that her mother had suffered at a young age. The patient felt she could not trust any man. During the therapy session, she experienced a pleasant and unassuming man who understood her fears, while protecting her from any possible threats. This becomes possible when the symbolic order can experience the relationship with the strangeness in continuous continuity-discontinuity, which is based on a constant alternating of identification and differentiation, up to permanently abandoning the old symbolic order in order to build another one. The process of differentiation becomes possible when the subject works through affective and cognitive categorial contiguity, with it being through a different category but near to that of departure. In other words, it is this categorical proximity that allows for the non-experiencing of the anxiety of change of identity because it ensures affective continuity as well as continuity of meaning, and therefore coherence. This process does not follow a linear logic as it is evident from the clinical case presented. In fact, linearity does not guarantee differentiation. The alternating of identification/differentiation could be represented by a nonlinear system that is a sort of irregular trajectory, with the closest image being a type of spiral with volumetric variability within its path. This symbolic transition is discussed by Winnicott (1971) in relation to the transitional object. According to the English psychoanalyst, it allows for child development through the transition from a state of omnipotence— with anything being possible as long as I want—to the recognition of an objective reality, which is different from the Self. In fact, the transitional object is a kind of interregnum between external and internal realities.

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Through play, the child learns to use the objects by relating to them. Thus, the child perceives the other (object) as something that he has created and which belongs to him. It is therefore under his control, while at the same time, the object is independent and real. The child, therefore, destroys the object because it is perceived as real and different from him. The possibility that the object becomes real—and that a differentiation process is activated by it—is therefore based on the structuring of a functional use of the object. The child, in fact, is able to use it, and then, to destroy it. Even in this case, the child experiences a state of affective and cognitive categorial continuity through an ongoing process of identification/differentiation. It is a process that allows contact with the unknown as well as others through the experiencing of actions and thoughts that always try to create solutions of continuity with his own self-image, based on a categorical contiguity. In fact, the transitional object is the instrument through which the child can solve the dynamics inherent in the polarity inside/outside the Self through active experimentation. Active experimentation therefore becomes a decisive element in symbolic transition due to it being non-threatening to the subject. This is possible by ensuring as much continuity with the Self, with discontinuity being accepted by the subject and appropriate to his affective capacity, as well as coherent with his affective code. The subject is now asked to revise his own symbolic order because of the discontinuity that he decides to experience from time to time. RESEARCH ON THE GENERATIONAL CHANGE OF ITALIAN FAMILY BUSINESSES One of the authors along with others (Pozzi, Ripamonti, & Ruggieri, 2008; Ruggieri, Pozzi & Ripamonti submitted) has been carrying out studies on generational change, trying to understand in greater detail both the family and business during the process. This work is a complex and long research that involved various Italian universities and family business associations. Some preliminary data is shown below. Research was carried out on a non-probabilistic sample of family businesses all undergoing generational change. The sample was obtained through snowballing (Morse, 1989), with a recruitment system based on cascading and starting from the Association of Industrialists. In all, 50 interviews were carried out, with 25 senior/junior pairs currently involved in generational change. The interviews were unstructured. What was favored was therefore for the interviewee to freely organize his/her discourse and to be free of any form of influence. Moreover, this instrument was coherent with the analysis

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procedure for which relevant factors are the lexical distribution and cooccurrence of vocabulary. The transcript of these interviews were then subjected to Emotional Text Analysis, a system of symbolic analysis which is based on the assumption that the mode of representation and the deriving affective processes can be traced in the language produced by the subjects (Carli & Paniccia, 1999; 2002; Salvatore & Scotto di Carlo, 2005). ETA takes into account the psychodynamics of socio-symbolic processes, with it incorporating qualitative and quantitative analysis. ETA involves collecting texts from specific subjects and their subsequent analysis through an inferential process, based on the clusterization of the headwords (lemmas). ETA assumes that the meaning “can be seen as the trajectory of the chain of interpreting signs” (Salvatore & Venuleo, 2013) representing by clusterization of a headword, where each word follows another one. This operation was carried out with two criteria in mind: co-occurrence and recursiveness. In other words, with the help of T-Lab software, we took the textual corpus apart, re-organising it into “discourse fragments” devoid of syntactic and thematic connectors and the subjective styles of the person organizing the discourse. This was possible thanks to the statistical analysis procedure of multiple correspondences between single lexemes and segments of text (Cluster Analysis). The lexemes (sets of words deriving from the same lexical root) have a high polysemic value in the sense that they can convey multiple and infinite meanings from the symbolic point of view. According to Salvatore and Venuleo (2013) “the polysemy consists of the property of any sign to be able to relate virtually with any other sign and therefore to participate in the emergence of an infinite set of meanings (i.e., of an infinite domain of pertinence).” In this sense, they are authentic dense words and are able to deliver a high emotional value, independent of the linguistic context within which they are placed. The cluster analysis allows one to see how the dense words are addressed in the factorial space as well as in the clusters in relation to a symbolic dynamic in progress. The relationship between the cluster and the n-dimensional space that represented the latent aspect organising the core semantic oppositions of the text corpus was explored. The relationship between the clusters in a n-dimensional space was determined using a Value Test, a statistical measure with a threshold value that corresponds to the statistical significance (p = 0.05) and a sign (–/+) that facilitates the understanding of the poles of factors detected through Correspondence Multiple Analysis. The first step included interpreting the cluster words (Symbolic Order) that represent the culture patterns. This step was followed by interpreting the clusters (S.O.) in the factorial space that represents the symbolic dynamic in progress related to the object of investigation. The criteria of interpretation are addressed in models of affective symbolisation (Carli &

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Paniccia, 2002), which are derived from the primitive system of model categorisation of reality in psychodynamic theory (e.g., in/out, friend/enemy, attack/escape, in front/behind, past/future). According to an idiographic approach that recognizes the uniqueness of the investigated phenomena and to be consistent with the decision not to define a priori all the dimensions useful for the research goal, a data-driven methodological approach was adopted: consequently the researchers’ theoretical sensitivity was relied upon in the task of attributing meaning to the data, using abductive logic (Ginzburg, 1986).14 The epistemological paradigm adopted is that of socio-constructivism, according to which reality is a mental construction deriving from social processes and personal experiences. In this perspective, business and family dynamics have been treated as an expression and consequence of the interpretations that actors give to the context and the object in which they are taking part. These symbolic dynamics determine cultural and identity processes. SYMBOLIC ORDERS (SO) ACTIVE IN THE GENERATIONAL CHANGE Three clusters constitute the preliminary results of this research generated by the statistical analysis where it showed that generational change can be considered as a transition of identity. In fact, not only is the significance of affective and cognitive factors recognized, but so is their co-existence and co-presence. A summary of the three clusters that best exemplify the identity dynamics during generational change are presented. The italic words refer to lemma of text. SO.1  Worship of the Family The name of this cluster clearly highlights the active affective code and how it defines the cognitive processes. The family, in fact, is conceived as an act of faith and as such can never be questioned. It is not subject to any form of verification. Therefore, the objectives of the business are something that should be read and interpreted according to the following assumption: the family is the business (see Table 6.1). This fideistic dimension of the family is configured as a main affective core, with it being the organizer of the meaning of business behaviour. In fact, this affective code determines how the choices and decisions are made. They will never be the result of assessment criteria in relation to the objectives to be achieved and social conditions that may in any way call into

Family Business Dynamics    147 TABLE 6.1  SO.1 Worship of the Family Lemmas and CHI Square

Elementary Text Unit

Relationship (58,12), family (30,72), grow (29,468); crisis (28,1), conception (28,02), faith (20,03 ), parent (16,21), doubt (15,42), colleague (15,13), succession (14,55), child (13,78), negativity (12,3), fear (12,10), link (11,49), remain (10,12), figure (8,78), affect (8,64), benefit (8,64), involve (8,54), religion (7,99), force (7,99), invoice (7,88), shape (7,51), future (6,28), complicate 6,24), sacrifice (6), interest (6), difficulty (6).

A symbiotic relationship exists between us; I was born here; this is my second home (the firm), where I have grown; The family makes these economic results possible. Faith in the parent is fundamental. We have to remain the same

question how to structure the values and working of the family, due to the fideistic mode not including it. Any feelings, either negative or positive, just as with any action, must comply with this sense of hierarchy. They must comply with the bond of family ties, maintaining them by respecting the tradition that has generated the revenue (see Table 6.1). Environmental variability is not a useful element in defining business processes. On the contrary, what counts is preserving the present. The dimension of identity is significant, with it being based on the processes of assimilation of the variability within its own symbolic order. Generational change can then be thought of as a continuous line from the traditional, without any solution of continuity and any element that may break with the past. Thus, generational change is seen and interpreted as maintaining the status quo. In order to implement a generational change means shaping a figure, leaving a clear and indelible mark that perpetuates a way of thinking, due to having had apparent success in the past (see Table 6.1). SO.2  The Gilded Cage Generational change is difficult in virtue of the fact that it is won on the basis of demonstrating to have adopted a behaviour that is subordinate to the family rules. Thus, whoever replaces the previous generation does not do so on the basis of well-defined criteria, which include experience, managerial competence and merit, but rather because of submission to family laws through an apparent condition of dependency. It does not seem possible to proceed otherwise. This type of affective code believes that any work and experience outside of the business are useless. What matters is the strict dependence and bond with the founder (see Table 6.2). The path of identity construction is therefore devoid of autonomy, because it is bound to the figures in power, with it keeping the various

148    R. RUGGIERI and N. PECORARO TABLE 6.2  SO.2. The Gilded Cage Lemmas and CHI Square

Elementary Text Unit

take possession of (58,09), weigh (46,36), transfer (32,428), role (30,06), dynamism (29,28), worker (29,18), build (28,73), possible (28,44), sale (27,12), name (23,87), following (23,75), passing of baton (23,21), hard (22,63), distribute (20,56), generation (19,13), activity (18,50), lead (18,25), future (15,84), look at (15,38), material (15,25), advantage; 15,25), the artisan class. (13,38), proceed (13), guarantee (12,78), old (12,61), choose (11,28), history (10,59), trade (10,14), count (9,78), project (9,39), produce (8,42), competition (7,96), industry (7,84), dependence (7,38), world (7,05), increasing (6,96), responsibility (6,90)

My father is responsible for production, I’m responsible for sales; I must build sales policies for our products My role is in administration; I have the responsibility to guarantee the customers. I’m optimistic about the future. We guarantee our history with some project that is good for trade

elements of the business reality together through a control that limits the action of others. In this case, the opportunity to build something that is clearly observed in practical sales policies is given. The sale therefore represents a space where it is possible to activate differentiation in relation to the original affective code. Selling policies are the only place where it is possible to think differently, where opposing ideas can “clash” and different behaviours be implemented in relation to business and family history. The business is where it becomes appropriate to choose the project that would provide the greatest sale growth, always ensuring that the old I never left abandoned, no matter what the socio economic condition and market are. Thus, regeneration system of the process have never been planned along with changes in the core business elements (see Table 6.2) Business and family mutually support each other in a web of impossible resolution, resulting in a kind of gilded cage. It is a cage because the family is seen as a tie that is always present in the business. It is gilded because one earns its livelihood from the other through its wellness and achievement of economic and social prestige. SO.3 Innovation and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) This last symbolic order is characterized by a specific idea that it is necessary to create wealth through the market. This goal becomes feasible when

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it is possible to meet the needs of the market. The market demands that the needs are constantly monitored in order to be equipped with the tools that provide answers to the different requirements arising from the market (see Table 6.3). The business and family identities go through the conquest of a contract. The contract becomes how the family honours tradition and states their identity. It is therefore important to be consistent and motivated as well as ready to accept compromises, by putting pride aside when it can somehow seem one-sided and excessive in relation to personality or family and therefore dysfunctional to the business process. In other words, old family rules are likely to create isolated positions in the dense web of social and business relations with obvious negative effects on both the business as well as the “good name” of the family. On the contrary, there is a need to reason with the customer and competition in mind, as well as carefully evaluate customer needs and offers of different competitors in order to invest in something solid (money) that makes it simple and easy, which is unnecessary for sales because of the correct definition of the product (see Table 6.3). This process still requires hard work and has to face the risks and sacrifices that are able to then flow into a new activity in order to provide replacement goods and services to customers. Generational change is an activity of innovation made possible by the professionalism of those who reflect the company’s history when it has a certain capacity in gaining market share. TABLE 6.3  SO. 3. Innovation and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Lemmas and CHI Square

Elementary Text Unit

service (200,47), market (142,38), realize (131,41), wealth (126,61), rediscount (66,80), assistance (60,3), direct (44,66), entrust (31,42), honor (28,21), order (28,17), keep (24,51), compromise (24,15), pride (21,13), estimate (19,30), reason (18,49), customer (17,18), competition (16,37), money (16,07), sale (14,53), product (12,98), cost (12,31), invent (12,12), turnover (12,12), give (10,71), innovation (10,56), existents (10,54), professionalism (9,56), history (7,47), boast (6,99), wickedness (6,99), risk (6,35)

We realise needs for the market. First, we always try to invent something; If we earn money and we produce wealth, we deserve it; We serve the customers, we produce value for customers.

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Finally, the variables (Junior/Senior, Sex-F/M, North/South) do not have any statistical significance, showing how these symbolic orders are completely independent of the sex, social position (father/son) and geographic position. This highlights how the symbolic orders are widespread between the subjects involved as well as the identity aspects linking with them. It is discussed in more detail in the following paragraph. SYMBOLIC TRANSITION: IDENTITY ASPECTS IN GENERATIONAL CHANGE To understand the symbolic transition and the identity aspects involved in generational change, the position of symbolic orders in factorial space should be verified. The graph in Figure 6.1 supports this process. Combing the data from the relative clusters and taking into account their different contrasts on the factorial plane—which we can define as a

Figure 6.1  Symbolic transition.

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symbolic field—makes it possible to understand the ways in which the identity transition takes shape and is carried out. The Cartesian axes intersect on the zero point, and moving away from it, generate values in opposite directions. Therefore, the factorial plane x-y is organized on bipolar dimensions for both the Factors (1, 2). Looking at the distribution of the clusters, and taking into consideration So.1 (Worship of the family)—(Figure. 6.1) first, due to its greater statistical power, it can be noted that it lies almost in a central location within quadrant D. In contrast, quadrant A shows the presence of So.2 (The gilded cage) which also has a central location. Together, these two clusters overwhelm the positive semi-axis of Factor 2 in the respective quadrants A and D. They also share a fundamental dimension which is being associated to family history, the past—positive semi-axis of Y. In fact, in So.1, the generational change is something that takes shape in maintaining the status quo, while in So.2 some degree of change is expected, but only in commerce policy, since everything else must remain bound to the existing set-up of the family and business systems. In opposition to the past dimension, there is that of the future. Therefore, the generative affective codes of meaning of the symbolic orders contribute to the definition of the x-y axes of the symbolic field. The polarity x (Factor 1) is Family/Market, while y (Factor 2) is Past/Future. In fact, the So.3 (Innovation and CRM), focusing on the innovation of the business process necessarily entails the abandoning of family traditions on account of customer needs, 3 is placed in the quadrant B and (market/future). The factorial space allows one to understand all the symbolic resources available for the identity transition during the generational change. Both factorials axis represent the common and sharing dimensions between the clusters, making possible the symbolic dynamic, its development (i.e., the identity transition based on the continuity and contiguity categories). So.1 is in the symbolic field on the meaning Past/Family. It is therefore a symbolic order organized on unchanged identity processes. Any object coming into contact with this world is assimilated due to it not being recognized as having any value. This reality is therefore based on identification processes that leave no room for differentiation, while maintaining the established order; it highlights the inability to experience outside the family system. In such a condition, even the marriage of his son/heir would constitute a leaving of the “fictitious” house, with it being aimed at maintaining the status quo. In other words, it would not allow for contact with “other” realities or value systems different from those that regulate their own family relationships. The construction of identity through the construction of a family as well as the experiencing of duties and roles that need to relate and interact with rules systems that are different from their own.

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This is possible when the subject experiences a dimension of loneliness, with this being something that the symbolic order does not allow. This occurs when there is no market turmoil. In fact, the possibility that a change of symbolic order is related to the failure of the identity Business = Family, when the business, while still maintaining its family connotation remains engaged in a market condition for which it is forced to differentiate itself from the family. The revenue loss would be the single object that could undermine this model, requiring activation of assimilation functions. This condition would lead to a change of the symbolic order, due to the status quo not being able to ensure the survival of the current identity system. This can occur when experiencing a condition that requires the search for a solution of continuity.15 It is a condition in which the symbolic dimension is no longer projected outward and confused with that of reality, with it no longer being without solutions of continuity. In other words, when it becomes possible to think about a new reality. The chart highlights how change can occur through a categorial continuity of the affective and cognitive codes that can be traced in the factorial axes x/y.16 In fact, revenue loss would require attention being given to the market rather than the family. Thus, the first criterion of differentiation would be made plausible through the use of a conceptual category contiguous to revenue, e.g., the fall of sales and subsequently, the creation of trade policies. This situation would be highly destabilizing and threatening to the subject. However, the possibility of managing it requires being strongly linked to the past and tradition (element of continuity with family). It is now worth taking into consideration So.2 and its position in the factorial space. In a symbolic space where the relationship with the past is strengthened (compared to So.1) with the aim of satisfying a need for safety, while at the same being open to experiencing something new, different and alien to its tradition, as well as its own mental process, experiences and identity. The same thing occurs for the transition from So.2 to So.3, where it is possible to see how the trade dimension (Market) is a category contiguous to the other dimensions, which are able to generate new meaning systems. In fact, the trade dynamics create conditions for failure/success (experiencing) through which it is possible to slowly combine the attention being given to the market and the needs of the customer and finally break with tradition, creating new and different identities which become new family identities. This involves the restructuring of new and other business processes in relation to the past.

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CONCLUSIONS Generational change has been defined as a process of identity transition. This perspective goes beyond the current theoretical models that deal with this issue in static terms, for example, by setting it within a defined time period as if it were a simple managerial action. An illustration of this approach is the phrase “passing the baton” which gives the idea of a relay race for which the trajectory of change is linear. At the same time, this idea gives the possibility to see the path that the son will take. This can be observed in So.1, generally defined as a relay race, with the idea of the family identity shaping the business identity in terms of keeping the status quo. Generational change takes a shape on basis of identification process between children and family (Junior/Senior) and without any differentiation. On the contrary, the process of change has been defined as a symbolic dynamic that: a. Is structured as a symbolic transition within a dynamic polarity inside/outside of the Self. b. Functions in categorial affective and cognitive continuity through systems of categorial contiguity in order to always respect a coherence with the image of Self (family), through activities of identification and differentiation supported by the function of assimilation and accommodation. c. Requires an active experimentation;—These aspects (a/b points) can be observed in So.2 where keeping the tradition (identification process) meet the sales policies (differentiation process). In this way, possible changes are explored in relation to the family tradition until its complete variation and arrival to a total revolution (i.e., So.3). d. Is represented by a non-linear, shaped spiral trajectory with variable volume because of the contiguity that the actor creates. Therefore, a better metaphor of this phenomena is that of a son who finally leaves home and walks on his own. In this case, the father cannot see, and above all, imagine the streets upon which his son will walk. So.3 refers to business identity as a system that can change family tradition. In this prospective, family businesses become a phenomena to observe the process of identity transition in order to negotiate the needs of identity required by market changes. NOTES 1. The degree of control is the risk capital of one or more families linked either through being related or business partners. Degree of involvement is how and how much family members are involved in the running of the business.

154    R. RUGGIERI and N. PECORARO 2. For brevity, only two definitions of family business have been given, due to the various possibilities being very long and beyond the aims proposed in this work. 3. Piantoni (1990) discusses different types of succession, including: evaded succession, postponed, with abdication, without traumatic and pretentious abdication. Each identifies a contingency state in family relationships, as a factor in organizing succession. 4. According to the author, there are three major factors influencing the succession process in both positive and negative terms: (a) objective factors (i.e., health and development of the business); (b) personal factors (values and motivation of the businessman and the family that controls the company); and (c) intermediate factors: the type of culture that characterizes the business). 5. Many succession questionnaires have been built to assist the family business owner and management during the generational change. Such questionnaires are diverse and assess different factors involving in the succession{em} that is, the personal factor, the intra-family relationship factors, the context factors and the financial factors (Chaimahawong & Sakulsriprasert, 2013). It’s relevance to note as the personal factor keeps a main role for understanding the generational change. Recently, Cubico, Bortolani, Favretto & Sartori (2010) proposed application of the Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test (TAI) for the passing of baton. This test aims to discriminate between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, describing the entrepreneurial profile. It finds application to identify the right member of family able to recover the leading role in the firms. 6. These aspects include, for example, the planning of learning paths for the heirs, from their education/training to the necessary professional experience in order to reach the standards of the role. An example comes from FIAT, where the young Agnelli heirs have had their paths set out for them by managers such as Romiti. This type of activity is clearly easier in large firms, but less visible and viable in small businesses. 7. The terms object and context are used here according to a psychodynamic standpoint. They are therefore primarily the contents constituting an inner psychic reality to the subject and then an experience of contact with an external reality. Therefore, objects and contexts are primarily mental operations and subsequently real{em}resulting in accepting the common meaning. Recently, further elaborations are argued by Casonato & Sagliaschi (2012). 8. Thus, the emotionality related to the objects of business and family will make any form of planning useless. The founder is unable to open the file “generational transition planning” (i.e., to construct value for himself in terms of experience). 9. The Waldefels’s quote is translated by us. 10. In fact, it is well known in psychoanalytic theory that the true psychic reality is constituted by the unconscious. 11. For more details, see Waldenfels (2004) for philosophical prospective; Slade (2010), Fonagy & Target (1996) for psychoanalytical prospective . 12. The italics are added.

Family Business Dynamics    155 13. Carrying forward an idiographic approach and adopting abductive generalization, “it is possible consider a different class that can be a solution to the class ← → individuals relationship problem as it allows to characterize the dynamics of the unique case while it arrives at a generalization” (Salvatore & Valsinier, 817, 2010); therefore, the parallelism between clinical and business support the development of analysis of the transition process. 14. For more details, see Carli and Paniccia (2002); Salvatore and Scotto di Carlo (2005). 15. The search for a solution of continuity includes the idea of rupture; that is an element of discontinuity capable of supporting the accommodation through the contiguity’s category. Without the contiguity, the symbolic order keeps the same symbolic configuration because it is seamless. 16. For technical reasons, it is not possible to reproduce the trajectory of change with a spiral form of the interior variables. However, its graphic representation as a broken line clearly highlights the process of contiguity based on finding solutions of continuity, although the contiguity categories are given by lemmas.

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158    R. RUGGIERI and N. PECORARO Lis, A., Stella, & S., Zavattini, G. C. (1999). Manuale di psicologia dinamica [Handbook of Dynamic Psychology]. Bologna: Il Mulino. Littunen, H. (2003). Management capabilities and environmental characteristics in the critical operational phase of entrepreneurship—A comparison of Finnish family and nonfamily firms. Family Business Review, 16(3), 41–54. Mandl, I., (2008). Overview of family business relevant issues. Retrieved from http:// ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/craft/family_business/doc/ familybusiness_study_en.pdf. Manzi, C., Vignoles, V. L., Regalia, C., & Scabini, E. (2006). Cohesion and enmeshment revisited: Differentiation, identity, and well-being in two European cultures. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 673–689. Manzi, C., Vignoles, V. L., & Regalia, C. (2010). Accomodating a new identity: Possible selves, identity change and well-being across two life-transitions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 970–984. Martin, J. (1992). Culture in organization. New York: Oxford University Press. Matte Blanco, I. (1975). The unconscious as infinite sets. An essay in bi-logic. London: Gerald. Mezzadri, A. (2005). Il passaggio del testimone [The Passing of baton]. Milano: Franco Angeli. Montemerlo, D. (2000). Il governo delle imprese familiari [The governance of family business]. Milano: Egea. Montemerlo, D., & Alessi M., (2000). I patti di Famiglia: uno strumento di buon governo per le imprese familiari. Economia & Management, 6, 54–55. Morin, E. (1985). Le vie della complessità. In G. Bocchi, & M. Ceruti (Eds.), La sfida della complessità [The challenge of complexity] (pp. 49–60). Milano: Feltrinelli. Morse, J. (1989). Qualitative nursing research: A contemporary dialogue. Rockville: Aspen Publisher. Piantoni, G. (1990). La successione familiare in azienda. Continuità dell’impresa e ricambio Generazionale [The family succession in firm. Continuity of business and generational change]. Milano: Etas Libri. Piantoni, G. (1995). Continuità e ricambio generazionale nell’impresa [Continuity and generational change in business]. Milano: Giuffrè Editore. Pasqualetto, C. (March 16, 2007). Aziende familiari, basta con il fai da te . Il Sole-24 Ore. Poutziouris, P. Z. (2010). The European commission launches the “family business policy manifesto.” Retrieved from http://familybusinesswiki.ning.com/profiles/ blogs/the-european-commission. Pozzi, M., Ripamonti S., & Ruggieri, R. (2010). Family business. generations, values and family cultures at work: Communication to work and family (FS27) symposium of 5th Congress of the European Society on Family Relations. Retrieved from http://esfr2010.unicatt.it/allegati/BOOKOFABSTRACTS%20 ESFR2010.pdf. Ruggieri, R., Pozzi, M., & Ripamonti, S. (2014). Italian family business cultures involved in the generational change. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 10(1), 79– 103, doi:10.5964/ejop.v10i1.625. Salvatore, S., Freda, M. F., Ligorio, B., Iannaccone, A., Rubino, F., Scotto di Carlo, M., Bastianoni P., & Gentile, M. (2003). Socioconstructivism and theory of

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160    R. RUGGIERI and N. PECORARO Vignoles, V. L., Regalia, C., Manzi, C., Golledge, J., & Scabini, E. (2006). Beyond self-esteem: Influence of multiple motives on identity construction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(2), 330–333. Voithofer, P., & Mandl, I., (2009). Transfer and succession in Austrian family firms. Retrieved from:http://www.ownershiptransfer2010.org/wpcontent/uploads/ 2010/04/Day2_TrackD_Voithofer.pdf. Ward, J. L. (1987/1997/2011). Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for Continuing growth, profitability, and family leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (Reprinted from Family business consulting group, 1997. Reprinted from Palgrave Mcmillan,2011). Waldenfels, B. (2004). L’altro seduttore: La psicoanalisi di Laplanche sullo sfondo di una fenomenologia dell’estraneo. Rivista di Psicoanalisi, 50(1), 33–51. Waldenfels, B. (2006). Grundmotive einer Phanomenologie des Fremdem [Phenomenology of the Stranger]. (trans. It. Fenomenologia dell’estraneo. Milano: Raffaerllo Cortina Editori, 2008). Suherkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main. Weick, K. (1995). Sensemaking in organization. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and reality. London: Tavistock Publications. Zittoun, T. (2007). Symbolic resources and responsibility in transitions. Young. Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 15(2), 193–211. Zocchi, W. (2007). Discontinuità e sinergie generazionali nell’azienda di famiglia [Discontinuity and generational synergies in the family firm]. Roma: Luiss University Press-Pola Srl.

CHAPTER 7

BEING ONLINE An Idiographic Approach to Identity in Virtual Environments M. Beatrice Ligorio F. Feldia Loperfido Marianna Iodice University of Bari

ABSTRACT In this chapter, it will be analyzed how participation in virtual environments impacts identity. Theories about social and subjective dimensions of identities and the role of technology in supporting the (re)definition of Self will be discussed. Metaphors reported by internet users will be used as discursive tool to detect how the online experience is perceived. Two cases of virtual environments are contrasted: (a) a popular social network—Facebook—; and (b) an educational platform meant for university courses. These two cases are opposite experiences of being online: very informal, undefined groups, free log-in the first one; formally framed into a learning course, defined groups and specific timing the second one. We believe that reasoning around similarities and differences between these two experiences may allow for an understanding of the singularity of each of these environments and, at the same time, would make

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 161–178 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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162    M. B. LIGORIO, F. F. LOPERFIDO, and M. IODICE possible some generalization of our findings to other online applications of the so-called Web 2.0. The main findings of this study allow redefining the online environments as a belonging to a new level of artifacts, able to re-design the bond between identity and sociality. Referring to the classical three-levels of artifacts defined by Wartofsky (1979), we proposed to consider a quaternary level: artifacts supporting the (re)definition of self and identity within a shared and co-constructed symbolic world. Under the idiographic point of view, this means digital identity should be studied as part of the process of co-construction of the virtual environment. In conclusion, this paper contributes to the improvement of the idiographic approach by proposing a methodology able to conciliate singularity and generalizability and by offering new definitions of digital identity.

