Life histories of people who stutter : on becoming someone.
Loading...
Date
2003
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study explores participants' experiences of stuttering in their lifeworlds over
time through the lens of self-identity formations. The critical questions raised are:
How do participants form their self-identities in their lifeworlds over time in
relation to stuttering? In the context of their self-identity formations, how do they
negotiate stuttering? A narrative life history methodology was used with intention
to access personal, temporal and social dimensions of experience. Seven adult
participants, two female and five male participants, with histories of living with
stuttering since childhood, were invited to share their stories. Their personal
experiences are embedded in diverse lifeworlds in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,
a context making a sociopolitical transition from apartheid to democracy. The
data was produced through retrospective accounts of their experiences via a
series of dialogical interviews. Issues of empathy, power, and positioning and
quality in the research process are problematised. The data was analysed at
three levels. The first level of analysis entailed a narrative analysis of interview
data, represented as seven individual research stories. The second level of
analysis is a cross-case analysis using the seven research stories for the
purposes of theorising. The outcomes of the third level of analysis are
abstractions and explanatory concepts which respond to the critical questions in
a general way.
The genesis of two self-identity trajectories, self-identity as DisOther and self-identity
as Able/Potential are traced over time. The biographical, contextual and
social forces shaping self-identity formations and participants' actions in
negotiating stuttering are illuminated. The self-identity trajectories are unique in
the context of each biography. However, the relative prominence of self-identity
formation as DisOther across cases in school years was evident. In contrast,
self-identity as Able/Potential became prominent, during adulthood, for some
participants. The experience is rendered as complex and fluid through a set of
abstractions and explanatory concepts. These concepts foreground the changing
and multiple relationships between self-identity formations, the influence of social
forces shaping self-identity, the impact critical catalysts shaping self-identity
formations, and strategic manipulation of self-identity in negotiating stuttering. In
particular, the strategies to negotiate stuttering successfully are examined. The
limitations of the study and potential application of this theoretical offering in the
research, educational and clinical domains of Speech-Language Pathology are
discussed.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2003.
Keywords
Stuttering., Special education., Theses--Education.