I have realised that when I tell my story to different people in every situation I create a story that is the result of my interaction with a particular audience in a specific context but when I write my story it is more static with less flexibility to establish a relation with my audience and to create a story that is responsive to their background. My life story has a number of audience from past to present, from specific others to the public and from group to individual people like my parents, my family, my children, my partner, my friends, my colleagues, my teachers and authorities. Depending on my relationships with them, I place myself to them and those to one another differently and by doing this I create a fluid and unpredictable identity for myself and for all the people involved in the story. This realisation became more evident for me when I read two great articles from Bamberg (1997) and Langellier (2001) who talk about narrative positioning and performing preferred identity, respectively. The change of identity was also observed in the stories of people who took part in my narrative studies.
Bamberg, M. G. W. (1997). Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History. Vol. 7, pp. 335-342.
Langellier, K.M. (2001). “You’re marked”. Breast cancer, tattoo, and the narrative performance of identity. In: J. Brockmeier, D. Carbaugh, (eds.), Narrative and Identity. Studies in Autobiography, Self and Culture. Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company.