INTRODUCTION The dynamicity of nowadays socio-cultural contexts urges to explore identities as unfolding processes rather than sets of stable traits. Namely, the Self can be understood as a complex system of several interplayed dimensions constantly changing, depending on specific contexts, individual goals, activities and experiences people are involved in. Understanding the nature of the self is a challenge also for the idiographic approach (Salvatore & Valsiner, 2008). While it is clear that individual performances are the core point of observation for idiographic science, yet it is not obvious how to hold together the “actor’s self-representation of his/her life trajectories and the representation of the observer” (ibidem, p. 17). The contributions of new psychological and sociological approaches—such as ecological psychology, socio-cultural psychology, dialogicality—is posing new way to look at what identity is, how it develops, and by which components it is featured through a dynamic perspective. In this contribution, identities’ changes and development will be described by combining theories about social and subjective dimensions of identities and the role of technology in supporting the (re) definition of Self. In particular, we will explore: (a) how individual and societal levels are involved in identities formation (Stetsenko & Arievitch, 2004); (b) the concept of positioning as a suitable model to define identity (Hermans & Di Maggio, 2007) by showing the dialogical dimension through which I-positions constitute the Self; (c) the role played by technology considered as artifacts mediating the process of identity formation; and (d) the role metaphors can cover as discursive tools able to let emerge how the online experience is perceived. Social and Subjective Dimensions Implied in Identities Formation The relation between social and subjective dimensions in identities formation implies a general discussion concerning the influence of the

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socio-cultural context in which people live. Traditional approaches considered individuals as entities separated from their contexts and paid attention to the individual rather than the reciprocal influence between the contextual features and the identity formation. In this contribution, we use a cultural-historical activity perspective to frame the definition of identities highlighting both individual and social dimensions of the Self in a non-dichotomized way. This dialectical point of view is founded on the idea that transformative collective material practices represent the foundation of human social life, shaping and reciprocally being shaped by human selves and social interactions. Human subjectivity is rooted into sociocultural contexts wherewith is connected in a dynamic system. Therefore, “psychological intra-psychological processes are conceptualized as emerging, together with interactional inter-psychological processes, from the collective practical involvements of humans with the world around them and as subordinate to the purposes and goals of these practical involvements” (Stetsenko & Arievitch, 2004, p. 484). Related to this reciprocal molding between human subjectivity and socio-historical dimension, Leontiev (1975/1978) proposed the concept of “twofold transition” referring to the transition from the world into the process of practical activities and the inverse transition from activities into human mind and the Self. Thus, there is a constant flow between activity and Self, wherein the Self is produced by the activities people participate in and, at the same time, the activities are continuously linked into the contexts. In order to appreciate the dialectic and dynamic relation among identities, contexts and activities, herein we will consider the Self as a leading activity, a process connecting individuals to social world and serving the aims of organizing the social connections (Stetsenko & Arievitch, 2004). Within this perspective, the processes of collaborative transformative practices mold the Self and people actively contribute to social practices in a way that the Self can be considered an activity of transforming the world. Therefore, the processes of identity formation can be interpreted considering concrete cultural-historical circumstances and past, present as well as future envisions as contributing to the molding of human subjectivity (Bakhtin, 1973). Moreover, social activities wherein identities are involved often include internal dialogues as parts of the self. This particular aspect will be further explored in the next paragraph where Dialogical Self Theory is described as a theory for understanding the inner dialogical nature of identities as leading activities. Positioning as a Model to Define Identity Selves can emerge in the space between their activities (Vågan, 2011) and the metaphor of positioning allows understanding how people place themselves in interaction and “makes a person’s actions intelligible and relatively

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determinate as social acts within which members of the conversation have specific location” (Van Langenhove & Harré, 1995, p. 363). The Self, as described by Dialogical Self (DS) theory, can be understood as a complex and dynamic system of positions tied to a particular space and time where activities take place (Hermans, 2001). Specifically, features characterizing the Self as it is conceived by DS theory are: (a) Self as multiplicity of relatively autonomous I-positions. Thus, the I can move from one spatial position to another depending on the specific situation and can fluctuate between different and even opposite positions; (b) Self as unity; albeit the multiplicity of positions, there is a continuity among them as extension of one and the same self; (c) The Self can be understood in relation with spatiotemporal dimensions. Time and space are both crucial for comprehending the discursive structure of the Self shaped by several voices being heterogeneous and even opposed; (d) The spatial component is represented by the “positions,” either internal and external, people may symbolically occupy within the psychological landscape designed by the ensemble of positions a person can take. These positions are traceable in the discursive moves—negotiation, opposition, cooperation, agreement or disagreement—expressed during narratives concerning themselves; and (e) The Self is characterized by open boundaries between several I-positions as well as between the Self and the context. Thus, identities and contexts are interrelated and reciprocally mold each other. The dialectic relation World/Activity/Self is elaborated in a dual dialogical perspective: between the contexts and people and among the several voices composing the Self and representing each I-position. The Bakthinian concept of polyphony (Bakhtin, 1973) highlights this relation between the voices and the mutual dialogical relationship they entertain. Namely, the interactive and dialogical aspects of the Self are constructed discursively and can be grasped by conceptualizing and analyzing how people use language to carry out their social positions. Indeed, by speaking people take a position with respect to their interlocutors and define who they are (Vågan, 2011). Furthermore, according to this perspective, the dynamic and reciprocal definition between identity and world can be grasped, and the activities can be understood as having a crucial role in the identity formation processes. Related to this aspect, in the following paragraph we will consider the function of the cultural artifacts as mediators between identities formation and activities people participate in. Later, we will show how these issues are relevant from an idiographic point of view. TECHNOLOGY AS AN ARTIFACT MEDIATING IDENTITY FORMATION Identities are at the same time stable and flexible. The activities, the mediation tools used, and the contexts in which people participate allow one

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to “learn to do differently and to be different. We engage with a person or an artifact in a particular way, typical of that activity, and now the system in which our persona exists and functions change. Dynamically, we are what we do, and we are now creating ourselves as personae in interaction with new others and artifacts [. . .]” (Lemke, 2000, p. 285). In this sense, activities, human subjectivity, artifacts, and specific contexts occur together in the identity formation. The dynamicity of events and identities is connected to material objects—the cultural artifacts—functioning semiotically and materially (Lemke, 1995) as mediators between the Self, the activities and the world. Indeed, identities are mediated by cultural artifacts that are always socially and dialogically embedded. Considering the Self as a leading activity means understanding identities as activities for transforming the world. The dynamic relation between Self-activities-world has to be analyzed as a whole in which these components reciprocally influence each other, through a dialogical relationship. Furthermore, the mediation of the artifacts has to be considered as crucial in these processes. As Cole (1996) contends, “an artifact is an aspect of the material world that has been modified over the history of its incorporation into goal directed human action.” Similarly, this is the way Dewey (1917) describes artifacts: “tools and works of art, are simply prior natural things reshaped for the sake of entering effectively into some type of [human] behavior.” Whereas, Wartofsky (1979) proposes a three-level model to explain what artifacts are and how they can be categorized. The first level consisted of primary artifacts, directly used in production. For instance axes, clubs, needles, bowls, in a word tools functioning as an extension of human arts and improving humans’ performance. Secondary artifacts consist of representations of primary artifacts and of modes of action using primary artifacts. As Cole (1996) says, “secondary artifacts play a central role in preserving and transmitting modes of action and belief” (p. 121). Good examples are recipes, norms, constitutions, and the like. The third level includes artifacts “which can come to constitute a relatively autonomous ‘world’, in which the rules, conventions and outcomes no longer appear directly practical, or which, indeed, seem to constitute an arena of non-practical, or ‘free’ play or game activity” (Wartofsky, 1979, p. 208). These types of artifacts are capable of functioning as an infrastructure to see the ‘actual’ world and to even set new patterns for changing current praxis. Examples of tertiary level of artifacts are artistic products (paintings, music, films) able to vehicle new cultural visions, and notions such as schemas and scripts, which (at least in psychology) developed new ways of understanding human cognition. All the three levels of artifacts play a central role for human actions as well as for higher mental functioning, development and identity formation (Holland et al., 1998). Already in Wartofsky’s conception it was assumed that assigning an artifact to a certain level depended on the cultural development

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of the society using that artifact. For instance, in a rudimental society the plow was not perceived as a simple extension of the hands to cultivate the land, but rather as a sort of revolutionary tool. Indeed, by substituting the hoe it was possible to improve the agriculture and, at the same time, to change the economy, to relive humans from a hard work and leave for him more free time to be spent with family and for himself. The plow acted as a tertiary artifact, supporting new ways of leaving and a new vision of the world. Therefore, each society and each historical time has artifacts that may act at a certain level and, later in time or for other societies, the same artifacts may be placed at a different level. The human intervention in shaping artifacts make them as cultural tools, therefore each historical time would have specific types of artifacts influencing the identity formation in a specific way. We claim the socio-cultural context we currently live in has developed a type of technology mediating specific identity formation processes. This is a type of technology introducing a multiplicity of communication formats bringing together multiple discursive threads (Black, Levin, Mehan & Quinn, 1983) and amplifying the dialogical dimensions of communication (Wegerif, 2007). The so-called Web 2.0 is no longer just a place to find and store information or to meet other people; it is rather a virtual space where people live in and construct and re-construct themselves through narrative and interaction. These features represent such a dramatic change compared to past technologies therefore new technology may be able to design a new level of artifact. This research is aimed at finding out how this new level is featured in terms of mediation to the identity processes. METAPHORS AS TOOLS TO EXPLORE THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE The use of a metaphor allows evoking several meanings about how a certain situation is perceived by the mean of a very short expression. Metaphors are frequently used to anticipate actions, to make inferences, to define goals, and to express plans and thoughts related to the experiences people are involved in. Therefore, the metaphor is used as a linguistic tool to access and at the same time to shape people’s thinking (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Indeed, language is full of metaphors because they work as schemas through which the mind assigns meaning to the world and the experiences. Ortony and Fainsilber (1989) state that metaphors are able to condense and communicate a beam of personal and cultural meaning with a single word. By using metaphors, people can represent and express their experience including impressions, assessments, and emotions concerning the situations

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they are referring to. For instance, if we say “this house is an hell” we are expressing an evaluation about the object “house” and at the same time we add the emotions experienced when we are in that house. An image—the hell—cultural connoted by a meanings like pains, anger, chaos, badness is used because we trust everyone will understand it very quickly. According to Tannen (1989) metaphors are images “designed” with words to which socially shared meanings are attached. Furthermore, the figurative language contributes to the establishment of intimacy enabling an easy and fast sharing of personal emotions. Through a process of imagination, a speaker describes or suggests an image and the listener can simultaneously complete the image depicted by the speaker. In this way speaker and listener co-construct the meaning of the image emerging from the conversation. Metaphors are often used also as strategy to talk about the Self. Moser (2007) reports how metaphoric language is largely used during narrative interviews as a tool to exploit many aspects involved into self-description. Moser found that a limited number of conventional metaphors were used to talk about oneself, “the complex topic of the self is largely expressed in terms of conventional metaphors” (p. 168). This means the metaphoric way of talking about self is culturally-based and context-dependent: people select metaphors socially shared to express traits of their ways of being, based on the context within which they live. Metaphors have the power to represent and express the complexity of profound identity experience. In a recent research Çoklar and Bağcı (2010), collected metaphors generated by teachers that described their professional training with computers. Through their metaphors, it was possible to gather many dimensions connected to the roles they assigned to technology. It was also possible to understand the specificities emerging between teachers from different departments (primary, pre-school, secondary school). When referring to communication mediated by computers, being able to effectively talk about ourselves is a crucial aspect. Within online environments, metaphors can play a crucial role on helping users to give personal information, to express emotion and to support social presence (Delfino & Manca, 2007). Similarly to Moser’s findings, many studies concerning virtual communities showed how participants described themselves, the community and the virtual environment they were immerse into by using metaphors gradually alike (De Simone, Yiping, & Schmid, 2001; Gherardi, 2000; Vayreda & Núñez, 2010). In other words, participants co-construct through metaphors the symbolic space within which they interact as well as the individual and collective digital identities.

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COMPARING TWO RESEARCHES Two empirical studies will be discussed. In particular, we will argue that the type of the identity formation processes observed in our studies allows a new balance between individuality and sociality because of the features of specific online environments observed. This new balance perfectly fits into the idiographic approach, where the focus is indeed on individual cases but the social and cultural contexts are considered as nourishing such cases (Toomela, 2009). Based on these theoretical underpinnings we now report about two researches involving two popular, yet very different, Web 2.0 environments. Both studies are aimed at exploring how participants perceive the experience of being part of a virtual community and how this experience may affect their personal and/or collective positioning. Through this information, it will be possible to find out the features of a quaternary artifact. The Method Metaphors will be used as discursive tools for grasping participants’ perceptions. In both cases, the metaphors have been collected through an online questionnaire through which respondents were required to complete a sentence suggesting to describe their online experience by producing a metaphor. The two different virtual environments analyzed are: (1) Facebook; a social network highly informal where people freely participate; (2) a webplatform meant for university-blended courses; a formal context where students participated in learning activities and followed a precise timing planned by the instructor. We consider these two cases as representative of two very diverse modes through which technologies can mediate and sustain the formation of the social and subjective dimensions of the Self as well as the dialogical dynamics of specific I-positions. As we consider identity as a leading activity, we believe the reference to the activity of being online could give account of how the sense of the self is constructed in these environments. We do not look directly to the activity performed online but rather we ask participants to report about their experience. We do this for two main reasons. First of all, we are convinced of the power of metaphors—as already described in the theoretical section. Metaphors are narrative tools able to synthesize the main aspects of complex experiences. By asking participants to develop a metaphor we obtain a narrative account of what they are online, how they perceive the virtual space and themselves within it.

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Secondly, the questionnaire as tool to gather data allows comparing activities and experiences otherwise incomparable. Having the same type of data a common category system can be developed. Looking at the quality of these categories and the way they are distributed would allow contrasting different cases. This strategy could be a way to solve the contraposition between singularity and generalization, which is a question of a great relevance for idiographic science (Salvatore & Valsiner, in press). All the metaphors collected were classified into three categories: (a) Identity: metaphors referring to themselves or to some aspects (positions) of the self; (b) Sociality: metaphors including the social value and the interdependence among people provoked by this environment; and (c) Addiction: concerning the feeling of not being able to live without internet. The metaphors about Facebook could be polarized as positive versus negative; those about the web-forum instead could be polarized as easy versus difficult. The application of the same category system allows for comparing two different contexts, whereas through the different polarization was possible to consider the singularity and specificity of each environment. We consider this methodological aspect as responding to the idiographic need of understand single situations and yet being able to compare and contrast different cases. The common content of the category systems (identity, sociality and addiction) is used to describe the whole range of the metaphorical representation evoked by two contexts inquired; the polarity of these categories is able to depict the quality of these metaphorical representations, which are specific. While the definitions of the identity and sociality categories were based upon the theoretical background driving this study—discussed earlier in this contribute, the reference to addiction steamed out strongly from the data. In any case, we consider addiction as a quality of the process of positioning, marked by a strong dependency on the context, which includes also other people. Two researchers first classified the data individually; later, they compared their results; the few cases of disagreement (about 10%) were solved through discussion and finally a 100% agreement was reached. Facebook: Identity Wrapped Into Social Networks Facebook is one of the most popular social networks of our times. 327 participants (87 male, 240 females; age between 16 and 27 years old) were involved in this research and they were required to fill out an online questionnaire composed by 28 questions (multiple choice, dropdown, rating answers). The questionnaire was aimed at gathering users’ profiles by asking them personal data, preferred tools (within those included into Facebook) and aims pursed by using this social network. Participants were also

170    M. B. LIGORIO, F. F. LOPERFIDO, and M. IODICE TABLE 7.1  Frequency of Categories of Metaphors of Facebook Identity

Sociality

Addiction

26%

45%

28%

required to write a metaphor to describe how they perceived the social network. Specifically, they had to complete the following sentence “Try to describe the social networks by writing a metaphor completing the following sentence: social networks are as . . .” The result of the metaphors classification is summarized in Table 7.1. As we see in Table 7.1, the majority of metaphors belong to the Sociality category. Identity and Addiction report similar percentages. To understand this result we need to look closer into the metaphors describing Facebook. Most of the metaphors classified as Identity (60% of them) are positively connoted. They talk about “trees,” “diary,” “toys,” and refer to several ways of expressing the Self. The negative metaphors (40%) evoke the feeling of loneliness and of being lost, denouncing the difficulty of expressing themselves. In Table 7.2, some representative metaphors of both the positive and the negative Identity-type of metaphors (five for each case) are reported. Positive metaphors suggest the idea of Facebook as a place where it is possible to flourish “leaves,” to tell secrets and share them with others to enrich everyday life. Negative metaphors offer an image of lonely and lost people. Also the metaphors with a social nature are for the majority positive (75%). These metaphors give a picture of Facebook as a tool through which to meet people and talk with them, build and maintain relationships. The most common images contained in these metaphors are the “square” and the “windows,” clearly indicating the function of meeting point covered by this social network. The negative social metaphors (25%) highlight the possibility of being spied upon by other people, of loosing privacy and the feeling of wasting TABLE 7.2  Examples of Positive and Negative Identity Metaphors Associate to Facebook Positive Identity Metaphors

Negative Identity Metaphors

Trees full of leaves The dear personal “diary” to which you can tell all the secrets and the most intimate stories A box full of toys and information A space where people can partially share themselves An added value to the daily life

An ocean of sadness A boring hobby A mask An open see A mirror reflecting what we are not

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TABLE 7.3  Examples of Positive and Negative Social Metaphors Associate to Facebook Positive Sociality Metaphors

Negative Sociality Metaphors

Once upon time barbers Bottles with small messages that can get far A virtual extension of the coffee-place next door A huge forum where you can meet people from the all over the globe Adressees of social spaces

As the Maya’s veil A market for gossip A hole in the wall A source of gossip and oddities Gossipers on the street

time. The main representative examples of sociality metaphors are reported in Table 7.3; both the positive and the negative ones. The overall impression is that of a cozy place—barbers, coffee shop— where even people from far way can meet. The negative metaphors see Facebook as a tool hiding the truth (the Maya’s veil), to spy (the hole in the wall) and as a place for gossips and oddities. The Addiction metaphors are mainly negative. In fact, the 65% of them are related to drugs, cigarettes, sins, and traps. The positive metaphors (35%) refer to food, for instance chocolate, cherries, and Nutella. The main representative metaphors of this category are reported in Table 7.4. Metaphorically, Facebook is perceived as mainly a social place where there is space to talk about ourselves and to share feelings and emotions. However, Facebook can cause addiction and this is often perceived as a negative. In general, our results show that Facebook supports a perception of identity at a crossroad between sociality and individuality. This virtual space supports both the need of expressing oneself and that of meeting other TABLE 7.4  Examples of Positive and Negative Addiction Metaphors Associate to Facebook Positive Addiction Metaphors

Negative Addiction Metaphors

Nutella, what a world would it be without Facebook. Pizza and chicken that I love

Nicotine and caffeine . . . you can easy become addicted Drug, the more you use it the more you become addicted Like the addiction to cigarettes

As a cotton candy: delicious when you eat it in the right quantity, but painful for the teeth if you eat it too much As the cherries, the more you eat them the more you want them Coffee after lunch

Traps where everybody falls into As any other sin, it causes addiction

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people; although this sometime may develop into (negative or positive) addiction. In any case, the virtual space plays a role as artifact useful to support forms of a socially grounded identity, wrapped into a large social network, “an ocean” of people, maybe physically far away, nevertheless reachable (“a message in a bottle”). Thus, social networks represent places where relationships are supported and people can continuously build their personal worlds to be shared with other people. These are symbolic places where users can express who they are, and at the same time, they can continuously mold new I-positions emerging from the social dimension. In the following paragraph, research involving university students will be described, highlighting how new positioning are dynamically built by participating in educational blended contexts. Blended University Courses: Identity Emerging from Learning Spaces Within the theoretical approach embraced by this contribution and discussed earlier, learning contexts are considered as environments where knowledge building processes take place simultaneously with the students’ self-representation of their identity as learners (Ligorio, 2010; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006; Wenger, 1998). Learning does not imply just the acquisition of new concepts, but involves a process of becoming, during which students shape also their identities (Vågan, 2011). Furthermore, the use of a web-platform as a symbolic place where to host a community of learners (Brown & Campione, 1990) can efficiently support the identity formation and the social dimension constituting the Self. In this section, we will analyze how the participation to a blended university course impacted and interweaved the social and individual dimensions of self-perception. The courses we analyzed involved 44 university students (average age 24 years old; 6 male, 38 female). They attended a specialized university course on Psychology of E-learning hold at the University of Bari (Italy). The courses lasted 12 weeks and consisted of five modules. The students were split into groups (in average of five maximum eight members) having the common goal of answering a research question proposed by the teacher. In order to achieve the goal students were required to first produce and post online individual reviews about the educational material provided by the teacher; later, to read the reviews and discuss them in a web-forum; and finally to generate collective papers and maps about the discussion. These activities were repeated for each module in order to allow multiple exposition and gradually sustain the sense of belonging to the virtual community (Ligorio, Loperfido, Sansone, & Spadaro, 2010; Ligorio & Sansone, 2009).

Being Online    173 TABLE 7.5  Frequency of Categories of Metaphors of the Online Course Identity

Sociality

Addiction

55%

43%

2%

At the end of the course the students were required to complete the same sentence submitted to the Facebook’s users, of course adapted to their case: “Try to describe the course you just attended by writing a metaphor completing the following sentence: this course is as . . .” The result of the classification of the metaphors collected is reported in Table 7.5. The percentage of the Identity category is substantial (55% —about Facebook this was the lowest percentage, 26%). At the same time, even if the course was very demanding and students spent a lot of time online, it is impressive how low the Addiction category (2%) is; whereas, for Facebook it was a category more or less as frequent as the Identity (28%; see Table 7.1.) As already stated, the polarization positive versus negative was not applicable to these metaphors. Rather, we found that the nature of these metaphors could be better expressed by using the contraposition between easy versus difficult. Most of the Identity metaphors (58%) suggested the acquisition of new I-positioning or, in general, changes of self-perception as a smooth and fast process. The 42% of them, instead, underlined a complex, difficult, slow process of identity change. Table 7.6 provides some examples of each case. Most of these metaphors give the impression of a change, a “metamorphosis” some time easy and fun (like a child) other times tiring, associate to a sport (marathon, steeplechase). The identity changes described are always positive; indeed even the changes depicted as hard and painful have a positive ending (becoming a better person, finding the water). TABLE 7.6  Examples of Easy and Difficult Identity Metaphors Associated to the Blended Course Easy Identity Metaphors

Difficult Identity Metaphors

A child in a toy store

Like a diesel, I started very slow and only later I could go faster and straight along my way A professional pathway rich but also difficult

Like a metamorphosis from a cocoon to a butterfly A house-light A trip to an unknown place A lunch pad

A steeplechase A marathon where it is hard and long to get to the arrival but once you get there you feel a better person Digging in a rock to find the water

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Almost all the social metaphors (74%) reported an effortless nature. Only five metaphors (26%) contained a sociality connected to hard work, effort, and challenge. Some examples are reported in Table 7.7. The reference to sports is pervasive in many of the metaphors: football, sailing, running. The reference to coordination and collaboration versus competition determines the nature of easy versus difficult Social metaphors. The reference to trips or travels or, more generally, to movement is also recurrent. In these cases, it is the feeling of a cohesive group (for instance, sharing the luggage) within which each one helps the other that determines the easiness of the social dimension. On the contrary, when the groups do not help on overcoming the obstacles and the unexpected challenges and colleagues remain unknown, then the metaphor refers to a difficult sociality. Addiction in this data appeared only once and it conveys an impression of easiness based on the reference to a daily routine: “like breakfast every morning and dinner every night.” This result is for us surprising because students often complained during the course about being online too often to accomplish the many demands of the course. Finding only one addiction metaphor was for us unexpected. Perhaps at the end of the course, when the metaphors were collected, students already overcome the feeling of addiction and used other aspects connected to identity and sociality as relevant points upon which to build a metaphor able to represent the course.

