Narrative Identities

George Yancy has held distinguished fellowships at Duquesne University, Pennsylvania, and New York University. His recent books include What White Looks Like: African-American Philosophers on the Whiteness Question and The Philosophical I: Personal Reflections on Life in Philosophy. His philosophical interests include narrative conceptions of the self, race and racism, and African-American thought. Susan Hadley is an associate professor in music therapy at Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania. She edited Psychodynamic Music Therapy: Case Studies and Feminist Voices in Music Therapy. Susan's other interests include narrative therapy, feminism, and psychodynamic music therapy.

I can imagine that convincing psychologists to put pen to paper to construct narratives of their own lives, revealing stories about significant influences in their personal and professional identities was no easy feat. Yancy and Hadley have done just this, and their edited book offers a fascinating way to gain greater insight into the theoretical ideas of key psychologists through their self-construction.

• Preface. 1. The Poetics of My Identity, Theodore R. Sarbin, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2. Lessons from Relics about Self and Identity, Karl E. Scheibe, Wesleyan University. 3. Objects, Meanings, and Connections in My Life and Career, David E. Leary, University of Richmond. 4. From Poppies to Ferns: The Discursive Production of a Life, Gerald Monk, San Diego State University. 5. Performing a Life (Story), Lois Holzman, Eastside Institute. 6. A Psychologist without a Country, or Living Two Lives in the Same Story, Dan P. McAdams, Northwestern University. 7. Life as a Symphony, Christopher M. Aanstoos, State University of West Georgia. 8. Moving On by Backing Away, John Shotter, University of New Hampshire. 9. Living with Authority in 'The Between', Hendrika Vande Kemp. 10. The Personal/Psychological and the Pursuit of a Profession, Adelbert H. Jenkins, New York University. 11. On Growing up as a 'Pre-Modernist', Steen Halling, Seattle University. 12. Life Reflections of a Nomadic Subject, Tod Sloan, Lewis and Clark College. 13. Autobiography, Ilene Serlin.