Authors:

Avryl Carmona

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About Paper:

Research on narrative identity indicates that highly generative adults in the United States often construct "redemptive" life stories in which an early sense of advantage becomes a central interpretive lens through which later adversity is understood as a catalyst for moral growth and prosocial engagement. Because this narrative pattern reflects historically and culturally specific story templates, it remains unclear whether similar narrative structures characterize moral exemplars operating in different sociocultural contexts. The present study examines how exceptionally generative Latina activists interpret experiences of adversity and construct narrative accounts that sustain moral commitment over time. In particular, the study examines whether generative narratives formed in contexts of chronic insecurity diverge from or converge with the redemptive life-story structure documented in U.S. research. Using an idiographic qualitative narrative design, the study analyzes publicly available long-form autobiographical interviews with ten Latina activists engaged in advocacy related to forced disappearance, Indigenous political participation, and gender-based violence. The sample includes internationally recognized leaders such as Rigoberta Mencht. Interviews were transcribed, translated, and analyzed inductively for narrative identity processes. Cross-case analysis identified a recurring narrative configuration that departs from the prototypical redemptive self. Rather than foregrounding early advantage or exceptional moral sensitivity, participants frequently foregrounded early disadvantage and described a turning point marked by the recognition that their suffering was not unique but part of a broader landscape of shared harm within their communities. Agency was articulated through departures from normalized violence or constraining social roles and was narratively integrated with communal obligation. Redemption was framed not as a resolved personal transformation but as an ongoing and collective moral project sustained through solidarity with others facing similar harms. These findings extend narrative identity research by identifying alternative forms of generative life stories that emerge in sociopolitical contexts marked by chronic insecurity, gendered violence, and collective resistance.

Source:

Northwestern University

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Co-authors:

Avryl Carmona