TABLE 7.7  Examples of Easy and Difficult Social Metaphors Associated to the Blended Course Easy Sociality Metaphors

Difficult Sociality Metaphors

A football game with a good team and a good Sailing with a boat and everyone has to row coach that planned an effective strategy to reach the destination A trip toward new goals and each passenger A 1500 run, each of us starts from his own is a new competence lane, then we run next to each other parallel and finally each of us arrives Construct a puzzle where also the A trip with colleagues, a challenging advenparticipants are pieces of the puzzle ture with thousand of unexpected things to face, so many steps to reach every day A group travelling where each of us makes Like a trip to the space: it was like getting to their luggage available to the others know a reality I did not know much before, but when you are immerse into it then you find new worlds, new lives, new behavioral codes. An adventure some time tiring but always fascinating A train continuously moving A virtual travel with colleagues by the unknown faces

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DISCUSSION In this contribution, we dealt with the process of identity formation as wrapped into and emerging from online environments. We consider nowadays technology as supporting a specific and innovative process of identity formation, so that we propose to consider this technology as able to design a new quaternary level of artifacts. To prove this proposal, we first framed the concept of identity as a system involving both societal and subjective aspects and as an unfolding process influenced by activities people are involved in. Identity is defined as a leading activity and as a dynamical set of I-positions mediated by using artifacts. Secondly, we run two studies in order to highlight how online experience is perceived. We use self-report through metaphors to track down individual, social, and contextual positioning and their dynamics. An informal (Facebook) context and a formal one (a university blended course) were confronted through the analysis of the metaphors participants elaborated to describe their experiences of being online. A summary of the findings is reported in Table 7.8. Looking at this table, some comments are immediate. In both cases, the social dimension is almost equally relevant; therefore, what really differs when comparing these two environments is the balance between identity and addiction. When addiction is neutralized identity becomes a crucial dimension. In Facebook, identity and sociality have mostly a positive nature and a feeling of easiness is prevalent in the educational web-platform. Addiction is mainly negative in Facebook and absent in the blended course. These results suggest that online environments affect dimensions such as identity, sociality, and feeling of addiction in different ways. In particular, the feeling of addiction pertains to social network but not in the learning environment, even when requiring a lot of time online. The impact on identity and sociality seems to be a common feature. The strong impact we found on identity supports the idea of technology working as quaternary artifacts mediating the molding and the expression of identities. Through the analysis of metaphors, we recognized the TABLE 7.8  Summary of the Results Comparing Facebook to the Blended Learning Course

Facebook

Blended Learning Course

Identity

Sociality

Addiction

26% 60% Positive 40% Negative 55% 58% Easy 42% Difficult

46% 75% Positive 25% Negative 43% 74% Easy 26% Difficult

28% 35% Positive 65% Negative 2% 100% Easy

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effort users make to constitute themselves as ethical subjects through the experience of being online and which implies self-constitution in a social space. In fact, our results highlight how relevant the social dimension in the process of identity formation online is. When immersed in a virtual space, others are constantly referenced even if with different nuances; they can be competitors, good companions, gossipers, or partners for the sometime mysterious, other time fantastic travel within the digital world. The strong although flexible intertwining between sociality, context-dependency and self-reconstruction is the feature of the quaternary level of artifacts we propose. This new level has the capability of supporting the (re) definition of self and identity within a shared and co-constructed symbolic world. That is to say, it represents an environment supporting the definition of expended identity worlds where new possible I-positions and ways of being are activated. By using new technology, people can support a process of becoming based on the relation between World (virtual)-Activity (online)Self (digital). This is the leading activity enhanced by the quaternary artifact, that enriches the set of people’s I-positions and support dialogical Self within a social virtual space. This type of leading activity can be considered as an interesting object of study for idiographic science that needs an inquiry of individuals within a symbolic system reciprocally co-constructing one another. CONCLUSIONS Technologies supporting virtual environments typical of the Web 2.0, either devoted to social networking or constituted by an educational web-platform, seem to offer new ways to redefine identity (Ligorio, 2010). By participating in environments mediated by the new technologies, people can activate dynamical processes of Self formation where identity represents a leading activity in the sense that the ultimate scope of what people do online is to define and re-define who they are. This process occurs through text-based interactions. The text is an object filling in the virtual word and incarnates the process of becoming within the relation World-activity-Self. An expended identity appears, within a virtual social space where new possible I-positions and ways of being are activated. The strong social and context-based nature of the process of “being” online is the basis of the quaternary level of artifacts and well fits the idiographic scope of being a science able to look at singularity within the social, cultural dimension. Furthermore, we propose a methodological stance: to use a tool through which one can gather data from different contexts and subsequently develop a general category system composed of categories to which a polarity can be assigned—for instance positive versus negative or easy versus hard. In this way, it is possible to detect the singularity of each different context and, at the same time, the

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results can be generalized. Such methodological strategy, we believe, could contribute in enhancing idiographic methodology. REFERENCES Bakhtin, M. (19291973). Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics (2nd ed., R. W. Rotsel, Trans.). Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis. (Original work published 1929) Black, S. D., Levin, J. A., Mehan, H., & Quinn, C. N. (1983). Real and non-real time interaction: Unraveling multiple threads of discourse. Discourse Processes, 6, 59–75. Brown, A. L., & Campione, J. C. (1990). Communities of learning or a content by any other name. In D. Kuhn (Ed.), Contribution to human development (pp. 108–126). New York: Oxford University Press. Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Çoklar, A. N., & Bağcı, H. (2010). What are the roles of prospective teachers on the educational technology use: a metaphor study. World Journal on Educational Technology, 2(3), 186–195. Delfino, M., & Manca, S. (2007). The expression of social presence through the use of figurative language in a web-based learning environment. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(5), 2190–2211. De Simone, C., Yiping, L., & Schmid, R. F. (2001). Significative and interactive distance learning supported by the use of metaphor and synthesizing activities. Journal of Distance Education, 16(1), 85–101. Dewey, J. (1917). Creative intelligence. New York: Holt and Co. Gherardi, S. (2000). Where learning is: Metaphors and situated learning in a planning group. Human Relations, 53, 1057–1080. Hermans, H. (2001). The dialogical self: Toward a theory of personal and cultural psychology. Culture & Psychology, 7, 243–281. Hermans, H. J. M., & Dimaggio, G. (2007). Self, identity, and globalization in times of uncertainty: A dialogical analysis. Review of General Psychology, 11, 31–61. Holland, D., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M.(1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Leontiev, A. N. (1975/1978). Activity, consciousness, and personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (Original work published 1975) Lemke, L. C. (1995). Attracting and retaining special educators in rural and small schools: Issues and solutions. Rural and Special Education Quarterly, 17(20), 25–30. Lemke, J. (2000). Across the scales of time: Artiacts, activities, and meanings in ecosocial systems. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 7(4), 273–290. Ligorio, M. B. (2010). Dialogical relationship between identity and learning. Culture & Psychology, 16, 109–115. Ligorio, M. B., Loperfido, F. F., Sansone, N., & Spadaro, P. F. (2010). Blending educational models to design blended activities. In D. Persico & F. Pozzi (Eds.),

178    M. B. LIGORIO, F. F. LOPERFIDO, and M. IODICE Techniques for fostering collaboration in online learning communities: Theoretical and practical perspectives (pp. 64–81). London: IGI global. Ligorio, M. B., & Sansone, N. (2009). Structure of a blended university course: Applying constructivist principles to a blended course. In C. R. Payne (Ed.), Information technology and constructivism in higher education: Progressive learning frameworks (pp. 216–230). London: IGI Global. Moser, K. S. (2007). Metaphors as symbolic environment of the self: How self-knowledge is expressed verbally. Current Research in Social Psychology, 12, 11. Ortony, A., & Fainsilber, L. (1989). The role of metaphors in descriptions of emotions. In Y. Wilks (Ed.), Theoretical issues in natural language processing (pp. 178– 182). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Salvatore, S., & Valsiner, J. (2008). Idiographic science on its way: Towards making sense of psychology. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, S. Strout-Yagodzynski, & J. Clegg (Eds.) Yearbook of diographic science (Vol. 1, pp. 9–22). Rome: Edizioni Carlo Amore. Salvatore, S., & Valsiner, J. (2010). Idiographic science as a non-existing object: The importance of the reality of the dynamic system. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, A.  Gennaro, & J. B. Traves Simon (Eds.). YIS: Yearbook of idiographic science (Vol. 3, pp. 7–26). Roma: Firera Publishing Group. Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge building: Theory, pedagogy, and technology. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 97–118). New York: Cambridge University Press. Stetsenko, A., & Arievitch, I. M. (2004). The self in cultural-historical activity theory. Reclaiming the unity of social and individual dimensions of human development. Theory and Psychology, 14(4), 475–503. Tannen, D. (1989). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge England. New York: Cambridge University Press. Toomela, A. (2009). The Methodology of idiographic science the limits of singlecase studies and the role of typology. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J. Travers Simon, & A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of idiographic science (Vol. 2., pp. 13–36). Rome: Edizioni Carlo Amore. Vågan, A. (2011). Towards a sociocultural perspective on identity formation in education. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 18(1), 43–57. Van Langenhove, L., & Harré, R. (1995). Cultural stereotypes and positioning theory. Journal for Theory of Social Behaviour, 24, 359–372. Vayreda, A., & Núñez, F. (2010). The role of metaphors in the interpersonal discourse of online forums. In Park, J., & Abels, E. (Eds.), Interpersonal relations and social patterns in communication technologies: Discourse norms, language structures and cultural variables (pp. 142–161). IGI Global. Wartofsky, M. (1979). Models: Representation and the scientific understanding. Dordrecht: Riedel. Wegerif, R. (2007). Dialogic, educational and technology: Expanding the space of learning. New York: Springer-Verlag. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

SECTION II COMMENTARY

THE IDENTITY AS A SYSTEM OF TRANSLATION OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN SUBJECT AND CONTEXT Maria Francesca Freda RaffaeleDe Luca Picione Università di Napoli Federico II

The being is, and cannot but be —Parmenides Everything flows, nothing stands still —Heraclitus

INTRODUCTION Our Western thought1 has always been swinging in the study of phenomena and on the epistemological reflection between the categories of fixity/normativity and those of becoming and particularity. Part of our epistemological effort is aimed at solutions of compromise, balance, overcoming between these two antinomies. The relationship

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 179–192 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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between the part and the whole, between the particularity and the norm, between being themselves but also be another, between being an identity and being a sameness (see the Ricoeur’s concepts of ipse and idem—1992) is a question that invariably occurs in all research and study we are going to achieve. The astonishing thing that we notice is that for Nature as a generative and re-generative system (autopoietic), this issue is not a problem but rather a richness, a resource, a possibility. Most likely a semiotic process is made possible by the tension never finally resolved between the uniqueness and sameness. A sign is something that is simultaneously “sui-referentiale” (self-referential) and “alter-referentiale” (other-referential). According to Sebeok (1986), each semiosis is always a process of relationship between a living system and its environment. In this sense, a living system produces a variable area of the boundary between self, the outside world and others. This boundary area is a space of semiotic transformation, in which each sign always has a double face: on the one hand, an aspect of self-referenciality in order to maintain over time the organization of the system (see autopoiesis, by Maturana & Varela, 1980) and on the other hand an aspect of alter-referentiality to intervene in the world and interact with it. In order to hold together these two semiotic directions (self- and other-) we cannot disregard that they are carried out and always interact through a “contextual frame.” IDENTITY AND CONTEXT The contributions of this section of the book—focused on the relationship between identity and context—offer us several interesting ideas to discuss. Every person in her life is constantly faced with the question of how to be a person within his multiple, interrelated and variables contexts of interaction and life. Being a subject does not mean only to oppose a resistance or exert a reaction to an environmental dimension. Being a subject means that the person feels herself as a “core of synthesis” of her own experiences. This synthesis is achieved through semiotic processes of symbolization, generalization and abstraction of varying degrees but also through processes of disintegration and re-definition of boundaries, bonds and relationships. A person is not an exact micro-reproduction of a macro-context, however a person is not even an entity completely dissolved by her contextual field of “cultivation” (Valsiner, 2007, 2008), development and growth. The process of internalization and externalization that occurs between a subject and his context is a creative process and it is not a process of pure absorption (Kullasepp, in this volume; Lawrence & Valsiner, 2003; Valsiner, 2007). We have countless examples of the complexity of this exchange in the art, architecture, painting, sculpture, music, in the speech, in religious

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experience, in the play of children, in the being and the doing a parent, in living an experience of a disease and more in general in any human experiential activity, which is always a complex relational system that develops inter-intra-subjectively in time and in a cultural background. Identity is not a self-referential construct (such as some hypothesis from the perspective of a bootstrapping2 might suggest) able to stand only on the possibility of establishing autonomous characteristics—stable over time and space—rather it is a dynamic process of continuous exchange and translation between a subjective system and a relational context . The idea of thinking about identity as a hypergeneralized sign (Salvatore & Valsiner, in this volume; Valsiner, 2007) allows us to observe the identity as a dynamic system that regulates the relationship between the inside and outside, between the past and the future. The identity if you really want to depict it metaphorically as a “something” then it can be represented as an “organic membrane.” The identity exerts the same functions as an organic membrane of a living being that, acting in the present, regulates the processes of entry and exit. In semiotic terms, a membrane is a translation system that connects both the inside and the outside, and the memory of how past experiences have been lived and the expectations and needs that create the waiting for a future. The identity rather than being an entity is a relational system which produces, re-produces itself through the plasticity of the boundaries between the person, others and the world, in the becoming time. All works of this section of the book are interested in the relationship between the formation of the sense of identity of a person and her contexts of belonging and interaction: to become psychologists (Kullasepp, in this volume); “to acquire the reins” and give continuity to the family business (Ruggeri & Pecoraro, in this volume); to build a new relational identity through the use of computer and media devices of virtual environments on the Web (Ligorio, in this volume); to be part of an organization, characterized by a meaningful sense of identity (Bastos et al., this volume). These are all semiotic processes that lead us to consider the relationship between subject and context not through the use of the conjunction “and” (subject “and” context) but to find a different and more complex understanding of this relationship. How can we understand the context in order to better articulate it with the development of a subject? The term “environment” is derived from the Latin “ambiens,” present participle of the verb “ambire,” which means “to surround.” In similar way, the prefix amb (similar to the Greek amphi) means “around, on both sides.” The etymology of which is found in other European languages is very similar. The English word environment comes from the French envìronnement, a word composed of the prefix en (around) and the verb virer (to turn). In

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the German language the term Umwelt is composed of the prefix um and the noun Welt (world), and indicates “what is around.” The term “environment” means therefore “what surrounds it.” The biologist, philosopher and ethologist von Uexküll (Kull, 2001; Sokol Chang, 2009; Uexküll, 1926, 1934/1957; Valsiner, 2009) questioning the general conception according to which the environment is universal and identical for all living organisms, defines the Umwelt as a meaningful environment for the organism, that is, as a model of reality in which to live and constructed from a subjective “functional circle” of perception and action. The environment becomes a subjective and species-specific semiotic system of signs, reproduced through recursive circles of perception and action. The revolutionary semiotic perspective of Uexküll gives us the possibility to resume even the term context and to re-evaluate it in its etymological matrix: context as “cum-texètere” (from Latin), namely “to weave together,” “to braid.” In this way, we can understand that the subject and the context are not two domains, separated or approachable together through a simple conjunction. The subject and the context are the possibility of determination of one another. The subject has no chance to determine unless starting from a context in which he can circumscribe the space-time coordinates of an event, a phenomenon. The subject can discretize a phenomenon starting from the contextual frame. In continuity and complementarity to the just above said, a phenomenon shows itself in the way that for a subject it is possible catch it. The possibility of constructing an identity as relational and semiotic system of regulation is given by the ability of an organism to “subjectivise” stimuli of the environment. In the human species, in particular, the environment is not only a physical environment that releases energy, matter and neutral information, but it is a culturally transmitted and affectively lived environment (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2012, 2014; Freda, 2008; Salvatore & Zittoun, 2011; Salvatore & Freda, 2011; Valsiner, 2001, 2007) for which every transformation, every transition is experienced from the first moment of life as something of meaningfulness and mediated by other people. By following the idiographic epistemological perspective, we shall say that the context is developed together with the subject and that must be treated not as a static scenario but as an evolving system (better say in coevolution). The degree of increase/decrease, of fixity/flexibility of the network of semiotic-cultural-subjective relationships between context and subject contributes to their mutual identitarian definition. The contribution of Ruggeri & Pecoraro (in this volume) in fact shows how the transition of the family company does not pose a simple question of transfer of a physical infrastructure (buildings, machinery, employees and any material device used by the company) but a system of meaningful symbolic relationships that raises issues not only rational but also highly

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emotional and affective. The continuation of business activity requires an intense symbolic work between a cultural model of economic management aimed at maximizing profits and a cultural/affective/subjective model of the family addressed to the care and the bond with their relatives. In the work of Kullasepp (in this volume), the acquiring of the identity of psychologist is a process of subjective “taking possession” of a set (it is better to say system) of meanings on which the student builds the role, function, and the social image of the psychologist. The dissonance between the two directions of development of professional identity construction “to become psychologist can improve myself” and “to become psychologist can help others,” can be understood as a process of identity construction through giving a subjective “form” by use of symbolic “materials,” socially shared. The identity system that is used for the exercise of the profession of psychologist is a process of construction of systemic-semiotic interface that is built from the set of personal motivations, feelings, pro-social positions, affective experiences, cognitive engagement, academic study and comparison with the image of the psychologist socially and culturally perceived by others. Expressed in these terms the question of the boundaries between subject and context, it is surprisingly difficult. The work of Ligorio (in this volume) allows us to observe the development of new systems of communication and training. We can see through such research how the virtual environment and the media is a symbolic field that activates specific aspects of identity. In the work of Ligorio it is used the Model of Dialogical Self (Hermans & Dimaggio, 2004; Hermans & Hermans-Jansen, 1995; Hermans & Kempen, 1993) that defines identity as a complex system (James, 1890) and polyvocal (Bakhtin, 1992) in which there are several I-positions in dialogue with each other. An informal virtual environment (such as that available in any social network) performs a process of co-construction (Ligorio, in this volume) between a symbolic field and the definition of specific I-positions suitable to interface with it. An I-position is able to articulate a dialogue through a perspective positioning on the world and in doing so it assumes a value of relationship and definition of a “pertinent context” (Freda & De Luca Picione, 2012; Salvatore & Freda, 2011). An interesting shift of focus is in the contribution by Bastos and colleagues (Bittencourt Bastos, de Sousa Bastos & Rapold, in this volume). Shifting the emphasis from the definition of identity of the person to the organization, the work of Bastos allows us to focus reflection not only between a system and its environment, but between a system and its parts. In fact, centering on the study of relations between the employees of an organization, the work of Bastos and colleagues pose as research question what may lead to constitute a company and maintaining its identity (purposes and ways to achieve a goal) through the inter-interactions of its components. In the perspective adopted by the contribution, “the organizations

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are socially constructed and emergent phenomena of human interaction. Unlike a realistic and positive attitude that considers organizations as independent of people, and existing as a thing, as something substantive, we assume the perspective according to which human interactions are the basis of the ontogenesis of organizational phenomena. Consequently, the issue of organizational identity becomes something more fluid and dynamic, instead of being reduced to immanent, supposedly stable characteristics, which are not time-dependent” (Bittencourt Bastos, de Sousa Bastos & Rapold, in this volume). All these contributes—although addressing different specific content— deal with the question of the relationship between identitarian system, the symbolic-cultural context of development and the contingent context of action. In fact, in all contributes of this book section it is possible to grasp the process of identity construction as a temporal trajectory of development that allows to change and to implement the relational dynamics. Such a process of identity development is conceivable as a continuous process of sensemaking, long lasting and never ending, in which there is a continuous subjective reprocessing of contextual and cultural constraints and possibilities (not only in physical terms, but also and especially in symbolic terms). Below, we grasp these stimuli to highlight some issues of identitarian development, which the relationship between autonomy and identity and emotional dynamics of any relationship. THE IDENTITY AND AUTONOMY We think that what allows us to define a psychological system with its own identity is a certain degree of autonomy that characterizes it. There is a variable range of autonomy of the identitarian system that can never be zero even if inextricably linked to the context. If there was not even a minimal amount of autonomy would not make sense to talk about identity. Moreover, without a context, we are unable to observe the concrete dimensions of identity in place. The stating that a system has a degree of autonomy means that it is capable of responding to external stimuli according to its “domestic law” (the etymological meaning of the term refers to the ancient Greek “autonomos” which means “own law”). The autonomy contributes to the definition of the identity system because it allows a partial independence from the environment and guarantees a certain trajectory of continuity in time. However, we do not mean to confuse the notions of autonomy and identity. How do you coordinate the stability and variability of a system of identity, preserving its relative and contextual autonomy? An identity system

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is a system that produces meanings through each its psychic activity and experience. We propose the idea that the autonomy of an identity is configured as a constant dialectic between different contextual “modal positions.” With modal positions concept we mean the ways of experiencing an environment in terms of possibility, necessity, duty, obligation, constraint, will (Freda & De Luca Picione, 2012; Greimas, 1982, 1993; Weizsäcker, 1967; Valsiner, 2007). Although these categories are also used by deontic logic, however in a subjective psychological system they are not constant and fixed but are constantly re-articulated and shaped over time. They do not pertain to a system that is rigidly formal, a-temporal and fixed but they are continually re-negotiated and challenged starting from the contextual affective experience of a subject. Between the subject and its context, a continuous reconfiguration of relationships occurs; sometimes, they are a slow and gradual process and in some other circumstances assume sudden, explosive, catastrophic characteristics (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2014, in submission; Lotman, 2005). The daily experience of each subject is constructed through a series of constraints, necessities, and possibilities (Freda, De Luca Picione & Di Stazio, 2012; Freda & De Luca Picione, 2012) that are negotiated continuously through the cultural semiotic material that is made available through an inter-subjective network of relationships.3 That is to say that a person begins to experience the extreme variability and contingency of these categories through the wide variability and the customization of the use that other people do. This variability is inextricably linked to affective experience. The affective experience is in fact a first and immediate process of symbolization of oneself and the context. If we understand the affective experience as a semiotic psycho-physical system (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2012, 2014; Freda, 2008; Matte Blanco, 1975; Valsiner, 2001; Salvatore & Zittoun, 2011; Salvatore & Freda, 2011;) that triggers the action and thought, we will observe that it produces a contingent and local transformation of contextual relations. The affective experience starts a circular process between subject and context in which information flow is re-configured and re-meant. This circular flow assumes the characteristics of a real recursivity of information between subject and context. Through a semiotic lens, we will be able to observe that in each of these recursive steps, the sign (but also the syntagmatic chain of signs, or the semiotic field) are enriched by a “modal valence” which have a sense of inhibition, permit or strengthening of the will and the autonomy of the identity system in order to act, to propose new solutions or to reactivate modalities acquired in the past. The temporary interruption (and therefore its culminating in a different configuration) of this circular flow can occur through different ways: for

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example, through the re-conducting toward a habitual modalities already followed many times previously (see the formation of a habit à la Peirce, 1932) or through a new synthesis process that re-arranges the semiotic rupture and the opposition of different signs (Salvatore & Valsiner, in this volume). In this sense, we are led to hypothesize that the identity as a relational system in its relationship with the context exerts its own degree of autonomy through the modal reconfiguration of the signs that continually exchanges with the context. Using the innovative concepts of systemic causality and psychological catalysis (Cabell, 2010; 2011; Cabell & Valsiner, 2011; De Luca Picione & Freda, 2014; Valsiner, 2007), we observe how the relationship between subject and context is realized moment by moment through the local reconfiguration of the identity system. The identity system as a system of contact and of edge possesses a considerable degree of flexibility and plasticity through its hypergeneralization that allows configuring itself according to the present constraints, possibilities and necessities. The dialectic complexity of the modal articulation is also given by the different degree of generalization (Salvatore & Valsiner, in this volume) of the modalities dialoguing with each other. Let’s take an example from everyday life, imagining a person struggling with the “simple” choice whether or not to eat ice cream: “I always want to” chocolate ice cream, but “today” I have a stomach ache, the doctor told me that “I must eat” fruit only, then I’m thinking “I could choose” now a lemon ice cream!

In the example, the choice of the person is far from easy, linear and the complexity is shown by the modal articulation resulting therefrom. Within a local context of meaning triggered by the desire of the ice cream, the person is faced with various possibilities, permits, needs, obligations and prescriptions of different generalization (defined by the temporal expressions in the example). The modal articulation represents a dialectic boundary area of sensemaking process, variable in time between the inside and outside. WHAT DOES IT MATTER THE EMOTION WITH THE CONTEXT? AND WITH THE IDENTITY? The possibility of not considering identity as an entity but as a dynamic system of relationships is directly tied to see the identity as a process of sense-making that is activated and resolved through the creation of affective fields in which signs acquire psychological salience and meaning (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2012, 2014; Salvatore & Freda, 2011; Valsiner, 2001).

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While it is true that there are culturally given meanings, however we must consider the way in which these meanings can be used by people. The polysemic characteristics of each sign and the enormous variety of signs offered in every moment, poses the question of how the “signifieds” and “signifiers” are chosen from time to time by people (De Luca Picione, 2013). The identity of a subject—in the sense of semiotic system affectively meaningful—performs a process of inclusion and exclusion of certain signs at the expense of others. Again, the idea of identity as a liminal system of contact between the inside and outside and the past and the future seems interesting to focus on the experiences of people and their recursivity with the context. Rather than seeing identity as an entity, if we consider it as a semiotic interface between the person and the context, we observe that the context and the person are not two separate domains but are -one of the othercontinuity made possible by the affective experience that projects into the future some trajectories of development and meaning rather than others. That is, the emotional experience provides a direction, a process orientation of reading of the signs (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2012). This hermeneutic process is not a process of subsequent and consequential interpretation but an immediate and pre-reflexive process (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2012; Salvatore & Freda, 2011; Salvatore & Zittoun, 2011). From this prereflexive process the subject discretizes and puts in syntagmatics relation the signs, which have thus an affective matrix from their beginning. From the point of view of idiographic perspective (Salvatore & Valsiner, 2009, in this volume), the emotion is an extremely interesting phenomenon. The emotion as local, transient and contextual phenomenon offers at the same time the sense of living “for the first time” an experience. This ensures the uniqueness of the experience coherently to the irreversible temporal processes (you can not repeat twice the same experience—you cannot immerse twice yourself into the same river). On the other hand an emotion—as relational modal experience—tends to “repeat itself in time” until it does not reach a new semiotic reorganization capable of a new synthesis that will contain such a system overcoming it. The emotion as relational modality can be repeated in a similar manner (but not equal!) in time. In emotional experience we have the simultaneity of uniqueness and sameness through the use of contextual and contingent signs and the generalization of the semiotic process. One’s own relationship with the environment is an experience of oscillation between sameness and uniqueness. The sense of uniqueness is produced through the use of contingent and local concatenation of signs that is always defined by the specific contextual pertinence (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2014; Salvatore & Freda, 2011; Salvatore, 2013). The sense of sameness is activated by the dimension of continuity of sensemaking processes with higher abstraction and generalization.4

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The process of development of identity is based not as much on the putting aside, on cessation, on the permanent loss of some ways, but as the possibilities for making plastic, flexible and malleable these ways and then to organize new “forms” from them. The emotion is a morphogenetic process (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2012; De Luca Picione & Freda, 2014), that is, a process of activation of a semiotic field capable of generating signs and specific configuration of signs. The experience of uniqueness and contingency is always linked with the forms taken in the past and with the emerging forms forward the future. These forms are set up through the constraints and possibilities offered in every experience, and contribute to create the “hyper-generalized form” of identity system (Salvatore & Valsiner, in this volume). It is not a simple linear mechanism of trial and error up to achievement of a solution or an unlocking, but it is a no-linear process intensely affective which is nourished both by continuity and by discontinuity of the experiences, creating innovation. The cultural semiotic system is transmitted through the interpersonal relationships, namely systems of relationships between people, which in turn are involved in such an affective morphogenetic process.5 The morphogenetic perspective leads us to consider the identity of a person as a subjective system that is starting from intersubjective mimetic processes and creation /innovation processes. In the mimetic processes the person is deeply involved in relationships with others and is absorbed by the semiotic field context. Let us think of phenomena of “spreading and circularity of identity” of the children while they play they can assume roles of fictional characters or celebrities, or of the participants during a political demonstration, of the supporters in the stadium, of people during moments of collective euphoria: the identity loses its shape and the person behaves in ways that would not own in other circumstances. We observe a confusion about the specificity of an identity with the other ones. In the creative process, the person is able to implement a process of sensemaking that results specific and new, although in continuity with its own history, with its own experiences. It introduces a novelty in the context. Somehow, the affective experience of the subject is not perfectly matched with that of the intersubjective context. From the encounter (but also both confrontation and conflict) of the different affective and semiotic morphogenetic fields, discrepancies arise. They can be the beginning of novelty, new creative syntheses, new possibilities of development trajectories. In this case we have, that is, a lower permeability of the identity system, which does not end in a block, but start up a creation of something new. A semiotic rupture—depending on the relationship between identity system and context—can launch alternatively a process of mimesis (imitative use of signs) or a creative process of new semiotic synthesis and/or an oscillation between these two processing orientations.

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In fact, in the several works of this section of the book, we observe that identities are semiotic fields of boundary created through interactions with others, and these relationships are always emotional. In the work about family enterprises (Ruggeri & Pecoraro, in this volume), the company can be understood as a semiotic system whose continuity within the family creates an affective conflict between the old generation and the new one, between the system of meanings of the economy and that one of the family. In the work about the acquisition of professional identity by students in psychology (Kullasepp, in this volume), we observe a process of interaction between mimesis and creativity in building their own specific image of psychologist. In this process, the affective contents are the starting point of such an effort. In the researches about the organization as the emergence starting from a network of human interactions (Bittencourt Bastos, de Sousa Bastos & Rapold, in this volume), we have the opportunity to observe how the network is studied not only through intersubjective processes of exchange of information, but also through informal relational modalities which are about bonds of friendship, trust. That shows how a social system is not based exclusively on formal/official processes and on the exchange of neutral information between employees—indifferently replaceable with each other. On the contrary, in every social process the semiotic system is always linked to its affective matrix which creates a strong semiotic field of aggregation, union, affective and symbolic sharing. The attention to virtual and mediatic context (formal and informal) offers another interesting example of how some aspects of identity are coconstructed, are implemented and reinforced. The author of the work (Ligorio, in this volume) in fact shows how different I-positions emerge from the social dimension exchange and symbolic common ground. We can observe that some aspects of identity (here read through the construct of the I-position—Hermans & Dimaggio, 2004; Hermans & Hermans-Jansen, 1995) arise from a symbolic field intersubjectively shared and defined from subjective positions. CONCLUSIONS Starting with the works and researches proposed in this section of the book concerning the identity and contexts, we discussed the relationship between stability, autonomy and interconnection between identity system and context. In an idiographic perspective, subjectivity and its contextual relatedness are inescapable focus, which, however, always oscillate in stormy

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waters of Scylla and Charybdis, namely between solipsism of identity and an environmental supremacy that shapes the tabula rasa. The works of this section provide an interesting starting point (although the contents of their researches are extremely various and different) that allowed us to think of identity as a semiotic system of boundary that translates signs and which is activated in the intersubjective relationship. The context, likewise identity, is not a fixed and definite—once for all—set of signs but a system which shows itself only from the contingent and local dimension, without that being an impediment to the construction of semiotic systems of higher generalization and hierarchization. NOTES 1. It is not only our Western thought that deals with this issue since other philosophical and religious systems raise the question of ‘impermanence of things, phenomenal illusion of appearances and what could be the ultimate foundation of reality. We think of the philosophical doctrine of Stoicism (its first founders are of Turkish and Cypriot origin), the philosophy of Tao in China, the philosophical and religious system of Buddhism, and Indian cosmological and teleological doctrine of the Upanishads (IX/VIII century BC) . 2. The term bootstrap is used to mean a process of self-sustaining that proceeds without external help. Since the 60s, this explanatory model has had a certain diffusion and has been used and applied in different disciplines, such as computer science, linguistics, physics, biology, artificial intelligence. 3. We believe that this assumption has a fundamental importance not only for the study of the processes of sense-making in cultural psychology, but also in the research and practice of clinical psychology. 4. Abstraction entails mental operations with mental tools that are distanced from the specific referents they represent. Abstraction leads the way to generalization—the abstracted general features of the representation become applicable to new specifics via extension of the abstracted features to phenomena that were previously not considered as the basis for abstraction. Finally, generalization can lead to a state of hypergeneralization. [. . .] Hypergeneralization is the process of escalation of the abstract generalized meaning through the whole of the psychological system. Its boundaries can be infinite (Cabell & Valsiner, 2011, p. 99). 5. If we had to graphically represent the networks of such systems, we would encounter the paradoxical situation of having vertical hierarchies of semiotic systems simultaneously with the full horizontal layout of all systems, and with their continuous breakup and re-configuration.   A sign, that is, could be both a general and abstract category of extremely wide extension including many other categories and in turn to be a point-like sign and replaceable by other signs within more general categories.

