ABSTRACT
We each author our own life story; in constructing and recounting our past, we are simultaneously constructing and reconstructing our selves. Who we are is very much created through autobiographical narratives. In the words of Rosenwald and Ochberg (1992):
Through examining autobiographical narratives, we gain access to individuals’ construction of their own identity. What individuals choose to tell, what information they select to report, provides converging evidence of how individuals conceptualize their selves. But importantly, these narratives are not static entities; autobiographical narratives and self-identity are fluid and dynamic, changing both developmentally as well as situationally. Those aspects of identity that are highlighted in specific retellings of the past reflect those aspects of identity that are deemed important in specific situations, with specific others, for specific goals.
