Narratives of Self and Relatedness in Eco-Communes

Abstract

This paper focuses on eco-communes as sites of resistance and political activism. Based on a post-structuralist narrative analysis of interview materials, this paper elaborates on the ways in which life in a commune is narrated and represented as an identity project with a mission to bring about social change. The environmentalists studied make sense of their choice to live in an eco-commune as something that was triggered and facilitated by important crossroads and fateful moments that they had encountered in their past life. They also work on their identity as ecocommunards by discursively problematizing their personal relation to themselves (self) and to others (spouse and family), as well as by constructing new forms of subjectivity, intimacy, and relatedness through communal life. Life in the eco-commune thus represents a form of resistance and political struggle that Michel Foucault has referred to as politics of self; it represents not only direct opposition against the social order of contemporary Western consumer society but also more subtle resistance against the normalized forms of subjectivity that it entails.

Silent stories of resistance to doing employment

“…Step two entailed classifying the themes linked to the single cases by plotting the respondents' response strategies to the change experienced in their careers, following a period(s) of unemployment and subsequent engagement on an active labour market programme. A common feature surfaced in the analysis: all of the informants viewed participation on Community Employment as a critical moment in their lives, triggering and facilitating processes of self-reflection and transformation (Eräranta et al, 2009;Giddens, 1991). It revealed how the participants created their narrative strategies in relation to their discursive environments, how their career stories were facilitated or inhibited by discourses, and how this impacted on their career identity.…”

“…A common feature surfaced in the analysis: all of the informants viewed participation on Community Employment as a critical moment in their lives, triggering and facilitating processes of self-reflection and transformation (Eräranta et al, 2009;Giddens, 1991). It revealed how the participants created their narrative strategies in relation to their discursive environments, how their career stories were facilitated or inhibited by discourses, and how this impacted on their career identity.…”

“…Their subject positions emerge as they reflect on their "self" during a time of change, considering the subjectivising forces of the dominant discourse of employment (Thomas and Davies, 2005a). This deliberation plays a part in the emergence of new forms of thought, or at least novel ways of working with existing categories and concepts that the prevalent cultural systems of representation sanction as normal and desirable (Eräranta et al, 2009) when "doing employment". Their stories suggest a variety of forms of micro-political resistance to the "essentialness" (West and Zimmerman, 1987, p. 137) of "doing employment", from subtle deeds and behaviours through to challenging subjectivities and meanings (Thomas and Davies, 2005b).…”

“…Whilst partaking on Community Employment, the participants gain analytical skills through the scheme's personal development programme (FÁ S, 2011), prompting critical self-reflection. During this process, the participants become cognisant of the institutional positions that contribute to their subjectivity and of the ways in which such practices both enable and constrain them (Eräranta et al, 2009).…”

Friendship at home: everyday in domestic space shaping friendship intimacies in Finnish small-scale communes

“…These alterations gave extra insight into the significance of shared space and the reasons for quitting communal living. I wanted to focus on homes where a wish to live with other people would be the main motivation, rather than political goals or ideologies (see Eräranta, Moisander, and Pesonen [2009] for a study of Finnish eco-communes), also taking into account the fact that separating personal relations from ideology is rarely self-evident.…”