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REFERENCES Bakhtin, M. M. (1992). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Austin: University of Texas Press. Bittencourt Bastos, A., de Sousa Bastos, A. C., & Rapold, I. (in this Volume). Identity and organizations: Articulations from social networks studies. Cabell, K. (2010). Mediators, regulators, and catalyzers: A context inclusive model of trajectory development. Psychology & Society, 3(1), 26–41. Cabell, K. R. (2011). Catalysis: Cultural constructions and the conditions for change. Journal of Integrated Social Sciences, 2, 1. Cabell, K. R., & Valsiner, J. (2011). Affective hypergeneralization: Learning from psychoanalysis. In S. Salvatore & T. Zittoun (Eds.), Cultural psychology and psychoanalysis. Pathways to Synthesis (pp. 87–113). Charlotte NC: Info Age Publishing. De Luca Picione, R. (2013). An old debate but still alive, fruitful and able to renew itself: The language in psychology between the particular and the universal. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 9(4), 869–872, doi:10.5964/ejop.v9i4.689. De Luca Picione, R., & Freda, M. F. (2012). Senso e significato. [Sense and Meaning]. Rivista di Psicologia Clinica. N.2. pp. 17–26. De Luca Picione, R., & Freda, M. F. (2014). Catalysis and morphogenesis: The contextual semiotic configuration of form, function, and fields of experience. In K. R. Cabell and J. Valsiner (Eds.), The catalyzing mind. Beyond models of causality. (Annals of Theoretical Psychology, Vol. 11). New York, NY: Springer. De Luca Picione, R. & Freda, M. F. (in submission). A discussion about the processes of meaning starting from the morphogenetic theories of Rène Thom. Freda, M. F., & De Luca Picione R. (2012, spring). Relational and organizational value of self-positions. International Journal for Dialogical Science, 6(1), 51–60. Freda M. F., De Luca Picione R., & Di Stazio F. (2012). L’articolazione modale come indicazione del rapporto tra soggettività e relazionalità. In Abstract book, IX Congresso Nazionale sulla Ricerca in Psicoterapia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, 14–16 settembre 2012, p. 21. Copyright 2012 Momento Medico S.r.l.via Terre Risaie, 13. Freda, M. F. (2008). Narrazione e intervento in psicologia clinica. [Narrative and intervention in clinical psychology]. Napoli, Italy: Edizioni Liguori Greimas, A. J., & Fontanille, J. (1993). The semiotics of passions: From states of affairs to states of feelings. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Greimas. J. A., & Courtės, J. (1982). Semiotics and language: An analytical dictionary. Bloomington: Indiana UP. Hermans, H. J. M., & Dimaggio, G. (Eds.). (2004). The dialogical self in psychotherapy. New York, NY: Brunner & Routledge. Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (1995). Self-narratives: The construction of meaning in psychotherapy. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Hermans, H. J. M., & Kempen, H. J. G. (1993). The dialogical self: Meaning as movement. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). London, UK: Macmillan. Kull, K. (2001). Jakob von Uexküll: An introduction. Semiotica, V. 134, 1–59.

192    M. F. FREDA and R. De LUCA PICIONE Kullasepp, K. (in this volume). Through the professional role to the world of new meanings. Lawrence, A., & Valsiner, J. (2003). Making personal sense. An account of basic internalization and externalization processes. Theory & Psychology. Sage 2003. Vol. 13(6): 723–752. Ligorio, M. B., Loperfido, F. F., & Iodice, M. (this volume). Being online: An idiographic approach to identity in virtual environments. Lotman, J. (2005). On the semiosphere. Sign Systems Studies, 33.1, 205–229. Matte Blanco, I. (1975). The unconscious as infinite sets: An essay in bi-logic. London: Gerald Duckworth & Company. Maturana, R. H., & Varela, F.J. (1980). Autopoiesis and cognition. The realization of the living. Dordrecht, Holland: Reidel Publishing Company. Peirce, C. S. (1897/1932). In C. Hartshorne & P. Weiss (Eds.), Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vol. 2). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Original version: 1897]. Ricoeur, P. (1992). Oneself as another. Trans. Kathleen Blamey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Ruggeri, R., Pecoraro, N. (this volume). Family business dynamics: Generational change as identity transition. Salvatore, S. (2013). The reciprocal inherency of self and context. Notes for a semiotic model of the constitution of experience. Interacções. The Semiotic Construction of Self, 9(24), 20–50. Salvatore, S., & Valsiner, J. (2009). Idiographic science on its way: Towards making sense of psychology. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, S. Strout-Yagodzynski, & J. Clegg (Eds.), Yearbook of idiographic science (pp. 9–19). Rome: Firera Group. Salvatore, S., & Zittoun, T. (2011). Cultural psychology and psychoanalysis. Pathway to synthesis. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing. Salvatore, S., & Freda, M. F. (2011). Affect, unconscious and sensemaking: A psychodynamic, semiotic and dialogic model. New Ideas in Psychology, 29, 119–135. Sebeok, T. A. (1986). I think I am a verb. More contributions to the doctrine of signs. New York: Plenum. Sokol Chang, R. (Ed.) (2009). Relating to enviroments. A new look at umwelt. A volume in Advances in Cultural Psychology. J. Valsiner (Series Ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publising. Uexküll, J. von (1926). Theoretical biology. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc. Uexküll, J. von (1934/1957). A stroll through the world of animals and men: A picture book of invisible worlds. In C. Schiller (Ed.), Instinctive behavior: The development of a modern concept (pp. 5–80). New York, NY: International Universities Press. Valsiner, J. (2001). Cultural developmental psychology of affective process. Invited Lecture at the 15. Tagung der Fachgruppe Entwicklungpsychologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie, Postdam, September, 5. Valsiner, J. (2007). Culture in minds and societies. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Valsiner, J. (2008). The social and the cultural: Where do they meet? In Sugiman, T., Gergen, K. J., Wagner, W., & Yamada, Y. (Eds.), Meaning in action. Constructions, narratives and representations. Tokyo: Springer. Weizsäcker, V. von. (1967). Pathosophie. Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

SECTION III GENERALIZED MULTIPLICITY

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CHAPTER 8

SUSTAINING IDENTITY CHANGE THROUGH THE USE OF SYMBOLIC RESOURCES The Case of an Immigrant Living in Greece Irini Kadianaki University of Cyprus

ABSTRACT This article examines processes of identity change involved in the transition of immigration through the case of Celia, a Colombian immigrant living in Greece. It begins by examining the processes of identity change that emerge as Celia encounters a new social environment and also comes into contact with a changing home community environment. Following her relocation, Celia had to deal with the stigmatization of her national identity by the Greek society, with an ambivalent encounter with a Greek identity, with the devaluation of herself in the eyes of her home community and with the inclusion to a new Latina identity. The analysis shows how Celia assisted these processes of self-change and development by relying on culture and actively employing

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 195–218 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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196    I. KADIANAKI cultural elements as symbolic resources. Specifically, it focuses on the ways that poetry and dancing were used in different ways by Celia in her efforts to maintain a proud national identity facing stigma, to reposition herself towards her home community and to engage in self-transformation in the Greek environment. Celia’s case study analysis presents a complex picture of the processes involved in experiencing and managing self-change following immigration; processes that, as it will be suggested, should be studied and understood in their particular socio-cultural contexts, where they take place. This systemic understanding of how processes of personal sense-making are carried out and the social conditions under and through which they do so, is in line with a developing and much needed idiographic approach to the study of psychological phenomena.

INTRODUCTION The phenomenon of migration is not new. Human mobility is reported since the beginning of recorded history. People migrate in search of better life-conditions or of entertainment, as a result of war or love, because of catastrophes or out of curiosity for strange lands and peoples. Today, it is estimated that the number of people living in countries other than the ones they were born reaches and probably exceeds the 190 million worldwide (UNDP, 2009). Despite the common conditions that may force and/or motivate individuals or groups of people to migrate (i.e., economic, political etc), each migration is unique and can be studied as a single case: specific life-events and social conditions shape each life-trajectory in distinct ways (Kadianaki, 2009). Beyond the reasons that make people move, the effects of this movement for both those who move and those who receive them, has been the topic of growing research in psychology and related disciplines (Chryssochoou, 2004). Research presented here forms part of a larger study that focused on the impact that movement had for the identity of immigrants living in Greece. In this article I present the case study of Celia, a Colombian woman living in Greece and I focus on two issues: 1. The identity challenges that Celia faced following her relocation 2. The ways that she responded to these challenges by using socio-cultural resources, such as poetry and dancing. To approach these issues I rely on theoretical frameworks that emphasize the role of the encounter with social others in transforming identity and that conceptualize culture as a means of mediating these transformations. The arguments I wish to make are that: (1) identity challenges induced by immigration are complexly intertwined with the social contexts that immigrants relate to and with the particularities of their personal life-stories; and (2) That the processes of responding to these challenges depend on their life-histories and are embedded in particular socio-cultural contexts.

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THEORETICAL APPROACH Immigration and Self-Change The impact of moving national borders to identity is increasingly documented by research of social-psychological orientation. Whether a tourist, an immigrant, a refugee or an international student (e.g., Gillespie, 2006; Hale & Abreu, 2010; Kadianaki, 2014; Märtsin, 2009; O’Sullivan-Lago, Abreu & Burgess, 2008) the encounter with a new social milieu triggers changes on how movers perceive and define themselves in relation to different social others. They engage in dynamic identity negotiation where the divide between self and other is sometimes maintained strongly or collapses abruptly (Gillespie, Kadianaki, & O’ Sullivan-Lago, 2012; O’Sullivan-Lago, 2011). In encountering new others, movers’ cultural identity can become particularly prominent in relation to a culturally different social other (Hale & Abreu, 2010). Ethnic identity also becomes a matter of negotiation (Kadianaki, 2010a; Verkuyten, 2005; Yarbrough, 2010): movers experience the lack of knowledge that locals have with regards to their ethnicity (Märtsin, 2009), they negotiate their identification with the residence society ethnic membership or conceal their ethnicity because of the stigma it carries in the new context. Beyond dealing with their ethnicity, those who move have to deal with imposed social categories: being identified as a rich tourist when one wants to be seen as an authentic experience-seeking traveller (Gillespie, 2006) or being an immigrant or an asylum seeker, categories which are furnished with stigmatising social representations of poverty, misery or criminality (O’Sullivan-Lago et al., 2008; Kadianaki, 2014). At the same time, direct, indirect or even imaginative contact with the home community appears to have a simultaneous (but often overlooked in the literature) impact on the self following relocation (Bhatia & Ram, 2001). While movers leave their countries, they don’t cease to belong in new ways in the social environment they left behind. Literature examining contact with the home country has focused mostly on the repatriation of refugees, emphasizing the major disillusions that they experience following the collapse of idealistic and mythologised images of the home country that they created during exile. In their encounters with their communities of origin, returnees have to deal with being perceived as “foreigners,” “strangers” and “outsiders” (Ghanem, 2003; Zarzosa, 1998; Habib, 1996; Graham & Khosravi, 1997). The impact of relocation on the self is shown to persist for generations to come. Research on children of immigrants demonstrates the tensions that arise in negotiating national and residence identities (e.g., Aveling & Gillespie, 2008; Ali & Sonn, 2010; Verkuyten & De Wolf, 2002).

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This body of research documents the multiple processes of self-change experienced by people because of their movement into new social contexts. As it will be emphasized in the following section, these processes of selfchange are conceptualised as arising from social encounters of immigrants living in Greece with both the Greek society and their communities of origin. Self-changes will thus be understood as socially guided and situated. The Social Constitution of the Self The theoretical tradition that this work is based upon emphasizes the role of the social environment and social interaction in self-constitution, development and transformation. From the early work of Piaget (1932) to the generations of research that followed it (Doise & Mugny, 1984; Perret-Clermont, 1980; Psaltis & Duveen, 2006), we can identify the importance of social relations in promoting socio-cognitive development. This idea is also prevalent in Vygotsky’s theorisation of the Zone of Proximal Development (1978) but echoes in other parts of his work as well. Vygotsky’s work and its development have emphasized the structural role of the social environment in the constitution of thought (Wertsch, 1985). Authors have also developed his ideas on semiotic mediation, showing how sociocultural means mediate people’s thoughts, feelings and actions (Valsiner, 1998; Zittoun, 2006), an idea particularly relevant to the present analysis, as I will subsequently explain. Further, authors based on Mead’s work (1934) show that the capacity to reflect upon one’s actions and thoughts arises because of participation in the social world. Gillespie (2006) empirically shows how individuals self-reflect by taking the perspective of the other towards the self. This perspective-taking becomes possible through the exchange of social positions in the social world (Gillespie, 2006; 2007). Finally, authors based on the theory of social representations (Moscovici, 1961/2008) have recognised the relationship between self and other as the basis of “selfhood, knowledge and social life” (Jovchelovitch, 2007, p. 109) and have paid attention to the impact of social representations on identity construction (Duveen, 2001). Others’ representations of the self are shown to have a profound impact on how one defines and transforms the self (Howarth, 2002a). Building upon this theoretical tradition, this project understands selfchanges as being instigated by the particular social context where they happen: Celia, as it will be shown, encounters social representations related to her ethnic identity that are particular of the Greek social context; she negotiates her relation to the Greek identity and its particularities and relates to the Latino ethnic identity because of her participation in a specific Latin-American community in Athens. Thus, her self-changes are intimately

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related to the Greek social context and it is within this context that they should be studied and understood. Culture Mediating Self-Change Further to understanding changes to self as socially situated, I will conceptualise the means to cope with these changes as being of socio-cultural nature as well. The framework of symbolic resources (Zittoun, 2006) is used here to understand the ways that culture can assist the process of selfchange. This theoretical framework was formulated to account for issues of psychological change and development. It focuses on understanding how people support psychological change by engaging creatively with their socio-cultural milieu through the use of cultural elements, such as novels, films or songs. The notion of symbolic resource emerges from the Vygotskian tradition (Vygotsky & Luria, 1994) and is line with a recent socio-cultural approach in psychology (Bruner, 1990; Cole, 1996; Valsiner, 2000). It draws on the Vygotskian notion of the sign that mediates the relationship of people with the mind (e.g., tying a knot to help one remember something). Cultural elements are conceptualised as being made out of semiotic units (signs and symbols), which carry meanings of social origin. People use these semiotic devices in their meaning-making processes, in their thinking, feeling and acting in the social world; namely they use them as resources. As such, this framework seeks to understand the ways culture is used by people creatively, namely in ways that facilitate construction of new meanings, negotiation of old ones and movement towards the future. Such elements of culture have been shown to sustain for example peoples’ transition to parenthood and students’ transition to university (Zittoun, 2004; 2006). Zittoun shows how these cultural elements can be used for mediating the relationship with (1) one’s self and inner feelings; (2) social others, by creating, understanding and transforming social relationships; and (3) social reality, by facilitating understanding of the social world and positioning of the self in it. The framework also enables examination of the ways that these elements can provide time orientation (allowing for self-continuity between past and future) and also mediate at different levels of the experience of an individual: from immediate embodied perceptions to higher level of commitments and ideologies (Valsiner, 2001, 2003). Through the case of Celia presented here, I will focus on the uses of cultural elements in mediating the relationship with herself and facilitating her understanding and positioning in the social world following the immigration transition. As such, the analysis aims to support the conceptualization of the socio-cultural world not as hindering the stability of identity

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but as offering possibilities for identity transformation and development (Valsiner & Salvatore, 2012, this volume). Specifically, through the theoretical frameworks used I aim to examine the socially-situated processes of identity transformation and diversification following relocation and the ways that these processes are creatively supported by people through their active use of elements picked up from their socio-cultural milieu. METHODS: A CASE STUDY APPROACH The case study presented here comes from a corpus of data collected by the author between August 2007 and April 2008 in Athens, Greece. The project followed qualitative methodology, including private in-depth interviews, group discussions and ethnographic observation in three immigrant communities, in which I held an administrative and organizational post voluntarily during the research period. Participants (N = 32) came from a variety of countries, mainly from South America and the African continent and had been living in Athens between the last 2–30 years. They were recruited through the three immigrant communities and snowballing technique. Findings produced from analysis of data across participants is presented elsewhere (see Gillespie et al., 2012; Kadianaki, 2014). Here I chose to present a case study, in order to provide a holistic, profound and meaningful understanding of the phenomenon under study (Yin, 2003). This means: (1) offering a thorough examination of a life-story of a particular individual as it presented and understood from her own personal perspective; and (2) Promoting contextualized understanding of psychological phenomena: how an individual perceives and negotiates the particular social contexts she finds herself into. Specifically, I argue that a case study approach here enables understanding of Celia’s processes in experiencing and managing self-change following relocation, in relation to her particular life-story as it evolves in the social contexts she relates with. My intention in presenting a case study is to bring back the idiographic study of the individual experience, which has been lost in dominant approaches in the field, due to its perceived un-scientific nature. As Salvatore and Valsiner (2008, p. 11) put it: “Each of us can tell our life story—and as it is uniquely ours, it is the reality of the psychological phenomena. At the beginning of the twenty-first century such idiographic depiction might be accepted as a realm for mystique left for poets, artists and other undisciplined meaning-makers, while the “real science” marches on under the banner of applicability of averages to individual cases.” Human knowledge and expertise start from and advance through the study of the particular and specific, rather than the abstract and the generalized (Cornish, 2004; Valsiner, 1986). Idiographic approaches to the study of psychological phenomena are

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enlightening when the researcher wants to understand how individual processes are carried out and under which conditions they take place, instead of identifying similarities between individuals based on certain isolated characteristics (Rosa, 2008). They study the individual as a system which is situated within a structural and temporal context (Valsiner, 1986). Despite their value in knowledge production, one of the major criticisms aimed at idiographic approaches is their limitation in generalisability, in providing us with general laws that apply to all individuals (Hermans, 1988). Namely: how the knowledge produced from one case study can be useful in understanding similar psychological phenomena, taking place in different contexts. In idiographic approaches knowledge produced from a case study is expected to be applied and tested into another case and then to another and so on (Allport, 1962) and the generalized hypotheses produced by each application are expected to develop and enrich the theoretical models used. Thus, the case study presented here aims at theoretical generalization (Walton, 1992): it aims at contributing to the development and refinement of the theoretical framework of symbolic resources by applying it to the context of immigrants’ experiences. Further, as I explain in the conclusive section, the approach presented here responds to certain limitations in the literature examining immigrant experiences and provides an essentially social-psychological view of processes of change. The reason for choosing the case of Celia for presentation here is the increased familiarity I have developed with her through four repeated interviews, one group discussion and several informal gatherings (parties, house and community gatherings) that took place between October 2007 and April 2008. Interviews were held in Spanish language. Analysis of the material was conducted in the original language and the data used from the presentations were translated in English for presentations purposes. Transcription conventions can be found at the end of the article. The interview questions were structured along a transversal and chronological axis (Zittoun, 2006). The chronological involved asking Celia for a narration of different phases of her life: from her childhood up to the moment of the interview, including experiences of her life prior to immigration, important life-events leading to immigration, representations from Greece and experiences after immigration and her future plans. The transversal examined issues of her encounters with members of the Greek society and her home country community and particularly focused on examination of cultural elements she used and the role they had in her dealing with “rupturing” experiences induced by her immigration. During the focus group discussion I was interested in identifying interpersonal dynamics in negotiating the experiences related to immigration. The group discussion was made with Celia and two of her friends: a “real group,”

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in methodological terms (Flick, 2009). The familiarity between participants and their history as friends, permits more in-depth examination of certain issues of interest (Howarth, 2002b). During the discussion I used quotations from other participants to trigger the conversation. These quotations referred to issues that other participants encountered as most challenging following their immigration. All names of participants have been changed. Presenting the Case: A Few Words about Celia Celia, 54 years old at the time of our interview, came to Greece in 1977 with her Greek husband. He, a merchant based in the United States met Celia when travelling to Colombia for business reasons. Soon they decided to get married and after that she moved to the United States with him, leaving home for the first time. There, surrounded by his Greek friends and immersed in new experiences, she started writing about her life in a notebook entitled: “Impressions of strange people in a strange land.” After giving birth to her first daughter in the United States and staying there for five years, they had to urgently move to Greece motivated by family reasons of her husband. For Celia, who never expected that they would move permanently to Greece, this event was disrupting and brought many changes in her life. Soon after arrival she experienced major rejection from her husband’s family, who made her feel like an unwanted foreigner that was not and could not be part of their family. Following the rejection of the family, Celia experienced the exclusion and stigmatization of the wider social context. As many other women coming from South-America reported, Celia felt that her nationality was associated with drugs, trafficking, prostitution and diminishing representations of the third world. These reactions, together with her husband’s devotion in his family and work and his growing emotional distance from her, made Celia describe her life in Greece along with feelings of loneliness and exclusion. Her life-narration of these bleak years was illuminated by the birth of her second daughter and by the description of finding ASCLAYE,1 the Latin-American association of which she became an active member in the following years. She talked enthusiastically about creating choreographies for the community’s celebrations and for frequently writing poems about the community and its actions, which were read aloud in front of the members. Unfortunately, life had more disappointments for Celia, when her husband died in 1995. Following this major life-disruption, Celia managed to slowly get back to her everyday routine. She has been working in their family business since then, brought up her children and now helps with the upbringing of her grandchildren. She keeps being a member of the LatinAmerican community, sometimes more actively than others. She has visited

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her home country a few times and has experienced alienation with both the people and the country itself. Along with other participants, she mentioned perceiving her family and friends there as happier and more progressed in their lives than she was and that they made her feel as if they didn’t think of her life in Greece as worthwhile. Celia’s response to these feelings were centered around her activities of dancing and writing poetry; as I will show subsequently, her use of these cultural elements had a major role in the negotiation of her powerful experiences of relocation and specifically in dealing with self-change. Before the analysis of her cultural resources, I will examine in more detail the challenges that Celia faced in encountering the Greek society and her home community with regards to her identity. CHALLENGES TO THE SELF FOLLOWING RELOCATION Relocation triggered a number of self-changes processes for Celia: denying or acquiring new self concepts; trying to understand how others perceive her and dealing with their perspectives. In this section I will examine the ways that Celia’s identity changed in her encounters with the Greek society and her home community and the ways she negotiated a Greek identity and a broader Latin-American identity after immigrating. Encountering the Greek Society: Stigmatisation of Ethnic Identity Celia, as other participants of South American origin, when asked how they thought they were perceived by the Greek society, they talked about being seen as prostitutes, involved in the drug business and coming from poor and underdeveloped countries. Celia, in a group discussion with Elvira and Maria, expressed this: Celia: no here they are based on one thing, (pause) they say, the Cubans are prostitutes, or the Dominicans the same, from Colombia they say, the nicest women are from Colombia, (pause)some of them, no, Colombia is fucked, is only drugs These powerful and stigmatizing perspectives of the Greek society were discussed very frequently among participants from South-America and caused considerable frustration and tension. Celia felt that, in the eyes of the Greek society, her country was stripped off its rich culture, its beauties and its history and was diminished to representations of poverty, drug trafficking and prostitution. Celia, through her poetry, as it will be shown in

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the next section, tried to restore justice about her country and also position herself as a proud Colombian in reaction to stigma. Not Being Greek The experience of exclusion from the Greek society was a theme identified as common to most of participants in this research project. Celia, married to a Greek citizen received this rejection and exclusion from the inner circle of the Greek family. She referred to the devaluation of herself and the exclusion from a Greek identity, when she quoted her mother in law: Celia: she said ‘you are not my blood, you are a foreigner, foreigner’! she would call me, ‘you are nothing, you are not from here’! Celia encountered powerful representations of Greek nationality, which constrained the field of self-positions that she could assume. The intense stigmatization that she encountered from the wider Greek society made Celia to sharply differentiate herself from the Greek identity and contrast it with her national one. In many instances during our interviews she referred to: “You as Greeks and me as Colombian.” Beyond the social constrains imposed in assuming a Greek identity, Celia denied identification with the Greek identity herself. She explained that claiming a Greek identity would raise issues of loyalty to her Colombian identity. Elsewhere, I have quoted her (Kadianaki, 2010b) as she directly confronts a fellow South-American when he claims a Greek identity. In her eyes, the Colombian identity is not changeable, it is something she was born with and will be until she dies. Denying one’s nationality means denying one’s land and one’s mother, as she emphatically stated. Celia mentioned that she can acquire a Greek nationality, because of her marriage to a Greek citizen, but calling herself Greek would be perceived as a betrayal to her roots and her mother-land. Presenting self and other as essentially different from birth (Gillespie et al., 2012) allows her to stabilize her position as Colombian and reject the Greek identity. Encountering the Home Community Celia kept in touch with her home community and had the chance to visit her hometown a few times. Describing these occasions, she talked about feeling alienated from her family: having grown up apart from each other since she left, she felt that there was no place for her among them, if she

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ever decided to return. They have been accustomed to a life without each other and this has resulted in estrangement, as she said: “They don’t know my character and I don’t know theirs.” During the group discussion with her friends Elvira from Santo Doming and Maria, from Colombia she said: Celia: also, they [her family] ask me ‘why do you want to stay there? Why? Here [in Colombia] you have your house, you have your circle of friends, and it is different’ {IK: hmm} and my response was, because what I have has been my own effort Elvira: hmm, exactly Celia: this is what counts for me (pause) ‘ah, you always with your things’ IK: yes always with your things And after a while she also added: Celia: my brother also said, if you have stayed you would be able to finish your degree, you would be a professional like us. Maria: but this was your fate at the end Celia: and I said, that (pause) M: you have your family and that also I wrote poetry and (inaudible) I did these things. The way that this encounter challenges Celia’s identity is by presenting her immigration as not valuable and her achievements as trivial comparing to the ones she could have, had she stayed in Colombia. Elsewhere, I have provided a detailed analysis of this excerpt with regards to the ways that the perspective of the other, here, Celia’s family, is perceived and negotiated through meaning structures used in her discourse (Kadianaki, 2014). I have suggested that a way Celia responds to this diminishing perspective of her family about herself is by compensating: she presents what she thinks are worthwhile achievements. This is writing poetry, which as she mentioned was inspired by her move first to the US and then to Greece; an activity she does not believe she would have engaged with, if she had stayed at home. How poetry sustained her self-changes will become evident subsequently. Becoming Latin-American in Greece: Inclusion to a Broader Identity Upon finding ASCLAYE and becoming an active member of the community, Celia, together with other members, talked about socializing with people they were “alike,” showing and promoting their national and ethnic

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culture through events and celebrations. Several cultural events of ASCLAYE were indeed a celebration of national symbols from all the countries-members, ranging from flags and pictures to food and music. Each country-group was given time slot to present its traditional dances and stands to sell their food during festivities. These events paid tribute to each country’s particularities while at the same time they celebrated the commonalities of the Latin-American culture. It is for these reasons that other participants like Celia talked about realizing their Latin-American identity and actually becoming proud of it while being in Greece and particularly when they became members of ASCLAYE. The coexistence of different nationalities under the same umbrella inspired Celia to learn more about the history of these countries and to feel part of the Latino continent. Celia appeared to expand her national identity to include people with similar but also different characteristics. It is interesting to note that this broader Latin-American identity that Celia acquired in ASCLAYE was frequently the position from which she and fellow Latin-Americans encountered the Greek society (i.e., “They think that all Latinas are prostitutes”) and from which she dealt with the stigma (i.e., “We, Latin-Americans have a rich culture to show to the Greeks”). Celia spoke from the position of “us” as Latin Americans towards “you” the Greeks, indicating a larger social group that encountered the national majority. ASCLAYE had the role of providing a just representation of the Latin-American culture in the Greek environment, correcting the misconceptions of Latin-Americans referred to above and gaining the respect of the Greek society. Celia was one of the members who actively tried to reinforce the inclusion into this broader identity for her and the members of ASCLAYE and she did so by using poetry and dancing. Encountering the Other and Re-Positioning the Self To sum up, Celia, following her relocation encountered different perceptions of herself in the eyes of her home community and the Greek society. These were largely stigmatizing and devaluing. Her family devalued her immigration and saw her as not having progressed. At the same time she experienced an alienation from the home community context. Being married to a Greek citizen “confronted” her with a Greek identity. The Greek family made her feel excluded from this identity but she also chose to exclude herself from it, seeing it as an issue of loyalty to her nationality. Celia, upon entering the community of Latin-Americans in Greece appeared, together with other members, to acquire the identity of Latina. Next section will discuss how through her poetry and dancing Celia sought to sustain a proud Colombian identity and to reinforce a Latina identity, thus responding to the stigmatization of the Greek society and relating in new ways to

