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When Mary Went through the Hole: Constructing and Contesting Individual and Family Identity through Narrative
- Journal of American Folklore
- American Folklore Society
- Volume 130, Number 518, Fall 2017
- pp. 419-437
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
This article explores how a brother and sister, now in their eighties, position themselves in their stories based on an episodic childhood memory. It considers the narratives as important resources for the tellers' identifying of both self and family and explores how sometimes conflicting accounts based on childhood memories, and shaped by adult interpretations, connect and separate family members, help individuals articulate who they are, and suggest how they should move forward.