Narrative practices and the social construction of self in childhood

Abstract

Narrative, self, and face‐to‐face interaction all intersect in everyday storytelling practices in which children and caregivers make claims to personal experiences. This article examines such practices as a site for the social construction of self in early childhood. Drawing upon excerpts of narrative talk from a variety of cultural traditions in the United States, we describe the self‐relevant meanings and processes entailed in three particular narrative practices. [narrative, self, childhood socialization, language socialization, ethnopsychology]