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her origins. She also sustained the identity of a poet and a dancer responding to the disrupting perspective of herself in the eyes of her family. SUSTAINING SELF-CHANGE THROUGH SYMBOLIC RESOURCES Writing Poetry as a Symbolic Resource Poems about Colombia Celia started writing poetry since she left her country and gradually writing became more prominent in her life, especially after her husband’s death. She referred to poetry as a ‘refuge’ in her life. She wrote about her emotions and thoughts, about friendships and relationships, about her country and about the community of ASCLAYE. Celia’s writings about her country seemed to be a celebration of national and cultural symbols. They were written with different motivations, and importantly, they had an audience: they were usually composed with a view of being presented in front of an audience in ASCLAYE, as a tribute to Colombia. One of these writings referred to Colombia: For my Colombia, Colombia, healthy, clean and productive land, you take care of the livelihood of those who live for you, Colombia, let me tell you that I miss you, I miss your honest people, who fight still without borders, because you have been usurped by foreign hands, looking for justice, so that you can give justice to your own people. Colombia, I miss you and when I am sad, I feel you with my imagination in order to handle the absence, (inaudible) in my mind, your beautiful dances, your green meadows, your happy rivers, and your sonorous seas, your high mountains flow forming springs of sweet heights. Colombia, happy and festive, you tangle up your cry with proud dances, your captive soul, your sacred camps which have been violated by ignorant hands that drag the stained poverty. Being cheated only by promises, so that the ambitious man can fill his chest. And for this reason they shout that you are bad and ‘cocained’ but they never realize that in their soul they carry the lie that will betray them. Colombia, maltreated and suffering, destroyed pride, of distress its filled, of anger and resentment, your agony and pain. They have revealed without you realizing that this open wound will never be treated. My homeland, and dark torture, my chest is inched and my fight spirit is raised, when a stranger maliciously wants to humiliate you, my tongue can’t stand, and with its poisonous arm it stands on guard to defend your honor, and a desire for love and your prosperity. I ask God, the king of the skies, that he falls in your land. Colombia, your race is a mixture of the valiant Indio, the happiness of the warm Caribbean and the slavery of the blacks, but all united, we enjoy the ‘cumbia’, raising the ‘joropo’, playing the ‘bambuco’ and throwing

208    I. KADIANAKI ‘agua vena’. Colombia my homeland, with shameless voice I shout that you will never be destroyed!

Celia explained the motivation of this writing: Celia: look, this poem was for my country (pause) I wrote it with a lot of sadness, when we were at the time when they were criticizing Colombia for the drugs, the cocaine dealers and the prostitutes that it is a third world country and it made me very sad that, so it is when I wrote that. Through this writing Celia sustains her self-change in a number of ways. First, she responds to the stigmatization of her national identity. By raising a number of powerful images and symbols associated with both the physical and the cultural aspects of her country, Celia celebrates the beauties of Colombia against the stigma of the Greek society. She expresses her wish to protect and defend a country that has been disrespected and maltreated and by doing so she symbolically defends her stigmatised nationality in the Greek society. As she says, the poem was inspired by and acted as a response to the harsh criticism of Colombia, while she was in Greece. This highly emotional tribute also enables Celia to “furnish” her personal world with all her familiar symbols in a social world where other than her own, national symbols are ‘banally’ available (Billig, 1995). This writing thus positions her as a Colombian and defends her against stigma. Importantly, it does so in a specific social context. The poem is presented in the association of Latinos and in this presence of others, Celia feels like representing her country. Poems about ASCLAYE Since the beginning of her involvement with ASCLAYE, Celia was inspired to write about and for it. Her poems were tributes to ASCLAYE. They talked about the character and the importance of the association in its members’ lives. Sometimes they have humorous additions or comments about the fights and the reconciliations that have taken place among its members. In fact, a couple of Celia’s poems were created for supporting the function of the association in times of difficulty and disruption. As she explained, there was a time when women were questioning their participation in ASCLAYE and there were a lot of fights. She decided to write a tribute then:

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Celia: ASCLAYE, to (inaudible) Latino where my emotional sufferings I come to unload, and like this, the absence of my country to be able to forget, only you with passion can take care of what, without bad intentions they want to take away from me, the desire (inaudible) my songs to whisper and my dances to (inaudible) ASCLAYE, when I met you, I cried from happiness, and with my sisters my customs I remembered and the echo of my language I appreciated and my folklore I enjoyed, as in my land, maybe, I won’t return, the origin Indio of my children I offer to you. This tribute is informative of how Celia sees the association and its function and the way she wants to inspire the other members to see it. In short, ASCLAYE is seen as a place (1) to unload emotional sufferings; (2) to forget the absence of one’s country by singing and dancing one’s songs; (3) to trust the continuation of the traditions and customs to the next generation; and (4) to enjoy and appreciate her origins. In other tribute Celia refers to the union that ASCLAYE offers: Celia: { . . . } because the white, the black, the nice, the ugly, the fat, the thin, the tall, the short, the young, the old, the rich, the poor, ASCLAYE gathers them ASCLAYE is union, ASCLAYE is race, ASCLAYE is folklore, ASCLAYE is Latin- America in Greece. It is interesting to see how an association in Celia’s words becomes an entity of abstract senses, such as folklore and race and encompasses finally a whole ethnic region. By using poetry Celia supports ASCLAYE and its meaning in her own life, allowing her to collectively resist discrimination and to come closer to her own ‘stuff’. Sustaining ASCLAYE through her writings allows her to sustain a new proud and positive identity: that of Latina. The poem celebrates the union of races, and as such supports the inclusion into the broader identity of Latina. At the same time writing for ASCLAYE allows Celia to respond to the identity changes induced in her encounters with her home country: namely, the fact that she has not achieved anything special in Greece. By writing poems, Celia becomes a writer, a poet. She has the chance to demonstrate her creative skill to the members of the association, among whom she is acknowledged as a person who is talented in writing, something mentioned repeatedly during our discussions. This way, Celia’s writing is socially appreciated and reinforced and Celia herself acquires a new social position—that of the writer. Therefore, the association and creative writing are interlinked

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in a circular way. Celia uses poetry as a symbolic resource to assist the space of the association, which in turn reinforces her creativity to write poetry. To sum up, Celia’s creative writing enabled her to defend a stigmatised national identity and position herself as a proud Colombian in Greece, while it also sustained a transformation of her identity as a writer and her inclusion to a Latina identity. Dancing as a Symbolic Resource Celia talked about dancing with great excitement. She took up traditional Latin American and especially Colombian dancing when she first got in touch with the newly formed ASCLAYE. Since then has been dancing in events organised there and has created her own choreographies with traditional costumes. Her performances became known outside the borders of the association and she also participated in events of the Colombian embassy. Some performances were also organised in associations in places around Greece. Further, Celia’s competence in dancing served her for giving classes to interested students outside the association. Celia showed me photographs of dance performances and in a couple of our meetings she put on music and showed me her favourite choreographies. When I asked about her favourite dance, she explained: Celia: (pause) it is called ‘poro’, it is a Colombian dance IK: and why is it important [for you]? Celia: because it would pierce me (pause) I would feel more Colombian with (pause) this dance, because I would feel I could move my body, I would feel this need to make the steps that I (pause) I would create my own steps! The influence and significance that dancing had in Celia’s life is illustrated clearly in her words: she experienced intense creativity and came closer to her national identity. She spent a great deal of her time planning the choreographies for dance events in the association and she emphasised the importance of these events in promoting each country’s culture. Preparing the choreographies inspired her, as she explained: Celia: { . . . } so, this curiosity started to awaken in me, why do they dance the ‘malapete’? Where does it come from? Why is it the ‘cumbia’? where does it come from? Who brought it?! And why was it called ‘cumbia’? IK: So, was it an interest that arose suddenly?

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Celia: { . . . } Why did this interest arise? Because maybe I was lacking my stuff, because if I were in Colombia, I wouldn’t do that, surely not and I have discussed this with other friends and my friends say the same, I wouldn’t do it (pause) here it was awakened this artistic feeling and when I went to Colombia and I brought them the photos and I showed them to my brothers { . . . } So, well, this is where this was awakened in me and then the Mexicans started arriving and the Cubans and the Colombians were jealous because they wanted to do the same and I realised that them, as I, are fighting for (pause) so I have to accept them, there are others that don’t accept them { . . . } so I formed a group, after eh (pause) my husband lived then and I was involved in ASCLAYE and I was writing my little poems and I was doing all these things. Dancing repositions Celia in new ways in Greece: being a dancer becomes part of her identity. Most importantly, she is not simply a dancer, she is a folkloric dancer and this directly relates to her national identity. Celia talks about her involvement with dancing as bringing her closer to her roots and her country. Reflecting on the reasons for dancing she locates them on being away from ‘her stuff’, to which she needs to come closer. Dancing thus makes her feel “more Colombian”: she engages in an embodied experience of her identity which seems to increase with the dance, as opposed to a “decreased” Colombian feeling she has by living in Greece. This identity extends when she sees herself as a representative of Colombian folklore in Greece. At another instance, she described full of emotions an encounter she had with a famous Colombian folklore singer Celia presented herself to the artist by saying that “I establish the folklore of Colombia here in Greece.” Thus, Celia not only sees herself as a Colombian who lives in Greece fighting for a better life, but also as a contributor of the Colombian folklore outside Colombia. Feeling like a representative of Colombian folklore, Celia fortifies herself through dancing against the disruption she experiences in the encounters with her home country, who, as she feels, perceives her achievements in Greece as non-worthwhile. By engaging in traditional dancing, she recreates a link with her home community in different ways. She calls and asks for information, she brings photographs to show to her family. Finally, by organising her choreographies Celia recognises the importance of accepting other women in her group, with whom she shares a fight for a better life in Greece. Subsequently, dancing for ASCLAYE with other women assists the inclusion into the broader Latina identity in Greece.

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GENERAL CONCLUSION: IDENTITY CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SYMBOLIC RESOURCES Immigration instigates a number of identity related processes: immigrants leave a familiar social context behind and encounter a new one. The familiar context gradually appears distant and foreign. Immigrants lose the sense of familiarity with the people and the place and they feel they are seen as foreigners. At the same time, for those left behind, living abroad is represented as living in world of progress and success. For Celia, the encounter with the home community seemed to demand a self-transformation of a certain direction: being rich, educated or showing other visible signs of success. Under the pressure of living up to the expectations of the home community other participants chose to conceal hardships or to avoid visiting their home countries. For Celia, the “self as progressed” that her family expected, was compensated by the “self as an artist-a poet and a dancer,” which she proudly achieved in Greece. The new context that immigrants move into is furnished with social representations related to the phenomenon of immigration in general and representations about specific nationalities of immigrants (Deaux, 2006). Celia and her fellow South-Americans had to deal with representations of drugs, prostitution and underdevelopment in their daily lives in Greece. This encounter with the stigmatising representations is particular to the Greek context and so the disruptions and subsequent repositioning that they bring for Celia can only be understood within this social context. Beyond the encounter with the stigmatising representations of the local society, relocation itself brings about a movement between self-categories, often between categories of nationality. Celia’s movement made certain identity-related questions to emerge: can she acquire a local Greek identity? What are the prerequisites for claiming to be a local? Will this movement to a local identity be permitted by the local society? And will it pose a threat to her identity of origin? While identity category choices seem to shift for people who immigrate, depending on the context (Verkuyten & De Wolf, 2002; Verkuyten, 2005) that they find themselves into (e.g., a local group, their national/ethnic community), there are also mechanisms that inhibit this movement (Gillespie et al., 2012). Celia blocked this movement by representing nationality as something unchangeable, determined by hereditary and kinship factors. She regarded loyalty to one’s origin as a powerful determinant of this movement between national identity categories. The dynamics of movement and its inhibition between categories are often invisible in the literature of acculturation (Bhatia, 2002), where immigrants are presented as making stable, context-independent choices

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between cultural maintenance and contact with new others (e.g., Berry, 1997; 2006). While this repositioning of the self appears as a choice between nationalities, it is also the case that relocation brings about new self positions: the case of Celia shows that in the new social milieu she created and reinforced the possibilities of acquiring and sustaining the identity of a writer and a dancer. The emergence of new self-positions was also demonstrated by the possibility of inclusion to a broader, ethnic identity that was presented to Celia and other South American participants, following their membership in ASCLAYE. Celia’s case shows that movement to a new environment does not only create dilemmas of choices between identity categories but can also present chances for self-transformation that would not be possible otherwise. Immigration thus does not constrain a stable identity but can enable creative transformation arising from diversification. Cultural elements used as symbolic resources appeared to be crucial in sustaining these processes of identity change for Celia. She used cultural elements to create her own symbolic resources, such as poetry and choreographies, which served in promoting her Colombian and Latino culture and in making her reclaim a proud national identity facing stigma. With the assistance of these elements Celia managed to reverse the power asymmetries of the new social milieu: she promotes her culture and feels proud facing a dominating and rejecting majority. Most importantly, cultural elements were used to assist the development of Celia’s identity. She used cultural elements creatively to synthesize her resources and through them to find new links to her nationality: she became Colombian in new ways in Greece. She also became Latina with the assistance of cultural elements that inspired the union of the different nationalities under one umbrella. Cultural elements assisted the development of new self-positions and opened pathways for Celia to move towards the future (see also Kadianaki, 2009), while being connected to her past (Zittoun, 2006). In theoretical terms, building on the tradition of research that recognizes the transformative impact of alterity to the self and on the ideas of semiotic mediation in meaning-making processes, enables us to conceptualise a socially situated model of psychological change and development that goes beyond the particularities of the case I have discussed here. Through this case study, I have suggested that by examining the ways that people think they are perceived by different social others, we can understand the processes through which social contact and social relations penetrate the self and become a psychological reality for them. Instead of measuring the frequency of contact or the form it takes (e.g., direct or indirect), as is frequently done in acculturation and inter-group contact research, we can examine the processes through which contact becomes part of the self

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(Gillespie et al., 2012). Further, instead of reporting the attitudes of immigrants towards acculturation and their choices with regards to home and residence contexts, we can observe how one changes through the contact with the new and the “old” social context and how one sustains these changes actively by relying upon a cultural system. In other words, the idiographic approach permits understanding of processes and not states, and thus gives precedence to heterogeneity and change, aspects which are usually suppressed in the so-called nomothetic approaches (Kadianaki, 2009; Molenaar & Valsiner, 2005). By taking this “individual-socioecological frame of reference” (Valsiner, 1986; 2000) in studying psychological phenomena, we situate the psychological into the social and vice-versa and understand their mutual transformation. The case study used here has tested the application of the theory of symbolic resources into different case, the one that individuals experience when changing social environments, in the context of immigration. As such it has promoted generalisation of the theory into a different context. The focus on particular cultural elements used as resources creates conceptually a diode between psychological interiority and the social environment (Zittoun, 2007) by viewing meaning-making processes as rooted in socio-cultural life. The case study presented here also suggests another dimension to the framework of symbolic resources: that of creation. Individuals are active in using cultural elements but they are also creative in producing cultural elements and enriching the socio-cultural stream. By this, they may also change the socio-cultural environment or envision pathways of change and action. This aspect of creation of symbolic resources remains yet to be theorized. All in all, a framework of creation and use of symbolic resources seeks to provide a view of a complex, dialogical relationship between the individual and the social. It gives a primary emphasis to culture and the ways that it becomes psychologically significant for individuals, assisting their change and development and can extend to theorise the ways that individuals produce and change culture themselves. TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS IK: indicates the author and interviewer. Celia, Elvira, Maria: the pseudonyms of participants. ( ) indicates information about para-verbal, non-verbal behavior. (inaudible) indicates phrases or words that couldn’t be heard in the audio file. [ ] indicates an addition from the author for explanation purposes. ! indicates raised voice/shouting or generally added emphasis of the speaker in the discourse. { . . . } indicates missing text, usually irrelevant to the analysis. ‘‘ indicates an idiomatic phrase used, usually in another language or a switch of the language of the participant.

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NOTE 1. ASCLAYE is an association of Latin-Americans in Athens founded in 1958. Its members are predominantly women coming from a variety of Latin-American countries, married to Greek citizens. They organize cultural events with a view of promoting different aspects of the Latino culture in Greece. They offer classes of Spanish language and of traditional Latin American culture to the public.

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216    I. KADIANAKI Gillespie, A. (2006). Becoming other: From social interaction to self-reflection. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing Inc. Gillespie, A. (2007). Collapsing self/other positions: Identification through differentiation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 46(3), 579–595 Gillespie, A., Kadianaki, I., & O’ Sullivan-Lago, R. (2012). Encountering alterity: Geographic and semantic movements. In J. Valsiner (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology. Oxford University Press. Graham, M., & Khosravi, S. (1997). Home is where you make it: Repatriation and diaspora culture among Iranians in Sweden. Journal of Refugee Studies, 10, 115–133. Habib, N. (1996). The search for home. Journal of Refugee Studies, 9, 96–102. Hale, H., &. Abreu, G. de. (2010). Drawing on the notion of symbolic resources in exploring the development of cultural identities in immigrant transitions. Culture & Psychology, 16(3), 395–415. Hermans, H. J. M. (1988). On the integration of nomothetic and idiographic research methods in the study of personal meaning. Journal of Personality, 56(4), 785–812. Howarth, C. (2002a) Identity in whose eyes? The role of representations in identity construction. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 32(2), 145–162. Howarth, C. (2002b). ‘So, you’re from Brixton?’ The struggle for recognition and esteem in a multicultural community. Ethnicities, 2, 237–260. Jovchelovitch, S. (2007). Knowledge in context: Representations, community, and culture. London: Routledge. Kadianaki, I. (2014), The transformative effects of stigma: Coping strategies as meaning-making efforts for immigrants living in Greece. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 24, 25–138 Kadianaki, I. (2010a). Negotiating immigration through symbolic resources: The case of immigrants living in Greece. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Cambridge, UK. Kadianaki, I. (2010b). Commentary: Making sense of immigrant identity dialogues. Culture & Psychology, 16(3), 437–448. Kadianaki, I. (2009). Dramatic life courses: Migrants in the making. In J. Valsiner, P. C. Molenaar, M. C. Lyra, & N. Chaudhary (Eds.), Dynamic process methodology in the social and developmental sciences (pp. 477–492). New York: Springer. Märtsin, M. (2009). Rupturing otherness: Becoming Estonian in the context of contemporary Britain. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 44, 65–81. Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self & society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist (C. Morris, Ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Molenaar, P. C. M., & Valsiner, J. (2005). How generalization works through the single case: A simple idiographic process analysis of an individual psychotherapy case. International Journal of Idiographic Science, 1, 1–13. Moscovici, S. (1961/2008). Psychoanalysis. Its image and its public. Polity Press. O’ Sullivan-Lago, R. (2011). “I think they’re just the same as us”: Building solidarity across the Self/Other divide. Papers on Social Representations, 20, 3.1–3.27. O’Sullivan-Lago, R., Abreu, G. de., & Burgess, M. (2008). “I am a human being like you”: An identification strategy to maintain continuity in a cultural contact zone. Human Development, 51, 349–367

Sustaining Identity Change Through the Use of Symbolic Resources    217 Perret-Clermont, A. N. (1980). Social interaction and cognitive development in children. London: Academic Press Psaltis, C., & Duveen, G. (2006). Social relations and cognitive development: The influence of conversation types and representations of gender. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 407–430. Rosa, A. (2008). Idiographic science: Explaining or understanding? In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, S. Strout-Yagodzynski, & J. Clegg (Eds.), Yearbook of idiographic science (Vol. 1, pp. 95–104). Rome: Firera & Liuzzo Publishing. Salvatore, S., & Valsiner, J. (2008). Idiographic science on its way: Towards making sense of psychology. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, S. Strout-Yagodzynski, & J. Clegg (Eds.), Yearbook of idiographic science (Vol. 1, pp. 9–19). Rome: Firera & Liuzzo Publishing. UNDP. (2009). Human development report 2009. Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. New York: United Nations Development Programme. Valsiner, J. (1986). The individual subject and scientific psychology. New York: Plenum Press. Valsiner, J. (1998). The guided mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Valsiner, J. (2000). Culture and human development. London: Sage. Valsiner, J. (2001). Process structure of semiotic mediation in human development. Human Development, 44, 84–97. Valsiner, J. (2003). Beyond social representations: A theory of enablement. Papers on Social Representations, 12, 7.1–7.16. Verkuyten, M. (2005). The social psychology of ethnic identity. New York: Psychology Press. Verkuyten, M., & de Wolf, A. (2002). Being, feeling and doing: Discourses and ethnic self-definitions among minority group members. Culture & Psychology, 8, 371–399. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds. and Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Vygotsky, L. S., & Luria, A. R. (1994). Tool and symbol in child development. In R. Van Der Veer & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Vygotsky reader (pp. 99–174). Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Walton, J. (1992). Making the theoretical case. In C. C. Ragin & H. S. Becker (Eds.), What is a case? Exploring the foundations of social inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Yarbrough, R. (2010). Becoming ‘Hispanic’ in the ‘New South’: Central American immigrants’ racialization experiences in Atlanta, GA, USA. GeoJournal. 75, 249–260. Zarzosa, H. (1998). Internal exile, exile and return: a gendered view. Journal of Refugee Studies, 11, 189–198. Zittoun, T. (2004). Symbolic competencies for developmental transitions: The case of the choice of first names. Culture & Psychology, 10, 131–161. Zittoun, T. (2006). Transitions: Development through symbolic resources. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing Inc.

218    I. KADIANAKI Zittoun, T. (2007). The role of symbolic resources in human lives. In J. Valsiner & A. Rosa (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology (pp. 343–361). New York: Cambridge University Press.

CHAPTER 9

NEGOTIATING IDENTITIES IN IMMIGRANT FAMILIES1 Indian Muslim Youth in the United States of America Sujata Sriram Tata Institute of Social Sciences

ABSTRACT This paper presents cases of Indian, American, and Muslim youth in California, which allow for the generalization of themes and issues relevant for immigrants and families of immigrants. Second-generation Indian American Muslim youth were interviewed about their experiences growing up as Muslims within the Indian diaspora in the United States. Aspects of their identity as Indians and Muslims were studied, along with their relationships with the majority community as encountered at school, college and within the neighborhoods in which they lived. It was found that religion played an integral role in the shaping identity; being Muslim was the primary identity definition. Religion was more than just a faith; it was a way of life, and the focal point around which life revolved. The family, the mosque and associations such as the Muslim Students’ Association played a vital part in helping youth define

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 219–249 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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220    S. SRIRAM and reinforce the meaning and importance of being Muslim in the United States of America. The youth defined themselves as American Muslims first, and then as being of Indian origin, indicating that while ethnic origin contributed to defining identity, it was less imperative than religion. The crucial role played by religion was identified in the nature of social interactions and in the choice of marriage partners, both of which were determined by religion. A hybrid American Muslim identity was seen in the youth.

Ethnographic data can provide a rich source particular data about individuals and communities that can be used for generalization. Ethnographic data of migrant families can yield useful data on how families and children and youth in these migrant families construct relevant identities, keeping in mind the imperatives of both the nation of origin, and the host country. The paper here provides cases of migrant Muslim families from India living in Southern California, providing data on the lived experience of being a ‘doubled minority’—a minority within a minority. Agar (2006) in his essay on “real ethnography” indicates that when ethnography subscribes to the logic of being iterative, recursive and lends itself to abductive generalization; it comes within the purview of being real ethnography. It is possible to examine case data and thick descriptions emanating from the cases and develop themes that reflect universality in particulars. Ethnography allows for understanding lived experiences of people to allow for an examination of how meaning making takes place in particular social contexts. Literature on the Indian diaspora seldom examines the issues confronted by immigrants from the minority religious groups from India. There is scant evidence on what confronts Indian migrants from religious backgrounds other than Hinduism. I attempt here to look at what Muslim families and youth encounter in the United States of America, given the juxtaposition of ethnicity and religion in everyday life. The relative salience of both has to be estimated and evaluated in the complex process of identity construction. THE INDIAN DIASPORA The migration of people from the Indian sub-continent to the United States of America has been described as coming in waves, with the first wave occurring in the early part of the twentieth century consisting mainly of farmers from the state of Punjab, in un-divided India, coming to California and working in the farm and agriculture sectors. Many of these early Punjabi migrants married Mexican women and were assimilated into American society (Leonard, 1992). The moratorium on migration from Asia meant that the next wave of migration from India occurred only after the passing in 1965 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which allowed a movement of a

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different kind of migrants from India (Bhalla, 2006; Bhatia, 2007; Kurien, 2005; Sahay, 2009). The post-1965 wave of migration from India resulted in the movement of middle-class, educated individuals coming to the United States for better opportunities for education and work. The growth of the IT sector in Silicon Valley further facilitated the move of Indians who worked in the software industry. Many of the individuals who came to the United States for education or work, eventually settled. Many of them married in India and brought their spouses back to the United States with them (Sheth, 2001). At about the same time there was the movement of the Indian diaspora from parts of Africa and the West Indies, to the United Kingdom, and thence to the United States of America. The Indian Americans today represent the fastest growing legal migrant population in the United States of America. According to the Immigration and Naturalization Services in the United States, there were in 2005, 2.3 million Indians, indicating a two-fold increase from 1990 (Sahay, 2009). They are the third largest Asian American ethnic minority group, out-numbered only by the Chinese Americans and the Filipinos. The Indian Americans now have a nomenclature in the Census as Asian Indian, a term that is not universally appealing to the community. The term Asian Indian was used to differentiate and distinguish from American Indian, the term sometimes used to refer to the Native American populations. While the early migrants from India settled in the East Coast, the states with the largest Indian American populations today are found in the states of California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois, living in mainly urban centers. MUSLIMS AND INDIAN MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA It is difficult to have an accurate estimate of the number of Muslims in the United States. This is because the Census of the United States of America does not have a category for religion in the census form, unlike countries like Canada. While it is possible to determine the ethnicity of an individual, it is more difficult to ascertain the religious beliefs. While it is believed that the Indian diaspora consists of Hindus, who are the most visible part of the Indian diasporic community, there is a representation of Indians from other religious groups as well. There are Indian Muslims, Christians and Parsis as well, along with other religious minorities, who make up the Indian diaspora. About 10% of the first wave of Indian migrants from the Punjab at the end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century was estimated to be Muslim (Mohammad-Arif, 2002). According to data from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the number of

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Muslims in the United States of America in 2007 is about 2.54 million (Pew Research Center, 2007, 2009). This figure is an approximation, arrived at from a survey done with 1050 Muslims, and with available data from the Census Bureau on nationality and place of origin. The actual figure of Muslims may be much higher. Bagby, Perl, and Froehle, authors of The Mosque Study Project (2001) put the number of Muslims in the United States at between 6 and 7 million. Islam has been referred to as the fastest growing religion in the United States, and the number of followers of Islam will only be surpassed by the adherents of Christianity (Leonard, 2003). According to data from the Pew Forum, most of the Muslims in the United States were born in other countries. The data shows that a large proportion of Muslim immigrants came from Arab countries such as Iran, followed by Muslim populations from South Asia. There is a discrepancy between data from the Pew Study about ethnicity and the data from Bagby, Perl, and Froehle in the Mosque Study Project (2001), who put the number of Muslims from South Asia, which consists of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at about 33% of the total Muslim population, followed by 30% African American and 25% Arabs. The South Asian Muslim population consists more of people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. The Pew Study puts the number of South Asian Muslims from India at about 4% of the total Indian population. Kawaja (2001), using data from India Abroad, the newspaper of the Indian community in the United States, puts the figures for 2001 at a higher estimate, consisting of about 100000 individuals and 10% of the Indian diaspora. Indian Muslims in the United States have the distinction of being a ‘doubled’ minority—a minority within a minority. Unlike immigrants from other parts of South Asia such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the Arab countries, Muslims from India already have the experience of being a minority in larger social, cultural and political arenas. In India, the Muslim identity has been the means of reassertion of the community, articulating their differences from the Hindu majority (Sriram and Vaid, 2011). In both the United States and in India the State allows for freedom in religious expression and practice. For immigrants, religion becomes the primary means for establishing and maintaining individual and group identity. This holds true for immigrants of all religious persuasions. In America, most immigrant groups experience a degree of religious freedom that is difficult to find in most countries (including countries where the state religion is Islam), which allows them to express their religiosity with fervor. Religion is one of the means of ascertaining that the values of the culture are transmitted to the subsequent generations and protects against the influences of acculturation, similar to the concept of ‘declared’ identity given by Peek (2005).

