Narrative Psychology And Vygotsky In Dialogue: Changing Subjects (concepts For Critical Psychology)

This book draws together two domains of psychological theory, Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory of cognition and narrative theories of identity, to offer a way of rethinking the human subject as embodied, relational and temporal. A dialogue between these two ostensibly disparate and contested theoretical trajectories provides a new vantage point from which to explore questions of personal and political change. In a world of deepening inequalities and increasing economic precarity, the demand for free, decolonised quality education as articulated by the South African Student Movement and in many other contexts around the world, is disrupting established institutional practices and reinvigorating possibilities for change. This context provokes new lines of hopeful thought and critical reflection on (dis)continuities across historical time, theories of (social and psychological) developmental processes and the practices of intergenerational life, particularly in the domain of education, for the making of emancipatory futures. This is essential reading for academics and students interested in Vygotskian and narrative theory and critical psychology, as well as those interested in the politics and praxis of higher education. Dedication 6 Contents 8 Series editor preface 10 Author preface 12 Acknowledgements 17 Section 1: Changing subjects: theorising personhood 20 1 Vygotsky’s narrative subject 22 2 The subject of psychology: a narrative of Vygotsky and critical psychologies 49 Section 2: Conceptual tools from the south: changing the subject of psychology 76 3 Ubuntu: reconceptualising personhood 78 4 (Mis)understandings and active ignorance 99 Section 3: Intergenerational subjects in changing worlds 122 5 The question of potential: a narrative of Vygotsky in action, then and now 124 6 Educating (our)selves: narratives of (un)learning and being 152 7 Histories and hope: acting, thinking and being in the present 173 Bibliography 192 Index 210 This book brings together Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory of cognition, and narrative theories of identity or subjectivity.