Telling a Family Culture: Storytelling, Family Identity, and Cultural Membership
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Huisman, Dena
Abstract / Description
This study examines the role of public performance of private family identity through family storytelling. Using Narrative Performance Theory (Langellier & Peterson, 2006a), stories told as part of The Library of Congress’s StoryCorps project were analyzed for how families publicly told private family stories to identify themselves as a particular family as well as a culturally appropriate family in the modern United States. Five themes of cultural identity in family stories were identified. The study found that families largely focused on positive stories that portrayed the family as pro-social and happy. Negative stories focused on how the family overcame their adversities as a group. Laughter was used to minimize face-threatening stories. The construction of the group identity was framed in such a way as to connect the family group to a larger culture that values independence, self-reliance, and cohesion as a family group. The study concludes by arguing that more work should be done to understand how public and private communication in families shape our understanding of what it means to be a family.
Persistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2014-12-19
Journal title
Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
Volume
8
Issue
2
Page numbers
144–158
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Huisman, D. (2014). Telling a Family Culture: Storytelling, Family Identity, and Cultural Membership. Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 8(2), 144–158. https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v8i2.152
-
ijpr.v8i2.152.pdfAdobe PDF - 380.57KBMD5: 7098b409dd60e198e9798b6d69a3b595
-
There are no other versions of this object.
-
Author(s) / Creator(s)Huisman, Dena
-
PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-12-05T08:44:37Z
-
Made available on2018-12-05T08:44:37Z
-
Date of first publication2014-12-19
-
Abstract / DescriptionThis study examines the role of public performance of private family identity through family storytelling. Using Narrative Performance Theory (Langellier & Peterson, 2006a), stories told as part of The Library of Congress’s StoryCorps project were analyzed for how families publicly told private family stories to identify themselves as a particular family as well as a culturally appropriate family in the modern United States. Five themes of cultural identity in family stories were identified. The study found that families largely focused on positive stories that portrayed the family as pro-social and happy. Negative stories focused on how the family overcame their adversities as a group. Laughter was used to minimize face-threatening stories. The construction of the group identity was framed in such a way as to connect the family group to a larger culture that values independence, self-reliance, and cohesion as a family group. The study concludes by arguing that more work should be done to understand how public and private communication in families shape our understanding of what it means to be a family.en_US
-
Publication statuspublishedVersion
-
Review statuspeerReviewed
-
CitationHuisman, D. (2014). Telling a Family Culture: Storytelling, Family Identity, and Cultural Membership. Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 8(2), 144–158. https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v8i2.152en_US
-
ISSN1981-6472
-
Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1826
-
Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2192
-
Language of contenteng
-
PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
-
Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v8i2.152
-
Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
-
TitleTelling a Family Culture: Storytelling, Family Identity, and Cultural Membershipen_US
-
DRO typearticle
-
Issue2
-
Journal titleInterpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
-
Page numbers144–158
-
Volume8
-
Visible tag(s)Version of Record