BETWEEN GENERATIONS - FAMILY DYNAMICS AND FAMILY DISCOURSES IN BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNTS

Recent sociological and psychological theories have portrayed the indi vidual in modern society as faced with a wide range of alternatives of possible action and being, among which s/he can chose in order to con struct an original identity and life experience. The continued influen ce of familial and sociohistorical contexts on each individual life hi story is rarely considered in-depth. From the perspective of biographi cal narrators, and through our analysis of their family histories and dynamics, transcending a single lifetime, we reconstruct how closely i ndividual and family histories are interwoven. Our paper shows, how th e dialectic between the individual, familial and wider socio-historica l realms is reflected in the process through which meaning is created within the family dialogue. The continuation of a family (hi-) story b eyond each generation, formed by telling, retelling and keeping secret select family experiences, is shown to be the process through which g enerational characteristics are transmitted. The inner dynamic of this process, however, can not be equated with its outward manifestations. Creation of meaning between generations happens far from voluntarines s or accident by connecting systematically past, present and future to shape an individual life story embedded in a transgenerational family (hi-)story.