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DEVELOPING A MIGRANT IDENTITY It is during adolescence that individuals become aware of and begin to actively negotiate within the spaces available to develop and articulate a sense of who she is, as different and distinct from her parents, as part of but separate from the larger group—ethnic, linguistic and religious, to which she belongs. The process of negotiation can be considered as occurring in what Bhabha (2004) refers to as “third space,” which allows for the complex negotiation that is necessary in the delineation of personal and group identities. Some of this negotiation may occur at a physically manifest level, while a lot of it occurs at a deeper level, before being integrated into a whole. The family, the peer group, the ethnic and religious community to which they belong, the attitudes of the dominant culture within which they live, their own cognitive and emotional capacities all influence the third space which they are likely to inhabit in the construction of their identities (Bhabha, 2004; Moinian, 2009; Sodhi, 2008). For immigrant children, the issue of identity development is not just restricted to the formation of a personal identity, but is accompanied with the need to develop a cultural and an ethnic identity which juxtaposes the adolescent as the “other” in the host society. This formation of an ethnic identity assumes greater significance for immigrants and children of immigrants as compared to adolescents growing up in the country of origin. When multiple identities are present, it becomes necessary to use what Stryker (1980) defines as identity salience in an identity hierarchy, wherein identities higher in the hierarchy assume greater importance as compared to those lower down. Development of a personal and social identity encompasses aspects such as religion, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, disability and age. The relationship between religion and one’s personal and social identities has been discussed at length by Seul (1999) and Peek (2005). Religion provides vital identity supporting features such as rituals, beliefs, traditions, institutions, cosmologies, and moral frameworks, which help provide the psychological bases of self-esteem, self-actualization and stability. Belonging to a religious group involves commitment of the individual, such that once such a religious identity has been formed, it becomes difficult to set aside. The impact of religion becomes consolidated through the various beliefs of the salvation of the individual and the group. Aspects of the believers as contrasted with the non-believers are emphasized by religious leaders. The accompanying rituals and ceremonies increase the feeling of belonging to the group, cementing the individual to the group. Apart from defining self identification, religion is a means of group differentiation, which goes beyond other group markers. With the number of immigrants increasing in the United States, and the ever-increasing diversity in the religious orientations of these migrants, it is

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important to consider the role played by religion in the integration of immigrants into the host societies. Warner (2007) refers to the importance of considering religion in the assimilation and integration of immigrants into the host society. The earlier paradigms of considering assimilation through the Judeo-Christian frameworks no longer holds true for the United States with migrants coming from varying religious backgrounds. The thematic goals of religious and ethnic identities, accompanied by the development of hybrid identities within a ‘third space’ distinct to the adolescent are being discussed. The relationship and interactions with the wider Indian diaspora are factors that help in delineating the individual identity. The negotiation that takes place of issues emerging from home and the mosque, as contrasted with those emanating from schools, peers and neighborhoods all help in the definition of what it is to be an ethnic minority adolescent in a culture which is seemingly driven by a need to be multicultural. METHOD My effort to locate a Muslim sample was not easy. The Indian diaspora I encountered hitherto was made up predominantly of Hindus. After an abortive visit to a mosque in San Diego for the ritual Friday Jumma2 prayers, I contacted my key respondent ‘Salim bhai’3 to ask for contacts with the Indian Muslim community. Salim bhai is a Muslim, of Indian origin, who has lived in San Diego for many years. A list of Indian Muslim families that met my criteria of having both parents of Indian origin, and with children born in the United States in the age group of 13–25 years was identified. I was introduced to these families by email, informing them about the work I was doing, and asking for their help. The preliminary introduction by Salim-bhai helped considerably in forming rapport. The fact that he knew me, had met with me, accompanied by my credentials as a researcher from UCSD helped me gain entry to the Muslim families I eventually met. Many of the respondents expressed a curiosity about the reasons for the study being carried out, which served as the preliminary starting point for the interviews. My participants were eager to tell me their stories about their life in the United States. The fact that I was an Indian, but not a Muslim was of interest to my participants. I was seen as being an insider, but also as a partial outsider because of my Hindu name and religious affiliation. My being an outsider to the religion helped me ask questions about the practice of Islam, as there was no assumption that I already knew the elements of practice of the religion. Additionally, the fact that I was in San Diego for a temporary duration helped in getting my participants to accede to taking part in the study. My having visited two

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mosques in San Diego, and attending Jumma prayers, helped in establishing my credentials and my seriousness as a researcher. The Ethnographic Method My methods for carrying out the study were the methods drawn from anthropology. My approach was a qualitative one, with my desire to try and understand rather than try and explain what was happening to these individuals and families as they traversed their way though America. I was interested in the stories that the youth and their parents had to recount regarding their experiences of living as doubled minorities in the United States, where the wider understanding of the majority community was that being Indian was synonymous with being Hindu. I was doing an ethnographic study, using in-depth interviews and observations to help me in my efforts to study the group. The interviews allowed me to access the stories of my respondents, in their own voice. I used an interview guide, which allowed for investigation into aspects of perceptions of being Indian in the United States, of being Muslim, the influence of the family and community about the religious and cultural practices followed, awareness about and following of identity markers of the religion, awareness about Indian culture and its practice, interactions with other Indian communities, perceptions of discrimination from the majority community, the experience and impact of September 11, and other such issues. Each interview was conducted over a session of about two hours, in English. The interviews took the form of freewheeling conversations, with questions emerging from the responses made by my participants. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. I interviewed six Muslim youth, four girls and two boys, in the age group of 14–22 years, who had been born in the United States, who were presently living in San Diego. In five of the cases, I spoke to the mothers as well. One of my participants was in high school while all the others were in University. One of the young women I spoke to wore hijab.4 None of the mothers I met wore hijab or the veil in any form. In all the cases, the fathers of the adolescents had come to the United States for higher studies. These young men had taken up jobs in America, had returned to India to get married, and set up their homes and families in various parts of the United States, before eventually moving to California. The families I met conformed to the profile of the majority of Indian families in America, being educated, middleclass, living in predominantly white neighborhoods, with aspirations for their children; who came to the United States of America as sojourners, and then became settlers.

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FINDINGS I present the cases of three young women and two of their mothers to help illustrate the negotiation that youth from immigrant families perform in order to form their identities. These cases are useful as means of identifying themes that could be common to individuals of the same religious and ethnic heritage. These cases are identified as those of 22 year old Sultana and her mother Sameena, who reflect on what it means to be Indian and American, while holding on to Muslim values. Sultana and Sameena articulate the efforts made by families who are practicing Muslims, to be ‘good’ Muslims in a country which is increasingly seeing Muslims as a threat. The case of Razia represents a case of a young woman of 21 who wears the hijab as a visible signifier of Muslim identity. She has spent her formative years in Islamic school, and reflects on how that experience has helped define who she is and what she stands for. In contrast with Razia and Sultana, we have the case of 14 year old Mallika and her mother Shaheen, who are ‘cultural’ Muslims, rather than being practicing, orthodox Muslims. Their efforts in trying to find a place in the Muslim community in San Diego, while at the same time maintaining ties with the non-Muslim Indians in the city have resulted in their moving away from Indian Muslims. The Case of Sultana and Sameena I met 21 year old Sultana and her mother Sameena in their home in San Diego. Sultana is a student at UCSD. Her family are friends of Salim-bhai, my key respondent. Sultana has an older brother who studied at UC Berkeley; he has had a strong influence on Sultana, especially with regard to playing an active role in the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) on campus. Sultana and her family have been living in San Diego for about 11 years, prior to which the family lived in Santa Barbara, California, and in Indiana. Her father is an engineer, who came to the United States for higher studies. He completed his education, got a job, and had an arranged marriage in India. Both Sultana and her brother have been born and brought up in the United States. Her parents are originally from the city of Pune in Western India. Sultana completed high school in San Diego, from a school that has a number of Indian students on roll. Sultana says that in the first two years of high school, most of her friends were non-Indian; in the last two years of high school, there was a change, with her friends being increasingly Indian and Asian in origin.5 According to her, this happened more by chance then by design, partly because of the choice of classes that she took in high school; “I met a lot of other Indian kids, we had a lot of common interests, we were in the same clubs. My friends were predominantly Indian. Not

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Muslim, but Indians.” In university, in the first year, there was diversity in her friends. However, by the time she came to second year, her friends were mainly Muslim—Indian, Pakistani and Arab. This was because of her joining the MSA on campus. Sultana says, “Involvement with MSA was because of my brother who was in Berkeley and joined the MSA there, and found it to be very helpful. In sophomore year, I’m more settled with my friends, they’re mostly Muslims.” Joining organizations like the MSA makes it easier to make friends in college, which is not always easy. Belonging to the MSA has had a strong impact on Sultana. She says Joining MSA has made me more aware of being Muslim. I had no Muslim friends in high school. My family used to go to the Muslim Community Center, so I met my Muslim friends there. My family friends I used to meet there. In the MSA, being surrounded by Muslims and the fact that my close friends are Muslims has made me more aware of the fact that I am Muslim. I feel more secure about it, than before.

Joining the MSA has made Sultana more aware about being Muslim. In the process, she has distances herself from the various Indian social organizations on the UCSD campus. She feels that she is more oriented to the MSA at present; the involvement with the MSA has resulted in changes in her behaviour, such as her lack of comfort in dancing in public, in front of an audience, which she sees as being “un-Islamic.” Sultana and her family are practicing Muslims. Sultana herself tries say namaz6 five times a day, which may occasionally be missed because of class schedules. She goes for Islamic studies class organized by the MSA that are held on campus every Tuesday. She attends Jumma prayers when possible on campus. The MSA has organised regular Jumma prayers with a tie-up with ICSD.7 Sultana’s mother Sameena also prays regularly at home; she is unable to attend Jumma prayers because of her work schedule. However, Sameena attends classes and lectures organized at the mosque regularly. Sultana’s father goes to the mosque every evening for the Isha prayers. The family attends the mosque called the Muslim Community Center (MCC) which is a mosque attended mainly by people from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sultana’s religious education began early; she used to have a woman come home to instruct her on the Koran by the age of six years. Her parents were also closely involved in her spiritual development. According to Sultana As you grow older, it becomes your own responsibility to take on and learn about your religion, I’ve been doing that, reading books, going for lectures, things like that. I got involved in my responsibilities to learn about my religion as I grew older. A group of students for learning religion—in masjid,8 Sunday school, talks about various topics. [I] Went a lot in elementary, middle and high

228    S. SRIRAM school; both me and brother. He is also a practicing Muslim, is very involved in the practice of Islam. He influenced me in my choice of joining MSA.

During the month of Ramadan, Sultana keeps roza, the ritual fast from dawn to dusk, as also do her parents and her brother. Sameena spoke about the significance of the fast for her family—the importance of sacrifice, and learning to do without. Sultana started fasting from the time she was in third or fourth grade. At that time, she would fast for a few days, maybe over the weekend. Keeping the fast for the entire month has been only over the last couple of years. She says in high school It was difficult to keep the fast for the full month, so it was only for a few days that I fasted. I had to justify to others about why fasting was observed. It’s always seen as a big thing by others—you can’t eat, you can’t drink, it’s seen as a big thing by others. Lot of other religions have fasts as well. (I) had to explain its significance, its religious significance, why it’s important to me. I had to do more of it in high school than college.

During Ramadan, the MCC holds community iftars9 on weekends; she and her family help in the preparation of the community iftar on Sundays. During the week, the iftar is more of a family event. The celebrations for Eid10 used to take place at the masjid. Celebrations for the festival of Eid, which mark the end of the month of Ramadan, consisted of going for prayers at the mosque, followed by meeting friends for the communal meal. Sultana said that she never invited friends who were not Muslim to the Eid celebrations. According to her, Eid was a time to meet her Muslim friends, and celebrate with them. She met her friends at the masjid, and after prayers and the communal meal, she would hang out with her friends. When I asked Sultana and Sameena about how easy it was to be Muslim in the United States, especially after September 11, they felt that it was hard, but definitely possible. A lot depended on the individual and their family. The family had never experienced discrimination themselves. Sultana says “Islam is a misunderstood religion; it’s complicated to understand, from the perspective of western people. There are indirect things—like head covering, why do you have to wear hijab, why do you have to fast.” She goes on to say “Not direct prejudice in school. I see a lot of racism around me, I am affected by it. When my religion is spoken about in the media, I am affected by it.” Sultana reflects on what it means to be Muslim in the United States, and compares it to what it would have been like if she were a Muslim in India. She says: I may not have been so influenced by being Muslim if I were in India. Living in a country where you have to speak up about your religion a lot makes it more important to be Muslim. I would still be religious, it would still be a part

Negotiating Identities in Immigrant Families    229 of my identity, but here I have to speak out about my religion more. In India, I would be more surrounded by the religion, so I wouldn’t have to speak out about it to defend it. Making an effort, is a good thing, because I have to learn about my religion so that I can defend it and talk about it to others who ask about why something is done the way it is. Make a lot more effort here as compared to being in India. In India it would be taken for granted.

Sameena says that the family’s association with the Muslim Cultural Center (MCC) was largely because of the children. The family is not a part of other Indian associations. The family could relate to the activities of the MCC, more than with the activities of the other Indian associations in the city, and that has been the practice ever since they moved to San Diego. She went on to say that it was up to parents to set a good example for their children, to try and teach children about what it meant to be good Muslims. She says It’s important to teach them (the children) the guidelines, what a Muslim is; this is more important than telling them they have to get up and pray five times a day. Telling them about the importance of living by the guidelines that have been set—to be a good person, to show compassion, no drinking, avoiding eating pork, conducting yourself, dressing modestly. It was important that they understand that. That leads to other things; you can go on to doing other things. This is the foundation for bringing them up in this country, for me specially. In India you take your religion for granted, but here, you’re here alone, so we enforce that our friends are Muslim too. We have Indian friends—Hindu friends, but most of our friends are Muslim.

When in high school, though Sultana attended her senior year high school prom11 she did not have a date. She went with a group of friends. She says she had to do some convincing to get her parents to agree to let her go for the prom. Dating has never featured as something she would be comfortable with. According to Sultana, it is something that does not fit with being Muslim, and following a Muslim way of life. Sameena interjects to say that for both her children, she and her husband have set clear limits on what was acceptable behavior, and dating in high school was not something that they would accept. She says “This is the time when they need to concentrate on their studies. We told them very clearly that nothing should affect their academic performance. We were lucky; both of them were good kids. I was a lucky Mom.” Sultana talks about being Indian, and the importance of being Indian for her. She feels that in many ways she is more Indian than some of her cousins in India, who have adopted very Western ways of behaving. She says: Being Indian is very important for me; they are my roots. My parents are Indian, and it’s important for me to carry on the culture. I never want to be like

230    S. SRIRAM the white-washed Indians, I’ve always been very culturally involved. I’ve been involved in Bollywood,12 cultural shows. It’s very important to me. It’s part of my identity. It’s so much more fun to be Indian; we have such a rich culture. Food, little things like cultural shows, dance, clothes, family get-togethers— that’s desi13 culture. I and my friends we try to make sure it continues. When I was younger, I wasn’t so comfortable about being Indian, because I wanted to fit in, but as I grew older, I became more comfortable. Started making Indian friends. I was very comfortable with being Indian.

Being Indian was also related to performance in school, choice of subjects in school, the decision to do AP courses;14 Sultana has done 9 AP courses in high school. While there is pressure from the family to do well, to maintain a certain grade in school, some of the pressure comes from within. She says: I think I put a lot of the pressure on myself to get good grades. My parents expected me to do well, to not get Cs, but I think I was a lot harder on myself, at times as compared to my parents. I think I knew I had to go to college, and I knew, I was surrounded by Asian and Indian people. My friends were really smart. There is a lot of peer competition. College is the end goal. You know what others do. I also had an older brother who did well; I knew I had to perform.

This was accompanied by the stereotypes that are held about Indian kids in school by teachers and students of other ethnicities—that they were smart, they did well in school, they were good at Math, and they did lots of AP courses. According to Sultana, the smartest kids on campus were Indians and Asians. “The stereotype of being bright was not a problem, made me feel good. Indians are really respected because they’re so bright and do so well. They’re smart people.” Sultana also reflects on the American part of her, which she accepts and is proud of. This American part of her is reflected in her ideals, her selfbelief, in her goals that she has set for herself. She feels that she has more opportunities as compared with her cousins in India, and this has made considerable difference to her. This sentiment is echoed by Sameena, who says that youth in India are much less focused and open as compared to her children. She attributes this difference to growing up in an atmosphere which is less open and accepting as compared to what exists for her children in San Diego. She says that she is grateful that her children are not growing up in India. Sultana wears Indian clothes, but not very regularly. She wears Indian clothes to the mosque and for Indian functions. About her style of dress, Sultana says

Negotiating Identities in Immigrant Families    231 I dress very Western, but I dress differently. Certain race groups dress differently as compared to me. A lot of how I dress is defined by my religion and my being told to be modest. Though I wear western clothes, I wear clothes which are not revealing, which cover the body. I’ve never worn shorts, short dresses. I wear leggings under my dresses, I don’t wear tank tops. I don’t show my body. That’s cultural and also because of my religion. Many of my Indian friends are not allowed to wear revealing clothes. It has given rise to controversy and discussion with others—questions like why can’t you wear a skirt? Why are you oppressed, why are you not allowed to dress in a particular way? I’ve come to understand why I’m supposed to be modest in my dressing, so I’ve become better at explaining to others. It might have created some conflict in me in high school, in 9th grade, when I wanted to fit in; it was like why can’t I be allowed to wear. I never went against the rules. I never rebelled. I followed the dress codes.

Sultana stopped swimming because she felt self-conscious in the swimsuit that she was required to wear to swim. She feels that to be a part of the cultural norm of being Muslim, you need to be aware about your body and how much of it can be revealed for others. Though Sultana feels that her style of dress is influenced by her religion, she is not ready to don the hijab. Wearing the hijab is something that she may do as a later point in her life. As yet, she is just growing into the religion. She says: Right now, many of my friends are Muslim, and many do wear hijab, I would be comfortable wearing hijab, but I want to reach a level where I feel very comfortable and secure with my religion. I feel secure right now, but I don’t think I’m at the level when I can take hijab. It would require a certain amount of confidence. Right now, one of my fears would be that I’m not ready to take it now.

She would not like to take hijab, and then stop wearing it for some reason. In her family, while her mother does not observe hijab, she has relatives in India who do observe burkha and hijab. Sameena says that just wearing purdah and hijab does not make one modest; she does not feel the need to cover her head in order to be a good Muslim. “I can be a true Muslim without covering my head. If Sultana wants to wear hijab, that’s alright; if she’s choosing for the right reasons.” On the issue of marriage, Sultana says that religion is important to her. She says: Religion is most important—he has to be Muslim. In terms of ethnicity, for my parents, they would prefer an Indian. I would prefer desi—that is Pakistani or Indian. The cultures are very similar. Religion is the first thing. I would prefer someone who is Indian, because culture is so important for me. Religion is so important for me. If I were to marry a non- Muslim, I wouldn’t want my kids

232    S. SRIRAM to grow up with a confused identity, if the guy was something else. I could not marry someone who was not Muslim, because my Muslim identity reflects so much of my identity and my values, if he did not share those values and beliefs, then I don’t think I would ever be able to marry such a person. I need to marry someone who has those core beliefs of being Muslim.

Sameena feels that it is important for her daughter to be happy, and she feels that it would be easier if she marries someone who can fit in with the family and its culture. Sultana and her family go to India every couple of years. Both her parents are from a city in Western India, and they have relatives there. She enjoys visiting India, meeting family and spending time with them. She says: “It’s nice to be with cousins, nice to eat the food, the shopping. It’s a nice change. Here there’s always something to do. When you go to India, it’s like a true vacation; you don’t have anything to do.” While Sultana understands Hindi, she has problems speaking it. Speaking it is an issue because of my accent. People think it’s funny when I speak Hindi. I understand everything they say, even though they don’t think I understand everything they say. But I am understanding everything. It can be quite amusing. I learnt Hindi from Bollywood movies. I watch them; I’m a huge fan of Bollywood movies. My parents speak Hindi all the time; it’s around me all the time. Never make the attempt to speak it because I’m not comfortable speaking Hindi; I should, but I’m so used to speaking in English that I just don’t have the habit of speaking Hindi. It’s something that I would like to do so that I can pass it on to my kids. I don’t want to lose the language. It’s really hard. I speak more than my brother.

When asked if she ever thought about going back to live in India, Sultana says that she has thought about it occasionally, but it was only going to be temporary. She feels that she would not be able to live in India for a longer period of time. She says “I wouldn’t like to go and live there. It’s too . . . I’m so used to it here. I wouldn’t have the opportunities I have here when I go there. I think that growing up here and growing up there, is so different.” The differences that emerge for Sultana relate to the differences in the opportunities available; she sees more and wider opportunities available for her in terms of a career and a future in the United States as compared to India. Sultana’s mother, Sameena says, I don’t think it is possible for children who have grown up here to go and live in India. I think they get spoilt here. Things are much easier here, whatever you may say. And again, the India that we left is not the India that they can go back to. India has changed, and not in a good way.

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The Case of Razia My introduction to Razia was through Sultana. When I met Sultana, she asked if I wanted to speak to some other young Indian Muslims, and that she had a particular friend who I may be interested in talking to. I met Razia in a coffee shop at UCSD. Razia is a 21 year old sophomore at UCSD. She grew up in Northern California, where her parents and her younger twin sisters live. Razia’s parents are from South India. Her father came to the US for higher studies, and her mother joined him in the United States after marriage. The family lived in New Jersey, where Razia was born, till they moved to Northern California when she was about five years old. Razia came to San Diego after completing high school. Razia completed high school in Northern California, from a school that caters mainly to Indian and Asian families, and has a reputation for high standards in education. Razia talks of the pressure that came from home and school to do well. The pressure from home was more from her father, who was very particular that they work hard and try and do well. She says: “it has to do with the society our parents grew up in. Parents expect you do AP classes; coming from an Indian society, my dad was very strict, and his father was very strict with my Dad.” She goes on to say: Growing up in that atmosphere, you have to do well, you have to go to college, you have to get a lot of money, support your family; those things drove him to expect the same things from us. The values hold true. Less about having to support my family; I want to do well because I want to make my parents proud of me by doing well. I want to do well, for myself, I want to make a name for myself, I want to achieve something in my life. It is less about my parents—My dad may be pushing me—he loves to say—my daughter, she goes to UCSD.

Razia feels that apart from the pressure from her father, she puts pressure on herself as well; “Lot of time, I put pressure on myself, want to do well, better than others. Doing the best for myself, doing well, trying the best.” She likes to feel that she has tried her best; if she doesn’t succeed despite her efforts, she will not feel too disappointed, because she knows she has really made the effort. There is a great deal of peer pressure that Razia talks of. The peer pressure is not for things like going out, or drinking alcohol. The peer pressure was related to taking AP classes and extra-curricular activities. She says “everybody wanted to be in student government, journalism, yearbook. Everyone wanted to be an officer in the student organizations.” She herself was part of student government; she did community service by volunteering in a hospital, and also served as an office bearer in the Muslim Students’ Association. Razia went to Islamic school from fourth to seventh grades. Razia’s parents were very concerned that Razia grow up to be a “good” Muslim. They

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were not sure about how they would raise their eldest daughter in American society, with all the Islamic values and beliefs. It was this fear that led them to send Razia to Islamic school. Razia says I’m actually really thankful for the opportunity for going to Islamic school; it laid the foundation for what it meant for me to be Muslim. I identified myself more as a Muslim. It helps me a lot now as well, I’m an officer with the MSA here at UCSD, it helps me to connect more with the Muslim community. It helps me identify with that foundation. I didn’t have a lot of Muslim friends before I went to Islamic school.

Razia’s Islamic school was in Santa Clara, close to San Jose, where there was a large mosque, which is like an Islamic community center. It is the largest mosque in the area. Her family goes to the mosque for jumma prayers, and her sisters come for Sunday school and Friday meetings. Razia’s twin sisters never went to Islamic school. Islamic school is used as a threat to ensure good behavior from the girls by Razia’s parents: “If you don’t get your act together, we’re sending you to Islamic school.” The earlier fear about how to raise children as Muslim in the United States was no longer operating for Razia’s parents. Islamic values were inculcated in Razia’s twin sisters through Sunday school at the mosque and Friday programs. According to Razia “They had a good amount of exposure to Muslims, my Mom did a lot more with my sisters, as compared with me, because for me lots of the aspects of religion were done by school. For them my Mom did a lot more.” It would seem that Razia’s parents have been reassured that it is not necessary to send children to Islamic school, and that with some help from the mosque it is possible to have children growing up as “good” Muslims. The attacks on the twin towers in New York City on September 11, 2001 happened when Razia was in Islamic school, in sixth grade. The school was closed for a week because of the perceived threat to the mosque from hostile members in the community. After school reopened, the teachers spent a considerable amount of time talking to the children, counseling them, explaining things to them. Razia says: I was in Islamic school at that time, and I started identifying more as being a Muslim, after seeing all the things that happened to people after September 11. I wanted to show that I was Muslim. I do remember people calling out stuff, calling out names, saying things. At that time, I was really confused. I was surrounded by other Muslims, our teachers did a really good job of talking to us, explaining things, counseling us if we felt anything. Our school was shut down for a week after September 11. I was confused, everyone was really confused. It was nice to have other people around who were just as confused as you.

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After seventh grade, Razia moved out of Islamic school to public school. She entered middle school in eighth grade. This was because her father wanted her to get admission into one of the best public high schools in the San Jose where many Indian and Asian families sent their children. The academic standards of this school were very high, and in order to prepare her for the requirements of high school, Razia was moved from Islamic school. According to Razia, the transition was difficult: Academically, Islamic school was of a different standard—it was less challenging. Less focus on science and maths, more focus on religious education and the humanities. Math was the hardest for me, when I came. Had to take Algebra in eighth grade, had a difficult time, when I got used to the pace, then it became easier. It’s a predominantly Asian school—level of Math was higher, lot of push was there. I was helped by my Dad with Math and Science; Mom helped with language, Arts, History.

Apart from the academic problem, there was also the social challenge; she says “It’s hard to define your boundaries for people who don’t understand. Middle school is hard—I wore hijab, (there were) very few instances in high school of people calling me names, or teasing; but that one year in middle school was really tough.” Razia feels that the one year that she spent in public school in the eighth grade before high school was very helpful for her. It served as a buffer, to prepare her for what lay ahead academically and socially in high school. She compares herself with another girl who had been in Islamic school with her, and who moved to the same high school without the one year middle school experience; “She didn’t have the one year experience in middle school, she came straight to high school, it was hard for her academically for sure, and it was also hard for her socially to make friends in the beginning” ; many of the other children who were with Razia in the Islamic school opted for high schools with less academic expectations of the students, or opted for other academic programs such as the International Baccalaureate programs. Razia started wearing the hijab in December of 2001. She was about 11 years old at that time, and was in sixth grade in Islamic school. Razia’s mother also wears the hijab, and her twin sisters have also started wearing in, albeit later than when Razia did. In Razia’s own words, I actually started wearing it after September 11, I don’t know if it directly affected me, but I started wearing it from December 2001. I remember my Dad telling my Mom, ‘If you feel scared or uncomfortable, just take off your hijab, I don’t want you to get hurt when you go grocery shopping or anything like that’. She said ‘No, this is who I am. I’m not going to take it off’. I saw my Mom, and a lot of Muslim women being proud of who they were, even though they were scared, still wearing the hijab, it affected me. I was in Islamic school

236    S. SRIRAM at that time, and I started identifying more as being a Muslim, after seeing all the things that happened to people after September 11. I wanted to show that I was Muslim.

For Razia the hijab was a reminder of who she was, It is a reminder to me. Of who I am, how I should behave, act. There is a certain conduct when you’re Muslim, and wearing hijab reminds me of it, what you’re supposed to do, what you’re not supposed to do, things like that; that is the significance of hijab for me.

