On (Writing) Families : a Autoethnographies of Presence and Absence, Love and Loss

"Who are we with--and without--families? How do we relate as children to our parents, as parents to our children? How are parent-child relationships--and familial relationships in general--made and (not) maintained? Informed by narrative, performance studies, poststructuralism, critical theory, and queer theory, contributors to this collection use autoethnography--a method that uses the personal to examine the cultural--to interrogate these questions. The essays write about/around issues of interpersonal distance and closeness, gratitude and disdain, courage and fear, doubt and certainty, openness and secrecy, remembering and forgetting, accountability and forgiveness, life and death. Throughout, family relationships are framed as relationships that inspire and inform, bind and scar--relationships replete with presence and absence, love and loss. An essential text for anyone interested in autoethnography, personal narrative, identity, relationships, and family communication."--Publisher. 1. Introduction / Jonathan Wyatt and Tony E. Adams 2. Fatherly love / Mort Mather 3. Always strange: transforming loss / Stacy Holman Jones 4. On gratitude, for my father / Craig Gingrich-Philbrook 5. Confessions of a feminist mother raising a preteen daughter / Patricia Leavy 6. Roses and grime: tattoos, texts, and failure / Desirée Rowe 7. What's in a name? Secrets, haunting, and family ties / Liz Bondi 8. From absence to presence: finding mother, ever again / Mark Freeman 9. Corporeal kinship: dancing the entanglements of love and loss / Beatrice Allegranti 10. Ghost-child / Anne M. Harris 11. Living places / Jeannie Wright 12. My daddy is slick, brown, and cool like water / Robin M. Boylorn 13. The ghostwriter: living a father's unfinished narrative / Andrew F. Herrmann 14. Going home / Kitrina Douglas 15. Dying in the care of the NHS: fragments from a daughter's love song for her father / Jane Speedy 16. Temporary blindness / Gunnhildur Una Jonsdottir 17. Bedtime stories / Sophie Tamas 18. After dinners, in the garage, out of doors, and climbing on rocks: writing aesthetic moments of father-son / Derek M. Bolen 19. Ties that bind, ties that scar / Tony E. Adams and Jonathan Wyatt. Who are we with and without families? How do we relate as children to our parents, as parents to our children? How are parent-child relationships and familial relationships in general made and (not) maintained? Informed by narrative, performance studies, poststructuralism, critical theory, and queer theory, contributors to this collection use autoethnographya method that uses the personal to examine the culturalto interrogate these questions. The essays write about/around issues of interpersonal distance and closeness, gratitude and disdain, courage and fear, doubt and certainty, openness and secrecy, remembering and forgetting, accountability and forgiveness, life and death. Throughout, family relationships are framed as relationships that inspire and inform, bind and scarrelationships replete with presence and absence, love and loss. An essential text for anyone interested in autoethnography, personal narrative, identity, relationships, and family communication Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction....Pages 1-6 Fatherly Love....Pages 8-11 Always Strange....Pages 14-21 On Gratitude, for My Father....Pages 23-29 Confessions of a Feminist Mother Raising a Preteen Daughter....Pages 31-35 Roses and Grime....Pages 37-41 What’s in a Name?....Pages 43-48 From Absence to Presence....Pages 49-55 Corporeal Kinship....Pages 57-67 Ghost-Child....Pages 69-75 Living Places....Pages 77-83 My Daddy is Slick, Brown, and Cool Like Ice Water....Pages 85-93 The Ghostwriter....Pages 95-101 Going Home....Pages 103-114 Dying in the Care of the NHS....Pages 115-122 Temporary Blindness....Pages 123-129 Bedtime Stories....Pages 131-139 After Dinners, in the Garage, Out of Doors, and Climbing on Rocks....Pages 141-147 Ties that Bind, Ties that Scar....Pages 149-150