The bricolage of the here: young people's narratives of identity in the countryside

Abstract

Memories are crucial to our construction of place. They simultaneously offer an anchor for identity and different temporalities to encounters with landscapes. Memory allows different spaces, pasts, and futures to become embedded in particular locales. Yet the spontaneous assemblages of meaning that memory enables are not apolitical. Thus the mechanisms and processes by which meaning is articulated in these encounters are fundamental to our understandings of place. This paper, therefore, brings together the work of Henri Bergson on memory and Paul Ricoeur on narrative, to examine the stories individuals produce which define the self. By drawing on research into the lives of young people in the countryside, the paper does three things: it discusses the role of memory in creating identity; it examines the political process of narrative by which memories become woven into understandings of place and create a bricolage of the here; and finally, it offers the 'storied-self' as a resolution of the competing constructions and experiences of personal continuity and the inconsistencies and constant change in the project of the individual.

The role of identity for regional actors and citizens in a splintered region: The case of Päijät-Häme, Finland

“…Taking for granted regional identity based on imperative checklists can be a treacherous practice, as identity is more often a bricolage of sentiments, The role of identity for regional actors and citizens... thoughts and practices, some of which are shared but which are in due course remoulded (Leyshon & Bull 2011). In the end, if we want to analyze regional identities, we should ask the people themselves.…”

Narrative claims on regions: prospecting for spatial identities among social movements in Finland

“…Noble (2009) maintains that the 'contingencies of participation' in different social categories limit the use of identity. However, identity can also be understood as a bricolage (Leyshon and Bull 2011) where memberships to different categories are continuously renegotiated by and for an individual. Furthermore, identities not only 'take place', but they also 'make place' (Clayton 2009), which through collective action and forms can have an effect on the process of regional becoming.…”

Conducting sensitive research in the present and past tense: Recounting the stories of current and former child domestic workers

“…Debates have focused on the irretrievability (or otherwise) of childhood from the perspective of adulthood (Aitken, 1994;Jones, 2001;Philo, 2003), prompting Leyshon and Bull (2011) to call for greater understanding of the role of memory in the lives of young people. This paper is situated within this gap.…”

“…People, irrespective of age, are in a constant process of 'becoming' that reflects their life experiences and engagements with the social world (Worth, 2009). Annette Kuhn (2002) has acknowledged the inability of memory to directly capture past experiences and perspectives -it is always a point of view based on past experiences, present positioning and future expectations (see also Davies, 1996;Leyshon and Bull, 2011;Worth, 2009). The former child domestic workers involved in this study recounted their experiences through the lens of their present circumstances, which differed from the lens available to current employees.…”

“…Geographers have regularly focused on the mutually constitutive link between memory and place, and the centrality of particular landscapes and monuments to group and national identities (Hoelscher and Alderman, 2004;Johnson and Pratt, 2009;Legg, 2007;Leyshon and Bull, 2011;Lowenthal, 1975;Till, 2003). Geographical research is attuned to the inherently political role of memory and has often sought to record the experiences of marginalized groups absent from formal historical records (Bosco, 2004;Drozdzewski, 2007).…”