3
This article was downloaded by: [Stony Brook University] On: 14 November 2014, At: 22:24 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Gender and Education Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cgee20 Narratives of identity and place Steven S. Sexton a a College of Education, The University of Otago , Dunedin , New Zealand Published online: 09 Feb 2012. To cite this article: Steven S. Sexton (2012) Narratives of identity and place, Gender and Education, 24:2, 246-247, DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2011.649985 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2011.649985 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

Narratives of identity and place

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Narratives of identity and place

This article was downloaded by: [Stony Brook University]On: 14 November 2014, At: 22:24Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Gender and EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cgee20

Narratives of identity and placeSteven S. Sexton aa College of Education, The University of Otago , Dunedin , NewZealandPublished online: 09 Feb 2012.

To cite this article: Steven S. Sexton (2012) Narratives of identity and place, Gender andEducation, 24:2, 246-247, DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2011.649985

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2011.649985

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Narratives of identity and place

Narratives of identity and place, by Stephanie Taylor, London, Routledge, 2010, xiv+ 146 pp., £32.50, ISBN 978-0-415-48047-5

Stephanie Taylor states that the empirical work she presents in this book explores howthe kinds of narratives that are linked to place provide rich and flexible resources forwomen’s work. This construction of a situated biographical narrative is part ofTaylor’s on-going project on personal identity. The use of empirical suggests thatwhat is to be presented is based on or characterised by observation and experiment,rather than theory, or that the work is derived from experience, not the application oflogic. Nonetheless, although the second sense of empirical would be the mostappropriate to the content of this book, this study is very clearly situated in theory.

Taylor uses the first chapter to ground her discussion in the most relevant andtopical theory, starting with ‘place’ and then quickly moving onto ‘identity’. She expli-citly draws on sources from psychology, sociology and other social sciences whichhave informed social psychology, as the stance of this text is that personal and socialidentity are inseparable. She then goes on to state that this text is an exposition ofher own approach and that it is presented as a guide for other researchers. Taylor,herself, lays out the limitations of her study very early on, citing its relatively lownumber of participants and their narrow demographical range. However, she thenoutlines the strengths of her methodology, stating that she is not seeking some imposs-ible total account of her participants’ experiences, but to explore how what they saycontributes to her own understanding of the importance of place and identity. Thesignificance of this text is reflected in Taylor’s claim that the generalisability of herfindings lies in the fact that the cultural and discursive resources that her participantsdraw on in expressing their identity are widely shared.

In Chapter 2, in the space of only 18 pages, Taylor provides a tidy and remarkablythorough account of the theory that informs her work. Here, she provides the back-ground needed by others interested in this type of narrative-discursive approach toidentity. The next five chapters present different aspects of this approach to identity.Chapter 3, titled ‘Place, gender and identity’, highlights two key aspects of narrativesthat inform Taylor’s understanding of how her participants see the impact of place onidentity. First, Taylor draws on participant extracts, to show the temporal aspect ofnarratives that link back to the past and suggest potential links to the future. Second,she shows how these narratives act as cultural or discursive resources that enablepeople to not only make sense of their experiences, but also shape their expectationsof the future.

I see Chapter 4, ‘Places I remember: Memories and continuity in a life narrative’, asthe strongest chapter of the book. Here, Taylor demonstrates the power of her narrative-discursive approach to identity. The extracts clearly convey Taylor’s approach and aretightly woven into the discussions that link them together, demonstrating the advan-tages of this methodology. Chapter 5 continues to build on the idea of temporalityby focusing on her participants’ discursive work in constructing a forward narrativeof their lives; while Chapter 6 examines her participants through the lens of opportunityand choice. Chapter 7 offers one participant’s narrative as an example of how a partici-pant was not only able to voice several points already discussed across the body of thework, but also to present patterns within the talk. As with all her chapters, Taylor pre-sents the limitations of this approach and offers personal and theoretically groundedrebuttals to possible criticisms.

246 Book reviews

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ston

y B

rook

Uni

vers

ity]

at 2

2:24

14

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Page 3: Narratives of identity and place

In keeping with the rest of the book, Taylor provides a very concise concludingchapter of only six and a half pages. It draws together the advantages of this method-ology and explains how she has been able to use this narrative-discursive approach toidentity in her own research.

Stephanie Taylor has provided a succinct discussion of narrative, place and identitythat would be useful to most working and especially those studying in the socialsciences. She has presented a great deal of theory in very manageable pieces. Thisbook will provide students or any others interested in this field with the resourcesnecessary to further explore what has been very well presented subject.

Steven S. SextonCollege of Education, The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

[email protected]# 2012, Steven S. Sexton

Urban youth and schooling: the experiences and identities of educationally and ‘atrisk’ young people, by Louise Archer, Sumi Hollingworth and Heather Mendick,Berkshire and New York, Open University Press, 2010, 161 pp., £21 (paperback),£60 (hardback), ISBN 13: 978-0-33-522382-4 (paperback), 978-0-33-522383-1 (hard-back), ISBN 10: 0335223826 (paperback), 0335223834 (hardback)

This is a book that looks into a buzzword in social sciences today: the risk society.It particularly focuses on ‘youth at risk’ through a mixture of qualitative researchmethods, which include interviews with students, staff members and parents fromsix London schools, focus groups with students and photo-diaries. The book comprisesseven chapters: Chapter 1 gives the context of the research; Chapter 2 explores ques-tions around poverty and social class, with a particular focus on questions of space;Chapter 3 discusses current complexities and nuances in two classical sociologicalaxes of difference, namely ‘race’ and ethnicity and further looks into how they intersectwith cultural and spatial differences, kinship relations and religion. Chapter 4 examinesmasculinities and femininities as multiple and intersectional identities. Chapter 5 criti-cises current educational policies pointing to the need for more complex understandingtowards what has already been delineated in the previous chapters as a complex reality.Chapter 6 looks at teachers’, students’ and parents’ perceptions of pedagogicalpractices, ways of assessment and curricula development in the London urban schoolsunder investigation. Finally, Chapter 7 not only explores perceptions and attitudes butalso negotiations and resistance vis-a-vis current policies that aim to engage youngpeople imposing neo-liberal agendas about the subject and her world.

The book is clear and well written, sometimes maybe, too orderly for my taste; Ithought for example that the repetition of a very short conclusion at the end of eachchapter could have been diversified a bit, although I understand that the authors had tofollow some editorial directions that have targeted the book to include undergraduate audi-ences. Having said that, the book clearly reflects the results of a very carefully designedresearch project that was conducted not only with a great deal of sensitivity towards thedemands and nuances of social sciences empirical research but also demonstrating ahighly reviewed and elaborated theoretical background from the side of the authors. I

Book reviews 247

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ston

y B

rook

Uni

vers

ity]

at 2

2:24

14

Nov

embe

r 20

14