Connecting dots: Family Reminiscence

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

  • Kyoko Murakami
  • Rachel L. Jacobs
Reminiscence is a self-reflecting process on past events and experiences. Not only does it enable past experiences to be brought to light through talk, but it also creates an affective environment, which allows participants to explore and construct a representation of the self (Buchanan and Middleton, 1995). A reminiscence conversation is a dynamic talk-in-interaction, which can produce valuable learning experience for the participants involved. Reminiscence talk contains rich, personal, historic data that can reveal and inform family members of an unknown past. In this seminar/chapter, we shall present a discursive approach, a methodology that captures the dynamics of reminiscence. We analyse collected conversational data of British family members reminiscing on their past as a joint family activity. Through such talk-in-interaction, the family members develop continuity within the family history. We explore how intergenerational relationships are formed through associations with membership categories and reveal how vital information is passed onto future generations. Unlike conventional reminiscence used for therapeutic purposes, family reminiscence is a discursive practice of connecting the dots of recalled moments of individual family members lives and is geared towards building a family’s shared future for posterity. Lastly, we consider a wider implication of family reminiscence in terms of human development.
http://www.infoagepub.com/products/Memory-Practices-and-Learning
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMemory Practices and Learning : Interactional, Institutional and Sociocultural Perspectives
EditorsÅsa Mäkitalo, Per Linell , Roger Säljö
Place of PublicationCharlotte, NC
PublisherInformation Age Publishing
Publication date27 Feb 2017
Pages293-318
Chapter13
ISBN (Print)9781681236193
ISBN (Electronic)9781681236216
Publication statusPublished - 27 Feb 2017
SeriesAdvances in cultural psychology: constructing human development

ID: 132608149