World Interrupted: An autoethnographic exploration into the rupture of self and family narratives following the onset of chronic illness and the death of a mother

TY - JOUR

T1 - World Interrupted: An autoethnographic exploration into the rupture of self and family narratives following the onset of chronic illness and the death of a mother

AU - Pearce, Caroline

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - Informed by the developments in autoethnography, narrative analysisand biographical sociology this paper seeks to affirm that understandingour narrative enables self-understanding and more importantly enables theunderstanding of others. Using an autoethnographic approach this paperexplores the rupture in self and family identity following two traumaticevents: the onset of a chronic illness (Multiple Sclerosis) and the death of amother. It is the story of the life of my mother, who suffered with MS for 9years and the story of my sister and myself, who cared for her throughoutour childhood up to her death in 2000. The rupture in identity that wesuffered interrupted the world in which we lived and exposed the contentsof our individual and collective world(s). The themes that emerged from thenarratives in this study suggest rupture is experienced as a movement oftransgression that leads to movements of regression and progression.

AB - Informed by the developments in autoethnography, narrative analysisand biographical sociology this paper seeks to affirm that understandingour narrative enables self-understanding and more importantly enables theunderstanding of others. Using an autoethnographic approach this paperexplores the rupture in self and family identity following two traumaticevents: the onset of a chronic illness (Multiple Sclerosis) and the death of amother. It is the story of the life of my mother, who suffered with MS for 9years and the story of my sister and myself, who cared for her throughoutour childhood up to her death in 2000. The rupture in identity that wesuffered interrupted the world in which we lived and exposed the contentsof our individual and collective world(s). The themes that emerged from thenarratives in this study suggest rupture is experienced as a movement oftransgression that leads to movements of regression and progression.

M3 - Article

SN - 1733-8077

VL - 4

SP - 131

EP - 149

JO - Qualitative Sociology Review

JF - Qualitative Sociology Review

IS - 1

ER -