Narration, Identity, and Historical Consciousness (Making Sense of History, 3)

A generally acknowledged characteristic of modern life, namely the temporalization of experience, inextricable from our intensified experience of contingency and difference, has until now remained largely outside psychology’s purview. Wherever questions about the development, structure, and function of the concept of time have been posed – for example by Piaget and other founders of genetic structuralism – they have been concerned predominantly with concepts of "physical", chronometrical time, and related concepts (e.g., "velocity"). All the contributions to the present volume attempt to close this gap. A larger number are especially interested in the narration of stories. Overviews of the relevant literature, as well as empirical case studies, appear alongside theoretical and methodological reflections. Most contributions refer to specifically historical phenomena and meaning-constructions. Some touch on the subjects of biographical memory and biographical constructions of reality. Of all the various affinities between the contributions collected here, the most important is their consistent attention to issues of the constitution and representation of temporal experience. Contents Preface to the Series Foreword Part I THEORETICAL POSITIONS AND REFLECTIONS CHAPTER 1 Narrative Psychology and Historical Consciousness Relationships and Perspectives CHAPTER 2 Past and Present as Narrative Constructions CHAPTER 3 Telling Stories, Making History Toward a Narrative Psychology of the Historical Construction of Meaning CHAPTER 4 Narrative, Moral Identity, and Historical Consciousness: A Social Constructionist Account CHAPTER 5 Narrative Truth and Identity Formation: Abduction and Abuse Stories as Metaphors Part 2 ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NARRATIVE COMPETENCE AND HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS CHAPTER 6 The Concept of Time and the Faculty of Judgment in the Ontogenesis of Historical Consciousness CHAPTER 7 Historical Consciousness: The Progress of Knowledge in a Postprogressive Age Part 3 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH/ CASE STUDIES CHAPTER 8 Empirical Psychological Approaches to the Historical Consciousness of Children CHAPTER 9 The Psychological Study of Historical Consciousness CHAPTER 10 Biography—A Dream? Self-Chronicling in the Age of Psychoanalysis CHAPTER 11 Authenticity and Authority On Understanding the Shoah CHAPTER 12 Albert Speer’s Memories of the Future On the Historical Consciousness of a Leading Figure in the Third Reich Bibliography Notes on Contributors Index of Names "A generally acknowledged characteristic of modern life, namely the temporalization of experience, inextricable from our intensified experience of contingency and difference, has until now remained largely outside psychology's purview. Wherever questions about the development, structure, and function of the concept of time have been posed - for example by Piaget and other founders of genetic structuralism - they have been concerned predominantly with concepts of "physical", chronometrical time, and related concepts (e.g. "velocity"). All the contributions to the present volume attempt to close this gap. A larger number are especially interested in the narration of stories. Overview of the relevant literature, as well as empirical case studies, appear alongside theoretical and methodological reflections. Most contributions refer to specifically historical phenomena and meaning-constructions. Some touch on the subjects of biographical memory and biographical constructions of reality. Of all the various affinities between the contributions collected here, the most important is their consistent attention to issues of the constitution and representation of temporal experience."--BOOK JACKET. The construction of historical meaning, according to Straub (psychology, Chemnitz U. of Technology, Germany), has until now largely remained outside the purview of the discipline of psychology. In this work he presents 12 papers exploring the questions about a narrative psychology of historical consciousness, many drawn from a symposium titled "Historical Meaning-Construction: Interdisciplinary Research into the Structure, Logic, and Function of Historical Consciousness--an Intercultural Comparison." The papers first consider theoretical positions, dealing with questions of narrative and moral identity, narrative truth and identity formation, and past and present as narrative construction. Later, the results of empirical research are presented and address the writing of biographies in the age of psychoanalysis, the historical consciousness of Nazi official Albert Speer, constructions of the Holocaust, and the historical consciousness of children. Annotation :2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)