A narrative reading of a female adolescent's process of self construction

M.Ed.South African psychologists have been called upon to question the appropriateness of the theories and methodologies employed to frame their experiences and inquiries. This study offers an alternate theoretical orientation to traditional Western modernist thought with regard to the development of human identity. A narrative understanding of self is presented as such an alternative. The research aim and its consequent methodology evolved from the understanding that knowledge is socially constructed and that there are many valid ways of thinking about and working with persons. To present a narrative interpretation of a female adolescent's self, based on her life story as it emerged within the context of narrative therapy, is the research purpose. That self can be viewed as narrative, comprises the central thesis of this work. This study supports the contention that narrative is fundamental in the presentation, preservation and transformation of personal identit