Razia talked at length about how the decision to wear hijab was a personal one, arrived at after a great deal of deliberation and thought. She reflected on a friend of hers from Islamic school who had stated wearing hijab long before she, Razia, had. Sometime in college, this friend of Razia’s said that the decision to wear hijab had been made for her, not by her, and she was not going to wear hijab anymore. As Razia said, So I feel it is a choice. She (her friend) felt that she’d never made the choice; the choice was made for her. If my heart’s not in it, then its better I don’t wear it. You’re wearing it for the wrong intentions. It’s a personal decision. If you’re not comfortable, if you feel it’s not the right choice for you, then you shouldn’t be wearing it.

The issue of personal choice for wearing the hijab was an important one, emphasized by all the young women I spoke to. Razia’s decision to wear hijab had been discussed with her parents. The decision was taken at the time of Ramadan in 2001. Razia told her mother first about her desire to wear hijab. She was very excited about her decision, and expected her mother to be excited for her. I told her, I was really excited, and I thought she would be really excited, but she was like ‘Are you sure?’ Her reaction surprised me, I thought she’d be excited for me, but her reaction was, like, it’s a decision that she wanted me to be sure about. You don’t realize it at that age, but it is a really big decision to make. She didn’t try to dissuade me; she tried to make sure that it was what I wanted. She said, ‘Ok, if that’s what you want, go for it’. My dad was Ok with it too. My dad was very supportive about it, I was surprised like when he was concerned about Mom’s safety, he was supportive of it.

Razia’s disappointment in her mother’s lack of excitement is significant in that she is able to relate the incident ten years later. When I asked her about why her mother was not excited, Razia felt it was her concern about her (Razia’s) safety that may have been responsible. Additionally, she felt that her mother thought she was too young to be really aware about her

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choice to wear the hijab, and all that wearing hijab implies in the United States, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Today her mother is supportive of her and her sisters’ wearing the hijab. Razia combines the hijab with Western clothes; she customarily wears jeans, and she says “I enjoy wearing Western clothes and showing my individuality. I feel that there’s nothing harmful in wanting to dress in a way that is like everyone else. Wearing the hijab can be used to fit in with western clothes. It’s hard, but you can make it work.” While Razia observes hijab, she is not in favor of the burkha or the chador. Razia is a practicing Muslim who tries to pray five times a day, even when she is in college. She finds the morning fajr prayers most difficult to keep, and she has to depend on her flat-mate to wake her up in time. When she is at home, her mother wakes her up in the morning. The family does not pray together as a rule, except during the holy month of Ramadan. On campus, the MSA organizes Jumma prayers at one of the community centers at 1.00 p.m., and she attends that if there is no clash with her class schedule. The MSA also organizes regular meetings with imams15 from ICSD; there are mixed discussion groups as well as groups of men and women held separately. About the meetings, Razia says: Separate sisters and brothers groups come from the fact that Islam does not have a lot of intermingling between guys and girls in Islam, we try and foster brotherhood and sisterhood. We try and do a lot of activities together, but we also want to make sure that the sisters and brothers group are also there. There are girls who come only for the guys, and guys who come only because of the girls, but when we’re studying religion, the emphasis is not on the opposite gender, but is on the subject of study, the knowledge that you’re getting. The separate groups work better, because you can talk better about things. Attraction feelings may come up. Having girls only allows for free discussion, rather than having that guy, what will he think of me, and things like that.

Razia’s involvement with the MSA at UCSD goes back to high school. As mentioned earlier, Razia was part of the MSA for all the four years of high school, serving as President for the last two years. As she says Joining MSA provided an atmosphere, an avenue for Muslim students to come, for Muslim students on campus to come and pray, to express themselves. There was already established MSA when I joined (in high school), had been there for a while before I joined. Active members would have been 15; total members would have been about 30. Active members would be those who come to meetings regularly, every week, participating in activities. We used to have Friday meetings before the Jumma prayers, prayers, talk about things that were happening, organise things to get people involved. The meetings were during lunch time. MSA was all ethnicities—maybe one other Indian Muslim, mostly Pakistanis, Arab students.

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Razia fasts during the holy month of Ramadan, a practice that she started in Islamic school. In Islamic school, it was expected that all children began to fast for a few days at a time from the 4th grade itself. By the time she left Islamic school, she was keeping the fast for the full month. It was in 8th grade when she was in middle school, and later in high school that she found she had to explain to others about why she was fasting, and about the significance of Ramadan. According to her, “Keeping roza helped shape my life, patience; it was good to not eat when everybody else was eating.” Many Muslim girls avoided taking part in sports and physical education class by saying that they were fasting. For Razia, “I used to run, because it was easier than explaining. I didn’t want to be left out. I didn’t want to stand out, and say I can’t run because I’m fasting.” Being Muslim entails certain dietary restrictions; eating halal16 food and avoiding pork is necessary for practicing Muslims. Razia followed the practice of eating only halal food; she said that she tried to observe halal as much as possible. In her family, she, her mother and her sisters are particular about the rules of halal food. Her father is not so strict. She says: My dad is not too fussy. In Islam there is the belief that you can eat meat that is cut by people of the book—Christians and Jews, so given that this is dominantly a Christian country, a lot of the meat is cut by Christian people, so it’s OK to eat. My dad eats everything except pork.

The reason given by Razia’s father about eating food which is not necessarily labeled as halal is an interesting one, revealing the flexibility of beliefs that has taken place as a result of the context in which the family is living. The Muslim identity is the one that has been reinforced first by the parents as the means of transmitting the cultural identity. As Razia’ told me: My Muslim identity is more important than my Indian identity. This has developed since going to Islamic school, being with more Muslims. I do have a lot of Indian friends, (but) I can’t do everything they do. What sets me apart is my Muslim identity. That’s why my Muslim identity, above all, defines me.

This is not to undermine the role of ethnicity in Razia’s life. Being Indian was important; being Indian was related to culture, the importance of the family. Being Muslim however, was seen as a way of life. Being Muslim was more than just a set of beliefs. It was related to all aspects of life—how you dress, eat and pray. It was related to Islamic values like giving charity, not back-biting, being kind to your neighbor. The Muslim identity was the core identity, on which the ethnic and national identities were layered. According to Razia, it is possible for many Indians to feel a sense of confusion about their identity; this confusion could arise from a clash between Indian culture and American culture. She says:

Negotiating Identities in Immigrant Families    239 Their parents have this one idea of them, they bring their ideas from India, and then they have to reconcile those ideas they have with the ideas of American culture. And that’s the hardest thing. I think ABCD17 is a good description of sometimes the way you feel.

This lack of consonance between what was expected from parents and what was expected from the majority community did create some stress in families, which had to be addressed by parents. Razia goes on to express the fact that confusion can arise from the fact that there is an American part and an Indian part to her. She says: I’m American, I’m definitely American, and I’m Indian, but I’m not Indian as far as I have an Indian identity. I’m not completely American, I’m American in the way I think, the way I talk, but I’m not American in the way I act, or what they want me to do. When I go to India, I’m not Indian. It’s this weird, in-between middle ground that you have.

Razia speaks Tamil fluently. She speaks to her mother in Tamil quite often. Her sisters speak much less Tamil—if you speak to them in Tamil, they will reply in English. For Razia, it is the need to speak to relatives in India in the mother tongue that keeps the language alive. Razia reflects about how her parents occasionally talk about going back to India, or moving to another part of the world which was closer to India. She feels that as they grow older, it becomes less likely that the family will move from the United States. There are established networks and roots, which make it more difficult for the family to leave the United States and return to India. Furthermore, the ties with India become looser with the death of the grand-parent generation. Razia and her family travel to India every two years or so. There are relatives in South India. She travelled around South India. She says she has a “love-hate relationship. I can go to India to meet family, family is really nice, but after that I get really tired, the large numbers, lack of privacy.” Going back to live in India is not something that she is entirely comfortable with: I feel out of place sometimes in India—my freedom, individuality. I talk about rights and stuff, and they say: what rights? It’s not a big thing for them, they don’t think of such things; freedom of speech and things. It’s different, and even the culture and things, it’s different. The culture we grow up with here, the way we talk, the words we use, it’s all different.

In high school, Razia did not attend the senior prom. While she helped set up for the prom, she did not attend. Her parents did not have any objection to her going for the prom; her father had said something about her having to get a dress for prom, to which she said that she was not planning to attend. There were no questions asked by her parents about why she

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was not attending prom. She says it was her own decision not to attend. According to her, dating and going for a prom was un-Islamic, and she felt uncomfortable with the idea of going for a prom where she would not be able to interact freely with boys. When I asked Razia about marriage, she said she would like to marry an American of Indian origin. She has talked to her parents at length about the reasons for why she would want a particular kind of marriage partner. She says: I would want to marry someone who is American, with whom I could talk to and relate to. He should be of Indian origin, this would be important for my parents, more than for me. It would be easier, because most of my family, my relatives, don’t live in America, they live in India, so it would be easier. I want to stay close to my family; I would want the person I marry to relate to them as well, so it would help if he were of Indian origin. An Indian born and brought up in the US is different from the person who comes from India. The way you’re brought up is different. I want someone who’s been born here in the United States. The way they think is different too. It would be easier if I married someone who was born here. I can relate to them from my childhood, they would have the same stories. Arranged marriages are Ok, maybe not completely arranged, but they (her parents) can have suggestions of someone who they have in mind. It’s a good match for me, and suggest it, and if it’s someone who I can connect with, then I can definitely consider it. Educated, has a good job, has all the qualities that I want, then I can think about it. I’m Ok with it. Being Muslim is very important; it would be the first criteria.

The Case of Mallika and Shaheen I met 14 year old Mallika and her mother Shaheen through Salim bhai. Mallika was a high school freshman, in San Diego. I had already met some other classmates of Mallika, and she knew what I was doing in San Diego. Mallika’s father had come to the United States as a graduate student in engineering, and had then stayed on after getting a job. Mallika’s parents come from different parts of India. They are from a sub-sect of Muslims referred to as the Bohra Muslims. Mallika was born in Chicago, where the family lived till about five years ago when they moved to San Diego. When I spoke to Mallika about what she understood about being Muslim, she said that her father and mother are Muslims, and she is a Muslim because she is born in a Muslim family. When I asked about how Muslims and Hindus were different, she said that Hindus went to temples, while Muslims went to the masjid (mosque). When I asked her how often she went to the masjid and which masjid she and her family attended, she said that they went two or three times a year. She knew that Muslims fasted during

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Ramadan, but said that she did not fast, and neither did her parents fast during Ramadan. In conversation with Mallika’s mother Shaheen, I learnt that the family rarely goes to the mosque. Both Shaheen and her husband fast for a few days during Ramadan. She says “We fast for a few days; maybe two weekends in the month. We have never kept the full month fast. It has never been our custom, and we do not expect Mallika to keep fast.” I wanted to know about whether the family followed the customs of Muslim prayers. Mallika herself does not say any of the Muslim prayers. The family goes for jumma prayers a couple of times during the month of Ramadan. They go for the Eid prayers and celebrations for both the Eid festivals. Mallika said that she imitates her mother when the prayers are being said. She says “I do what my mother does. I don’t really understand what she’s doing, or why she’s doing that.” She goes on to say “There are lots of people there, and they say Allah-u-Akbar. I think it means God is great. The food is very nice. I get to wear new clothes—Indian clothes. I can choose them. I don’t know many of the other children there. My parents know some of them.” Shaheen interjects at this point, saying that their contact with the Indian Muslim community was fairly restricted. Her husband had more contact with the Indian Muslim men, while she and Mallika knew very few families. Mallika has never had any lessons on the Koran; she has never read it, though she knows what it is. The Koran at home is rarely opened. For Mallika, wearing hijab was not something she had thought of, or would consider. Her mother is categorical that she and her husband would under no circumstance allow her to wear the hijab. According to her, it went against what the leader of their sect advocated for women. It was a retrograde step for women to wear hijab or burqah; it was different to cover the head when you went to pray in the mosque; for everyday interactions, wearing the burqah was felt to be unnecessary. When I asked Shaheen more about the family’s interactions with the Indian Muslim community in San Diego, she said It’s hard for me to fit in with the Muslim community; especially for me. We are a sect in the Bohras. We are very progressive. We are not like typical Muslims. We’re not required to pray all the time. They would not put me down if I’m not praying. If I’m sitting with another person and it’s time to pray, you get up and go and pray if you want; that’s what I believe. Here, on the contrary, if I am sitting with a Muslim family and you don’t pray, they would mind it. They would not like it. Most of them are orthodox. At least I have not met any here in San Diego who are progressive. There might be, I don’t know.

Shaheen expressed her conviction that the Muslim community in San Diego was influenced by beliefs from places like Pakistan, where Islamic thought was more fundamentalist and extreme, where women and girls were discouraged from learning dance or performing in public. This

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stemmed from the need to be Muslim and interact with other Muslim families, rather than Indian Hindu families. The difference in ideologies between their family and many of the Muslim families they met in San Diego and Chicago was what made the family seek out the Indian Gujarati18 community, with whom they had more in common. As Shaheen put it It’s difficult to find a group to mix with. We’re Muslim. It’s not that we don’t want to mix with other Muslims, but they believe different things from us, and that is why we move with Gujaratis. I wish we could have some Muslim friends. Just come together, have dinner, talk, have a good time, but it doesn’t happen. It was difficult, when we were newcomers, groups were already formed. It’s hard to break in. It’s taken us five years, now we have friends. But it was hard. We know people now well enough to be a part of the community. We take part in all the activities of Gujarati Association, garba;19 yesterday was Holi20 function.

Mallika’s social interactions do not circulate around the MCC. Her friends are friends from school, of different ethnicities, and from the Gujarati Association. Mallika has been going for lessons in Indian dance from the age of five. She started going for dance instruction in Kathak21 while in Chicago, and once they moved to San Diego, she has continued with learning Kathak as well as modern Bollywood dancing. She takes part in public dance performances three to four times a year. Her parents are very encouraging about Mallika’s dancing, which is something else that Shaheen feels sets them apart from other Muslim families in San Diego, who express the opinion that dancing and singing, especially in public is un-Islamic. She says “Ours is one of the few Muslim families where we send our daughter for dance classes.” Mallika speaks Hindi fluently. She and parents communicate in Hindi quite often. She says “When we need to say something that we don’t want others to understand, then we talk in Hindi.” She says that her knowledge of Hindi comes in very useful when she dances—knowing the lyrics of the songs and what they mean helps in conveying the emotion that goes with the song. She and her mother watch Bollywood movies regularly. The family subscribes to Indian television channels, which broadcast Indian programming to the migrant Indian community in the US. She and mother both say that this helps them stay abreast with what people in India are wearing and the new songs and dances. Mallika and her family go back to India every three to four years for about two months. Mallika says that she likes to go to India to visit, but complains about the heat and the insects. She enjoys the food. However, she says she does not like to stay in India for very long, as she gets bored,

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and likes to come back to the United States. “India is nice for a holiday; but I don’t want to stay there for very long.” Mallika is not allowed to date. Her parents have told her that she can date after she turns 16. As an aside, Shaheen told me that by that time she’ll be a junior in high school, and so busy with school work that she will not have the time to date. Mallika has attended one home-coming dance at her school with a group of friends. She says she felt a little strange in the beginning as most of her friends had already been paired off with boys, but she enjoyed herself after some time. She hopes to be able to attend prom both in her junior and her senior year. For Mallika entry into high school has meant more focus on her academic work. As a freshman, she is not allowed to take AP classes as yet, but would like to take at least two AP classes in her sophomore year. She is a part of the school swim and gymnastic teams, but has been warned by her parents that if her grades fall as a result of her participation in sports, she will have to discontinue sport. Shaheen says “In U.S. there is too much emphasis on sports. They want children to do everything—sports, studies, cultural things. It is very difficult for parents to help their children manage their time. There is lots of homework as well. And it will only get tougher in next two years.” Shaheen allows Mallika to have friends over for sleepovers every couple of months. She is allowed to go for sleepovers only in homes of Indian families, where Shaheen knows the parents. Sleepovers in friends’ homes were common in primary school, but by middle school, sleepovers had become an occasional treat. In the case of Mallika’s friends of other ethnicities, Mallika is not allowed to sleep over in their homes; they can come and stay in Mallika’s home. Shaheen says that imposing these conditions is hard. There are arguments which can become unpleasant. However both she and her husband try and set limits, which are arrived at through some amount of negotiation. Shaheen and her husband try and ensure that they meet all Mallika’s friends, so that they can become acquainted with them, and know some details about them and their families. CONCLUSION The voices of the youth I spoke to help illustrate what it is like for adolescents growing up in migrant families, where there are pressures from their parents to adhere to certain normative behaviour patterns, which are in contrast with the behaviour patterns that are seen in the peer group. The youth grow up in migrant families, where the migration is made out of choice rather than under compulsion. The youth have to negotiate their path, in a space where their parents as migrants have no experience; however the aspirational ideals of the parental generation influence the trajectory

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that the youth plot for themselves. Religion as a key component of identity emerges in the voices of the youth. A hybrid Indian American Muslim identity evolves as the youth traverse through their everyday lives. The voices of the youth I spoke to reflect the impact of being a doubled minority in the United States, where as Muslims, they constitute a minority within a minority. This minority doubling has led to a contestation of ethnic and religious identities. While ethnic identity remains a significant feature in the identity debate, the relative salience of religion is what differs. Differences between practicing and cultural Muslims emerge in terms of practice and the role of religion in the life of the individual and family. These differences impact the nature of social interactions along with beliefs about what constitutes Islamic versus un-Islamic behavior. It is possible to illustrate some of the contestation that takes place for immigrants who come to a country where being Muslim is not an accepted part of life. Despite the fact that Muslims in India constitute a demographic minority, there is greater social support perceived in India to be Muslim, which comes from the family and the community. As migrants in the United States, there is far more effort that the immediate family has to undertake in order to reinforce the beliefs of the religion, which increases with children being born in the family. It is the parents who have a major role to play in transmitting religious values in the case of migrants. Having Muslim friends makes it easier for families to transmit Islamic values to their children. Mohammad-Arif (2000) states that Muslims become more religious as they grow older and as their family size increases. The prejudice that confronts Islam in the light of September 11 is something that all Muslims have to deal with, contributing to reactive ethnicity, which is seen in the desire to explain the religion and its rituals to people, and the accompanying need to emphasize that not all Muslims are fundamentalists and extreme in their beliefs about Islam. Peek (2005) writes about how for many Muslims the events of September 11, 2001 and the backlash to the Muslim community, made them become more self-aware about the religion and its practices, and felt a greater need to defend the religion to people around them. The wearing of the hijab with pride, as a badge of Muslim identity is an expression reactive ethnicity. The need to explain the nature of Islam and to bring Muslims of different ethnicities together has been taken actively by associations like the Muslim Students Association (MSA) on school and college campuses (Peek, 2005; Leonard, 2003). Some of the metaphors associated with the Indian community in San Diego are emphasized in the cases. The term “white-washed” is a pejorative term, used to refer to those Indians who have abandoned their Indian roots; these individuals assume the attitudes and characteristics of the white American majority. Many Indian youth talk derisively about youth who are white-washed. The belief is that these are people who deny their Indian

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heritage, and are trying very hard to fit in with the white majority. The youth reflect on the dilemmas that faced them as they grow up: there is a strong need to “fit in” with the majority culture and group, which can result in youth abandoning the values and beliefs of their own culture. The use of the term “desi” is significant; the term connotes the common ties and culture that come from being born in a particular land, a unifying term often used for migrants from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Indian migrants use the term “desi” to refer to the community of Indians. A concern that emerged from my discussions with Muslim families related with how to be a good Muslim in the United States. The issue of what is it to be Muslim was of less immediate concern. Most parents followed the laws of Islam, and the best possible way of demonstrating to children how to be Muslim, was by leading a Muslim way of life for themselves. While there is considerable freedom to practice religion in the United States, it does not mean that Muslims are able to abide by all the laws of Islam, especially those related to prayer and customs such as Ramadan. Unlike Muslim countries where Fridays are holy days set aside for prayer, in countries such as India and the United States, the faithful have to make adjustments with regard to Jumma prayers and daily prayers. Work schedules can and do prevent Muslims in countries like the United States from going to the mosque for Friday prayers. School schedules and routines may interfere with the fasting during Ramadan. Unlike India where there is more understanding about Muslim practices, it may be necessary to answer more questions coming from people about various Islamic practices. Belonging to a mosque contributed to emphasizing the importance of religion in everyday life of practicing Muslims. Being a part of the mosque meant more than just opportunities for religious instruction for the children. A great deal of the social life of families was oriented around activities organized by the mosque. The mosque is more than just a place for worship and religious activities. Unlike mosques in India which are primarily religious places for worship, in the United States, mosques have assumed a space wherein migrants can search for and assert markers of their cultural and religious heritage while living in a distant land (Mohammad-Arif, 2000). The social connections the mosque helps establish makes the youth more engaged and involved with other Muslim youth and families. The association with Islam is no longer at a purely formal level. It has become a way of life, extending into the everyday life of the youth and their families. Parents and older siblings help to keep this involvement with the mosque active, more so for practicing Muslims. The label MCC itself helps reinforce the idea that it is not just a place for worship, but is a place where Muslims can come together to meet others of the same religion and interact; it celebrates community and bonding. The term also reduces the religious connotations and the suspicions

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that may arise from the majority community. Religion is subsumed in the social and cultural roles played by the MCC. While religious socialization is an important role of the MCC, it is not the only goal; it plays the vital role of bringing together people who share a common cultural heritage and a common religion. The need to marry someone from the same religion in order to avoid conflict and confusion for the children was a salient issue. The spouse should be religious, but should not be too conservative or strict in following Islam. Being from the same ethnic background would help because they would have some things in common, which would not be so if the ethnic background was different. A common ethnic origin would be important for the family and relatives, ensuring that it would be possible for the spouse to relate to the family culture and beliefs. Mohammad-Arif (2000) writes about how South Asian Muslims organize meetings so that it is possible for young people of marriageable age, from common religious and social class backgrounds to meet, avoiding the pressures of arranged marriages. Being Indian Muslim and born in the United States implied considerable differences in comparison to Indians referred to as “Fresh off the boat,” who were perceived to have different attitudes, beliefs and values. It was possible for second generation Indian Muslims to marry someone born in the United States because the number of second generation Indian Muslims was much larger at present as compared to earlier times. At present, there is a critical mass of second generation Indian Muslims who can choose to marry among their own religious and cultural group. Mohammad-Arif (2000) mentions the problems of compatibility, both cultural and social that may arise from marriages of second-generation Muslim youth with a spouse from the country of origin. The choice of spouse may be limited by ethnicity; however the sub-ethnic group does not seem to be important. It did not signify if the intended marriage partner was from a different linguistic area of India; what was important was the person should definitely be Muslim and preferably South Asian. The fact that Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshi Muslims all worship together reinforces the belief that there are cultural commonalities that come from being drawn from South Asia, which makes it possible to choose marriage partners from the region at large. As migrants, there is more of an onus to learn about the culture of origin and to maintain that culture, while at the same time they have to be sensitive to and imbibe the culture of the host country as well. Culture is often taken for granted in the country of origin; in contrast, as migrants who are seen as the ‘other’ there is a need to try and validate the position of the other; the desire to make the best of both worlds determine the negotiations that are carried out by individuals and families in the complex process of making meaning in an increasingly complicated world. Religion plays a

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distinct role in the development of the hybrid American-Muslim identity, while retaining elements of Indian ethnicity and culture. An apt conclusion can be in the words of Razia “That’s the greatest thing about living in America. Now they call it a mixed salad. It comes together, you can have your qualities that make you identify with who you want to be, and you come together to make the salad.” ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to thank Professor Jaan Valsiner and Professor Sergio Salvatore. I am indeed grateful to them for the suggestions made on the earlier drafts of this paper. NOTES 1. In 2010, I came to the United States of America on a Fulbright Fellowship to the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) to research how second generation Indian American adolescents and youth developed an identity for themselves, and how they negotiated different trajectories in their self-definition, given the varying imperatives coming from the home and the family, and the host society. I was attempting a qualitative study on Indian American youth, living in and around San Diego in California. 2. Jumma prayers refers to the Friday noon prayers, which all observing Muslims are supposed to attend, if possible, in the mosque. 3. All names used here are fictitious. 4. Veiling among Muslims can take the form of the burqah, hijab, and niqab. The burqah refers to the all-enveloping cloak that is worn often over the regular dress of a woman; it may also be called chador. The hijab refers to the head covering. Niqab is the covering for the face, such that only a slit is there for the eyes (El Guindi, 1999). For Muslims from India who wear the Indian salwar-kameez, the dupatta (scarf) is wound around the head in the place of the scarf that would be used when Western clothes are worn. 5. By Asian, I mean people from South-East Asia. Most Indians like to differentiate between people from South-East Asia—China, Vietnam, Philippines, and Korea, from people from the Indian sub-continent. Convention in the USA is that people from South-East Asia are referred to as Asians, and Indians refer to themselves as Indians. 6. Namaz is the ritual prayers of Muslims. 7. Islamic Center San Diego, the biggest mosque in the area 8. The mosque is often referred to as a masjid. 9. Iftar refers to the feast at the end of the day’s fasting. 10. The festival of Eid is celebrated twice in the Muslim calendar. Eid-ul-Fitr follows the holy month of Ramadan, while Eid-ul-Zuha is celebrated later in

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11.

12. 13.

14.

15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

20.

21.

the year, 70 days after the month of Ramadan. These are the most important festivals of Muslims all over the world. Prom refers to the formal dance of high school students in the USA, seen as a major social event. Some high schools allow prom in the last year of high school, while others have prom night for junior students as well. Bollywood refers to popular Indian cinema. The term desi refers to the people, culture and products of the Indian subcontinent. Many people of Indian origin refer to themselves and those like them as being desi, from the same land of origin. High schools in USA allow students to do courses at AP (Advanced Placement) level, which allows them to get course credit in College. Spiritual leader from the mosque. Halal refers to lawful or permissible food as allowed by the religious doctrine. ABCD—American Born Confused Desi Gujaratis are immigrants from the Indian state of Gujarat in Western India. Garba refers to the Gujarati dance and social gatherings that occur during the period of Navratri, just before the festival of Dassera. There are nine evenings of communal dancing, singing and feasting. Holi is the Hindu festival of colors, which indicates that onset of spring. Celebrated with great gusto with powered colors and water in many parts of Northern and Western India Indian classical dance form.

REFERENCES Agar, M. (2006). An ethnography by any other name . . . [149 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(4), Art. 36. http://nbnresolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0604367. Bagby, I., Perl, P. M., & Froehle, B. T. (2001). The mosque in America: A national portrait. Washington, DC: Council on American-Islamic Relations. Bhabha, H. (2004). The location of culture. London: Routledge. Bhalla, V. (2006). The new Indians: Reconstructing Indian identity in the United States. American Behavioral Scientist, 50(1), 118–136. Bhatia, S. (2007). American karma: Race, culture and identity in the Indian Diaspora. New York: New York University Press. El Guindi, F. (1999). Veil: Modesty, privacy and resistance. Oxford: Berg. Kawaja, K. (2001). Indian Muslims in America. The Milli Gazette, 2, 23. Kurien, P. A. (2005). Being young, Brown and Hindu: The identity struggles of second generation Indian Americans. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 34(4), 434–469. Leonard, K. I. (2003). Muslims in the United States: The state of research. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Leonard, K. I. (1992). Making ethnic choices: California’s Punjabi-Mexican Americans. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Mohammad-Arif, A. (2000). A Masala identity: Young South Asian Muslims in the U.S. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 20(1 & 2), 67–87.

Negotiating Identities in Immigrant Families    249 Mohammad-Arif, A. (2002). Salaam America: South Asian Muslims in New York. London: Anthem Press. Translated from French by Sarah Patey. Moinian, F. (2009). “I’m just me”: Children talking beyond ethnic and religious identities. Childhood, 16(1), 31–48. DOI: 10.1177/0907568208101689 Peek, L. (2005). Becoming Muslim: The development of a religious identity. Sociology of Religion, 66(3), 215–242. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4153097 Pew Research Center (2007). Muslim Americans: Middle class and mostly mainstream. The Pew forum on religion & public life. Washington D.C. http:// pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf Pew Research Center (2009). Mapping the global Muslim population: A report on the Size and distribution of the world’s Muslim population. The Pew forum on religion & public life. Washington D.C. Sahay, A. (2009). Indian Diaspora in the United States: Brain drain or gain? Lanham: Lexington Books. Seul, J. R. (1999). “Ours is the way of God”: Religion, identity and intergroup conflict. Journal of Peace Research, 36(5), 553–569. DOI: 10.1177/0022343399036 005004 Sheth, P. (2001). Indians in America one stream, two waves, three generations. Jaipur: Rawat Publications. Sodhi, P. (2008). Bicultural identity Formation of second generation Indo-Canadians. Candian Ethnic Studies, 40(2), 187–199. DOI: 10.1353/ces.2010.0005 Sriram, S., & Vaid, S. (2011). Being Muslim: A study of Muslim youth in Delhi. In P. Singh, P. Bain, L. Chan-Hoong, G. Misra,  & Y. Ohtsubo (Eds.), Identity, multiculturalism and changing societies: Psychological, group and cultural processes, (Progress in Asian Social Psychology Series, Vol. 8) MacMillan Publishers. Stryker, S. (1980). Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cumming. Warner, R.S. (2007). The role of religion in the process of segmented assimilation. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 612, 100– 115. DOI: 10.1177/0002716207301189.

