Premium
COUNTERSPACES AND THE NARRATIVE IDENTITY WORK OF OFFENDER‐LABELED AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH
Author(s) -
Case Andrew D.,
Hunter Carla D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.21661
Subject(s) - narrative , identity (music) , narrative inquiry , craft , personhood , psychology , youth work , gender studies , intrapersonal communication , social psychology , narrative therapy , sociology , interpersonal communication , political science , public relations , philosophy , linguistics , physics , archaeology , acoustics , law , history
Through narrative identity work, offender‐labeled African American youth craft positive self‐concepts in the face of denigrating societal messages about their personhood. While past research suggests narrative identity work is largely intrapersonal, recent theory posits that it may also arise through individuals’ participation in counterspaces. This 9‐month ethnography explored how a group of offender‐labeled African American youth engaged in narrative identity work through participation in an intervention program that functioned as a counterspace. Findings from observations and interviews suggest youth engaged in narrative identity work by interfacing with the program's unique belief system, and roles, resources, and relationships within the program. These findings highlight specific interpersonal/setting mechanisms that facilitate the narrative identity work of offender‐labeled African American youth, while suggesting important implications for intervening with this population.