It Didn’t Affect Me: Narrative Identity in Light of the German Reunification

• In Event: 427 - Regular Session. Narrative, Biography, and Culture 2

Abstract

How do individuals make sense of events that are associated with major social-systemic changes? This paper explores the relationship between the social transformative event ‘German reunification’, and processes of meaning making, and identity formation by East Germans. Analyzing 16 narrative interviews of East Germans born in 1971 I propose that this particular cohort uses a “coming of age” narrative to embed the experience of the German reunification into their lives in order to maintain a stable sense of self. Drawing from theories of identity formation, and narrativity the following analysis shows that a “successful” application of this narrative to large parts depends on the ways in which individuals have been able to maintain self-efficacy throughout the transition between the two social systems. By analyzing the mechanisms through which meaning is attached to the event German reunification this paper suggests to assume a reverse temporal logic of causality for biographic narratives.

Author

• Melanie Lorek, City University of New York-Graduate Center