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CHAPTER 10

REPRESENTATIONS AND SOCIAL BELONGING An Idiographic Approach to Community and Identity1 Gordon Sammut University of Malta Mohammad Sartawi London School of Economics Marco Giannini Chiara Labate Università di Firenze

ABSTRACT The present chapter provides an idiographic formulation of identity in terms of a process of identification undertaken by individuals in social relations who negotiate community on the basis of interests. Individuals are demonstrated to draw on semiotic structures provided by social representations to negotiate identity. The form this identification takes differs on the basis of the

Multicentric Identities in a Globalizing World, pages 251–278 Copyright © 2014 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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252    G. SAMMUT et al. particular point of view that individuals adopt that marks them as identical to some and simultaneously sets them apart from others. We report two studies that demonstrate this identification. The first study is a social representations inquiry into the self-stereotypes of the Maltese. This demonstrates that the Maltese attribute to themselves both more positive and more negative traits relative to European counterparts. The second study demonstrates how these attributes serve as semiotic structures in the construction of identities negotiated by Maltese immigrants to a European country, that functionally position them in community with others. The form this community takes is shown to depend on the openness immigrants demonstrate to identify with certain others. These studies demonstrate two important points. Firstly, they demonstrate how different points of view are implicated in different community relations. Secondly, the idiographic focus undertaken in our inquiry demonstrates that identity and community, rather than being an influence unto each other, are rather mutually constitutive of each other.

In the psychological literature, identity is first and foremost expressed as a characteristic of the self. The self is represented as the individual within his/ her subjectivity (a thinking, acting, feeling entity) on the one hand, and as a representation of that subjectivity from an ‘other’ point of view. On the one hand the self is an acting agent with needs and motivations, and on the other the self can be objectified, assessed, or reflected upon from a position of that which is other than self (see Wagner, 2004 for a brief historical review of the concept of ‘self’ in the social sciences). Identity emerges as a product of the latter conception of self. It is an assessment, description, or reflection of the self from the position of that which is ‘other’ than self. The awareness, reflection, or evaluation of the individual of his/her own self constitute the subject’s point of view, privileged access to which is gained through introspection (Farkas, 2008). For psychology, however, this can only be achieved through the juxtaposition of self to an ‘other’ perspective (Mead, 1934; Rogers, 1951; Festinger, 1954; Goffman, 1958; Kuhn, 1960). A description can take place on several different dimensions. In everyday talk we may be described, and present ourselves or others, in terms of social roles, ethnic affiliations, political inclinations, personality types, and many other dimensions. At the root of these epistemological concerns is the problem of distinction between self and other. Social-psychological approaches to self and identity hold that this distinction materializes as a problem of relating the individual to the social world and locating the self and its attributes appropriately within this relationship. This location necessarily entails adopting an appropriate level of analysis to pursue the focus of inquiry. Approaches to social psychology range from emphasis on the social (Mead, 1934; Moscovici, 1961/2008; Potter & Wetherell, 1987) to more individual-based (Allport, 1961; Festinger, 1954) levels of analyses in questions relating to the self and identity.

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Alongside the problem of whether the self exists a priori or whether it emerges or acquires meaning/definition through social mediation, is the question of whether the self is seen primarily as the agent through which identity is shaped or whether identity is largely a product of the social environment. Here again approaches range from a focus primarily on the individual or the subject (e.g., Erikson, 1968) to approaches that see identity as a product of prescriptive socially constructed knowledge structures (see Wrong, 1961). Within social psychology, however, regardless of levels of analyses or emphases, identity is largely seen as an emergent property of individual-social relations. The Oxford English Dictionary’s (1989) relevant definitions of identity are as follows: The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration; absolute or essential sameness; oneness. The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.

This reflects some of the considerations outlined above, namely that identity is, at the same time, an attribute that is shared among individuals as a property of groups, and a personal idiosyncratic construct that distinguishes an individual from others and gives her/him a sense of continuity. The etymological roots of the term (Latin: identitatem; nom: identitas), however, prioritize the sharedness aspects of identity, over the distinguishing features of individuality that have become synonymous with contemporary descriptions of the self. Etymologically, identity is what makes human subjects ‘identical’. Another meaning that is derived from the first definition, in accord with the etymological meaning of the term, is that of stability and essence (Verkuyten, 2003; Holtz & Wagner, 2009). Indeed, when one speaks of identity one often refers to such reified categories as race, ethnicity, and nation to name a few. The idea that certain attributes or characteristics that are observed within a social category may be the product of some inherent, primordial aspect of that category’s existence, could have quite damaging implications to conceptualizations of race, gender, ethnicity, or almost any other group. This has brought heavy criticism to the use of the word ‘identity’ as a conceptual and analytic term from post-modern and/or anti-essentialist approaches (e.g., Hall, 1996; Butler, 1999). Identity, rather, is construed as a context-dependent, fluid, and malleable social construct that is constantly being reconstructed and is never a finished product (Potter & Wetherell, 1987; Hall, 1996; Howarth, 2002; Reicher, 2004).

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Brubaker & Cooper (2000) take issue with this multifaceted, heterogeneous, and varied use of the term. In reviewing the various conceptualizations of ‘identity’ in the social science literature, they present several criticisms to its continued use. These authors propose several alternatives to the use of the word, and view it as necessarily dispensable. This, we believe, is too radical a proposition as the term nevertheless conveys many of the meanings that it represents in the literature, and is routinely exchanged in communication in everyday life. To simply negate the concept may complicate matters rather than clarify them. We believe that the social sciences are required to face the challenge of operationalizing the term in a way that is appropriate within a specific conceptual framework, while maintaining a critical and reflective approach to its employment. We aim to undertake such a task in this chapter by allying the term with an idiographic approach to the social sciences. Hall (1996) proposes two different solutions to the problem of reconciling an anti-essentialist critique of identity and the need to employ it, as has historically been the case. The first, according to Hall, is: “to observe something distinctive about the deconstructive critique to which many of these essentialist concepts have been subjected.” Hall argues that unlike critiques that aim to supplant the approach, our first task is to revisit the concept and subject it to ‘erasure’. Identity may no longer be serviceable in its original conceptualization, but neither has it been dialectically superseded. An alternative solution to revising the concept, according to Hall, “requires us to note where, in relation to what set of problems, does the irreducibility of the concept, identity, emerge?.” According to Hall, this lies in the terms centrality to issues of agency and politics (Hall, 1996, pp. 1–2). Hall’s second solution is exemplified in Modood’s (1998) ‘politics of recognition’. Modood (1998) opposes anti-essentialism and cautions this could become “inherently destructive” (p. 380). Modood’s view is that attempts made to reconcile theoretical problems either recreate them or completely eradicate the factors that they were designed to query. Modood proposes that one does neither have to believe that cultures, nor ethnic groups as agents of culture, have a primordial existence defined by an essence hidden behind their altering configurations, because cultures are made through change. In his plea for recognizing Muslims as a community defined by Islam, Modood does not simply argue that essentializing frameworks may be potentially destructive and should thus be employed with caution, he further argues that it is not ‘essence’ that is useful in individuating people or cultures. Rather, it is the ability to make historical connections and observe change and continuity, as in the analogy of the English language found in diverse authors like Shakespeare, Dickens, and Churchill. Attempting to define, in Modood’s case, a Muslim community

Representations and Social Belonging    255

on the grounds of a singular identity shared by all Muslims, obscures the diverse forms of cultural expression that give rise to various Islamic identities. Brubaker & Cooper (2000) highlight further uses of ‘identity’ beyond those identified above: A conception of identity that emphasizes the manner in which action, both individual and/or collective is driven by “particularistic self-understanding rather than putatively universal self-interest” (p. 6, emphasis in original) (see also Somers, 1994). In many approaches, positioning and location within a social space is highlighted with regards to either ‘particularistic categorical attributes’ (e.g., gender, ethnicity, etc. . . . ) or ‘universally conceived social structure’ (such as occupational structure for example) (see Cohen, 1985). A conception that views identity as the product of social or political action. Within this view, identity processes and the development of collective self-understanding and group cohesion through interaction take precedence. In this view identity is seen as both the product and foundation of social action (e.g., Reicher & Hopkins, 2001). A largely Foucauldian, post-structuralist, or post-modernist conception that views identity as the product of multiple and competing discourses highlighting the fluctuating and unstable characteristic of the modern self (e.g., Hall, 1996). This view is also predominant in some of the “contextualist” or “situationalist” approaches to studies on ethnicity. In these uses of the term, one notes a number of emergent issues. Firstly, where is the self located with regards to the collective? And how much of identity as defining of self should be located in subjectivities within a given conceptual framework? A perhaps related but different question is how much of identity can be attributed to the individual self or the social environment? There are also methodological considerations that need to be explored as to how one can arrive at an understanding of self-definitions. Is identity something that we say we are or something that we do? If the answer is the latter, in line with a formulation of identity in terms of social action, what form or shape does this doing take? In other words, how ought social scientists to direct focus of inquiry in order to capture a representative image of a given identity and make sense of it? These questions have motivated our undertaking of an idiographic study of immigrant identity in the light of a nomothetic inquiry of self-stereotypes. Whilst these two frameworks often seem mutually exclusive, we agree with Rosa (2008) that these are complementary in achieving the dual aim of explaining and understanding social phenomena. Before proceeding to the findings of this research, it is worth highlighting certain points. Our studies, in focusing on immigrants and their efforts at community, examine collective group identities, or self-understandings, that are derived from socialization within, and membership to, various

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social groups. Therefore, central to our studies are self-other relations and their situation within historically and socially contextualized fields of interaction. We make no attempt to explore the self as bound within characterological or personality-based structures. Rather, we make an effort to locate the self as emergent from, whilst located within and inseparable from, a social environment. In addition, our approach to identity aims at its consideration as both and at once a product (or perhaps better yet an unfinished and ongoing project) and basis for different forms of action. This approach necessitates an attempt to locate identity within both established and ongoing evolving discourses. For this reason, we adopt an overarching social representations framework (Chryssides et al., 2009) to localize identity and understand individual and collective taken-for-granted, every day practices and routine forms of social interaction. SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS: OPERATIONALIZING SELF AND IDENTITY IN CULTURE AND ACTION Humans, and indeed on some level perhaps all animals, have a need to make sense of their surroundings. Therefore social groups familiarize their worlds by co-constructing social reality through interaction and communication in a way that enables subjects to orient their behaviors and actions towards their worlds and each other in meaningful ways (Moscovici, 1972). In the process, human subjects build socially shared knowledge systems that represent their worlds (Chryssides et al., 2009). The form these knowledge systems take is contingent upon the processes of co-construction and sense-making that take place within a social group in an attempt to ‘domesticate’ the world and make it their own. It logically follows then that the resulting social representations are group-specific, and serve to provide a basis for a shared sense of belonging, and thus identity, among individuals within a group as distinguished from other groups. As Wagner and Hayes (2005) note, “A domesticated world is always a world for a specific group, while at the same time the reason which makes a group specific” (p. 263; emphasis in original). This social world is shaped through social and historical experiences of the group as its members develop and adapt their sense of distinctiveness and common purpose and their need to make the unfamiliar familiar. As Jovchelovitch (2007) argues, “there is no system of knowing that does not seek to represent identity, community, past and future as well as to hold enough power to institute itself over time” (p. 113). The utility of social representations theory in studying identity has been demonstrated by a vast range of its applications by various researchers exploring group identities (Lloyd & Duveen, 1990; Howarth, 2002; Breakwell, 2001; Philogène, 1999). As noted above, our studies seek to examine identity

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both as product (content) and as a basis for action (process). As Chryssides and colleagues (2009) argue, the term social representation can be used to denote both. Aside from representational content, the processes that have been studied in social representations studies are located in the everyday communication of social actors. These are processes of re-presentation through which individuals engage with one another in a concerted effort at constructing, reconstructing, contesting, and negotiating social knowledge (see Jovechelovich, 2007). With regards to identity this can mean various forms of resisting representational content, such as derogatory stereotypes and stigmatization (Howarth, 2002). There is an implicit link then between identity and representation. It becomes clear from this that social representations are not only produced through practical experience of the world, in acting upon social environments and through socialization. They also function to orient social behavior towards aspects of the environment in consensually validated, ‘appropriate’ ways (Wagner & Hayes, 2005). Therefore, representations are produced from and enacted in everyday life. Consequently, social representations function as prescriptive, non-conscious, and well established forms of social knowledge as well as means for the reproduction and reconstruction of knowledge. This epistemological framework has guided our study of immigrant identities, as at once products and processes, in light of the conceptions of identity detailed above. We sought firstly to chart the representational content of the ‘Maltese’ as a characteristic type for the Maltese as a social group. Our first study thus investigated the self-stereotypes of the Maltese in Malta. This provided a detailed understanding of the semiotic structures that Maltese migrants in their turn have at their disposition, through their social representations of themselves, in constructing and negotiating their identities. Migration, by its very nature, brings identity concerns to the fore as immigrants negotiate social functioning in a different, normative social firmament (Chryssochoou, 2004; Moghaddam, 2010; Rudmin, 2010, Sammut, 2011). Our second study thus investigated identity in three cases of Maltese migrants who, in spite of their similar social demographics and personal narratives, negotiated different forms of belonging and thus different social identities. They did this by virtue of different points of view they held with regard to their own migration, and in terms of the differential use they demonstrated of the semiotic descriptors of Maltese nature that they each had available as Maltese, given in the social representations of themselves as Maltese, as detailed in Study 1. We proceed to present these studies in turn, before discussing the findings in light of the epistemological framework we have adopted, the proceeds of an idiographic undertaking, and the various conceptions of identity prevalent in the psychological literature.

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STUDY 1: SELF-STEREOTYPES AS SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE MALTESE The first study we report in this chapter investigated national identity and supra-national identity of the Maltese in Malta. This study explored the common qualities that the Maltese associate with their own identity and character as Maltese. These self-stereotypes, that is, social representations of the Maltese character, constitute for the Maltese semiotic structures that are drawn on in the formulation and negotiation of a Maltese identity. The study further queried the evaluation of these qualities as these might pertain to the European character, in view of the overarching focus of investigating identity across community boundaries. Method The study was undertaken during the latter quarter of 2009 with a sample of students at the University of Malta, and subsequently with a convenience sample of Maltese citizens of different demographic characteristics. The study involved the administration and quantitative evaluation of self-stereotypes. This was undertaken through the administration of the European Opinion Survey-Revised (EOS-R) (Stefanile, Giannini & Smith, 2003; Matera, Giannini, Blanco, & Smith, 2005; Smith, Giannini, Helkama, Maczynski, & Stumpf, 2005). The tool employs a seven-point Likert-type rating ranging from least favourable to most favourable of a series of sixteen traits in terms of their characterization of the Maltese personality in the first instance, and of the European personality in the second. Subsequently, the instrument measures the favourability of these items on a similar scale to identify which of these are desirable and positively regarded traits, or otherwise. Such measures afford the computation of a positive and negative stereotype bias for local identity on the one hand and European identity on the other, as well as the relative comparison of the two in terms of which traits are characteristic of which group and how desirable a state this might be. More importantly, what concerned us most in this inquiry was the attribution of which traits to the Maltese and which to the European, and, more specifically, in which ways were the Maltese held to be better or worse relative to their European counterparts. These relative appraisals constitute semiotic structures that Maltese individuals are able to draw on in social relations with Europeans and in their negotiation of Maltese identity in intercommunity encounters. The sixteen traits adopted for this analysis were selected following a pilot study undertaken in May 2009 with 53 students of the University of Malta, all of whom Maltese nationals, who were asked to list five positive attributes

Representations and Social Belonging    259

of the Maltese and five negative ones, and to rate these on a seven-point scale of positivity. The 16 traits that occurred with most frequency and with the most extreme positivity/negativity ratings were chosen for compilation of the instrument. The eight positive traits were: Dħulin (sociable), Beżlin (hardworking), Ospitabbli (hospitable), Ferħanin (happy), Ta’ għajnuna (helpful), Ġenerużi (generous), Onesti (honest), and Reliġjużi (religious). The eight negative traits were: Storbjużi (loud/noisy), Nervusi (short-tempered), Sindikajri (nosy/gossipers), Għażżenin (lazy), Ħamalli (chavvy/ trash), Arroganti (arrogant), Razzisti (racist/xenophobic), and Moħħhom magħluq (closed-minded). The various traits were administered in an anonymous survey to a total of 372 students at the University of Malta, whose ages ranged from 17 to 46 years (M = 20.1, sd = 2.9), 64.9% of which were female. In addition 336 other Maltese nationals from various localities took part, aged between 15 and 89 years (M = 33.1, sd = 15.2), of which 59.5% females. The student sample was recruited in various locations of the university campus. The population sample was recruited in a number of bars, fast-food outlets, shops, public buildings, retail centres, streets, squares, and markets. For the latter sample, three distinct locations were targeted: the North-West (Mosta, Naxxar, Birkirkara, Sliema), the South-East (Valletta, Żabbar, Żurrieq), and Gozo2 (Victoria, Xgħajra). With regards to territoriality, respondents’ distribution was reasonably commensurable with the general population’s geographical distribution (NSO, 2006): 59.5% of the sample originate from the NorthWest (57.5% in the general population), 31.4 % from the South-East (34.8% in the general population), and 8.9% from Gozo (7.7% in the general population). Further, 15.3% of respondents claimed to have resided overseas for a period of at least four months. Out of these, 55.3% lived in another European nation, mainly the United Kingdom (33.7%) and Italy (11.5%), 24.3% in Australia, and 20.4% in the United States or North Africa. In the student sample, 78.6% of those who resided abroad for a prolonged period reported doing so for reasons related to their parents’ employment. In the general sample, 33.3% reports residing abroad for this very same reason, 37.5% report personal work motives and living conditions, 22.2% report study motives, and 6.9% cite other reasons such as extended vacation or sentimental relationships. Findings The entire series of attributes presented to respondents in this survey was deemed to represent the Maltese, except for laziness. All of the attributes received mean value ratings higher than four (the neutral point on the Likert scale), meaning that, in general, these traits are largely held to

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Figure 10.1  Mean values for traits attributed as typical of the Maltese.

be typical of the Maltese character (Figure 10.1). In general, the attributes ‘loud’ (M = 5.92), ‘nosy’ (M = 5.89), ‘religious’ (M = 5.33), and ‘short-tempered’ (M = 5.07) were regarded as the most typical traits of the Maltese. The attribution of these traits as distinctive of the Maltese in general is corroborated by the comparison with the attribution by the same sample of the same traits to Europeans. This comparison demonstrates that each trait is held to typify the Maltese much more than it typifies the European. Unlike the overall mean of the attributed traits for the Maltese (M = 4.99), the overall mean for all attributes for Europeans (M = 3.95) is in fact slightly less than the neutral midpoint of the scale (Figure 10.2). The trait by which Europeans are regarded in a most favourable way is ‘hardworking’ (M = 4.65), that is only slightly less than the extent to which this trait is attributed to the Maltese (M = 4.84). One has to bear in mind in this comparison that this study, in its eliciting attributes that pertain to the Maltese in the first instance, is a study of the semiotic structure of the social representation of the Maltese not Europeans. The social representation of Europeans in Malta would, in all likelihood, be structured along different content than the one that characterises the social representation of the Maltese. This, however, is beyond the scope of the present inquiry. In describing the social representation of the Maltese, it is nevertheless worth noting that six out of

Representations and Social Belonging    261

Figure 10.2  Mean values for traits attributed to Europeans relative to the Maltese.

the seven stereotypes that do not reach the mid-point of the scale (i.e., not considered representative of Europeans) are negatively connotated. These findings demonstrate that, for the Maltese, negative traits are held to be more characteristic of the Maltese than positive ones. However, positive traits, whilst held to also characterise Europeans (i.e., sociable, hardworking, hospitable, happy, helpful, generous, and honest), are accorded higher values to the same Maltese as well. The Maltese, therefore, and according to the same participants who are themselves Maltese, are both better as well as worse than Europeans in certain ways. Noteworthy differences emerged in comparing the student sample with the purposive general population sample. As Table 10.1 indicates, all of the 16 traits were appraised differently by the two groups. The general population values the Maltese more positively on the favourable traits than the student sample. The student sample, on the other hand, mostly accords the Maltese higher negative values on unfavorable traits (except short-temperedness) than does the general population. It is also worth noting that for the general population, it is the ‘generosity’ trait that is mostly representative of the Maltese (M = 5.83), as opposed to ‘loud’ for the student sample, whilst for students it is ‘honest’ that fails to emerge as representative

262    G. SAMMUT et al. TABLE 10.1  Comparative Analysis of Population/Student Self-Attributes Population

Dħulin (sociable) Beżlin (hardworking) Ospitabbli (hospitable) Ferħanin (happy) Ta’ għajnuna (helpful) Ġenerużi (generous) Onesti (honest) Reliġjużi (religious) Storbjużi (loud) Nervużi (short-tempered) Sindikajri (nosy) Għażżenin (lazy) Ħamalli (chavvy) Arroganti (arrogant) Razzisti (racist) Moħħhom magħluq (closed-minded) **

Students

t -Test

M

s

M

s

t

gdl

p

5.60 5.33 5.57 5.20 5.77 5.83 4.44 5.44 5.75 5.20 5.73 3.54 4.23 3.85 4.58 4.12

1.30 1.38 1.39 1.34 1.30 1.27 1.32 1.34 1.35 1.30 1.53 1.62 1.51 1.50 1.73 1.74

5.11 4.40 5.33 4.74 5.25 5.27 3.93 5.23 6.09 4.96 6.03 4.18 4.73 4.17 5.30 4.83

1.11 1.24 1.27 1.12 1.16 1.12 1.12 1.20 0.96 1.20 1.12 1.32 1.28 1.30 1.25 1.48

5.35 9.35 2.38 4.90 5.61 6.13 5.56 2.14 –3.82 2.52 –2.95 –5.76 –4.70 –2.96 –6.26 –5.85

661 699 700 648 705 702 661 706 598 705 607 648 703 663 601 658

.01** .01** .05* .01** .01** .01** .01** .05* .01** .05* .01** .01** .01** .01** .01** .01**

p < .01; * p < .05

of the Maltese character with a mean higher than the neutral midpoint (M = 3.93), as opposed to ‘lazy’ in the general population sample. When the same traits are evaluated separately for students and the general population with reference to the European character, however, only 10 traits are accorded different values by the two groups (Table 10.2). Discussion The self-stereotypes of the Maltese documented in this inquiry may or may not have a basis in ‘reality’. This is to say that according to some other point of view, or ‘objectively’ (i.e., from no point of view3) the Maltese may or may not be characterisable in these terms. The fact remains that for the Maltese, the Maltese are indeed characterisable in these terms. Social representations constitute social reality that exists for social groups sui generis (Moscovici, 2000). The aspects of the world that social groups adopt with regards to objects and elements in their environment are reality for that group (Jovchelovitch, 2007). It is in this way that social representations re-present reality for a group (Chryssides et al., 2009). Social representations constitute social knowledge as common-sense (Jocvhelovitch,

Representations and Social Belonging    263 TABLE 10.2  Comparative Analysis of Population/Student European Attributes Population

Dħulin (sociable) Beżlin (hardworking) Ospitabbli (hospitable) Ferħanin (happy) Ta’ għajnuna (helpful) Ġenerużi (generous) Onesti (honest) Reliġjużi (religious) Storbjużi (loud) Nervużi (short-tempered) Sindikajri (nosy) Għażżenin (lazy) Ħamalli (chavvy) Arroganti (arrogant) Razzisti (racist) Moħħhom magħluq (closed-minded) **

Students

t -Test

M

s

M

s

t

gdl

p

4.52 4.59 4.50 4.60 4.50 4.36 4.27 3.72 4.07 4.17 3.52 3.67 3.28 3.90 4.14 3.22

1.34 1.27 1.46 1.39 1.47 1.48 1.27 1.58 1.50 1.34 1.58 1.36 1.36 1.42 1.57 1.75

4.37 4.71 4.42 4.25 4.25 4.15 4.01 3.22 3.82 4.05 3.35 3.29 3.03 3.87 3.83 2.95

1.15 1.11 1.19 1.09 1.29 1.18 1.00 1.25 1.23 1.14 1.26 1.17 1.21 1.15 1.37 1.49

1.58 –1.30 .71 3.79 2.35 2.13 3.02 4.65 2.49 1.21 1.56 3.97 2.56 .36 2.77 2.22

664 661 639 632 663 632 628 636 647 656 629 655 667 642 705 657

n.s. n.s. n.s. .01** .05* .05* .01** .01** .05* n.s. n.s. .01** .05* n.s. .01** .05*

p < .01; * p < .05

2007)—matter-of-fact knowledge that for a social group is as a matter-ofcourse (Sammut & Gaskell, 2010). Social representations are ontologically systemic—existing across rather than inside individual minds (Wagner et al., 1999; see Chryssides et al., 2009; Sammut & Gaskell, 2010). Moreover, social representations are in themselves inherently perspectival, incorporating distinct and discrepant points of view (Clémence, 2001; Sammut, 2011; Harré & Sammut, 2013). This also means that whilst the Maltese recognise themselves, generally speaking, in these traits, these are nevertheless individually attributable to varying degrees. It would be misguided to presume on the basis of the findings of this study that every Maltese believes every other Maltese is equally loud, nosy, generous, and hospitable, including themselves. This is a methodological fallacy to which much social research of a nomothetic nature has been prone (see Lamiell, 2010). The significance of these findings is in demonstrating the semiotic structures that individuals versed in the social representation of the Maltese amongst the Maltese have at their disposal in articulating a perspective on the same Maltese. They can, to different degrees, construct a perspective that represents them in more positive terms relative to Europeans, as much as they can represent them in more negative terms. Either would constitute a fair

264    G. SAMMUT et al. .

representation according to a prevalent semiotic structure, from a particular point of view. In turn, others could relatively disagree and draw on the same general code to articulate a somewhat different point of view of the Maltese. This begs the question of how then do particular individuals develop particular points of view of the Maltese, and with what effect? It is to this concern that we turn next. STUDY 2: THE NEGOTIATION OF IDENTITY BY MALTESE MIGRANTS The second study we report draws on a study of Maltese immgrants to the United Kingdom. The study aimed at identifying whether the issue of open/ closed-mindedness, in terms of the social psychological propensity to relate to an other’s perspective, is a factor in successful intercultural encounters and acculturation outcomes, or otherwise. In other words, it aimed at discovering whether immigrants who adopt an open-minded (metalogical) perspective with regards to their acculturation are better or less able to integrate in their host society relative to those who adopt a bounded- (dialogical) or closed-minded (monological) perspective. Further details of this study have been reported elsewhere (see Sammut, 2010, 2012). Method The study, undertaken during the latter quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, involved a series of 32 qualitative in-depth interviews with a total of 40 migrants, eight of whom had re-patriated by the time of inquiry. Migrating couples were interviewed in tandem. During the interviews, respondents were asked about their migrating experiences, their expectations and experience of acculturation, their views on Britain and Malta, their relational networks, and their plans for the future. Following the interviews, respondents were classified into three categories representing their point of view type (Sammut & Gaskell, 2010). Respondents were classified as monological, dialogical, or metalogical. A monological point of view is one that is closed-minded and that fails to relate to an alternative perspective, justified on the grounds of the other perspective’s own legitimacy or logic. A dialogical point of view is a qualified point of view that accords another perspective a conditional legitimacy. In contrast, a metalogical point of view is able to appreciate the relative merits of distinct perspectives on their own inherent terms (see Sammut & Gaskell, 2010, for a more analytical definition; see Sammut, 2012, for a

Representations and Social Belonging    265

discussion of phenomenological states and processes that characterise the human capacity for perspective-taking). Categorisation was undertaken on the basis of case descriptions drawn up for each individual case (Flick, 2006) by two independent raters (rs = 0.905, p