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Abstract
For this project, we analyzed in-depth life history materials from interviews with twelve former self-injurers. Eschewing a medical/psychological approach to self-injury, our primary goal was to discover how study participants used the discourse of self-injury as a narrative resource to construct their identity. Our study participants drew on pathology exemplars and alternative frames to make sense of their lives and selves. In this article, the lines between so-called self-injury and other socially sanctioned behaviors became blurred. We call for an approach to the topic that is more consciously aware of the socially constructed nature of the phenomenon.
Acknowledgments
We thank Jeni Loftus and Larry Petersen for their comments on an earlier version of this project. We would also like to acknowledge Cliff Heegel and James P. Whelan for their contributions. Their willingness to see our research participants for free, if needed, made this research possible.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Brittany Presson
BRITTANY PRESSON is currently a doctoral student in Sociology at the University of Missouri. Her current research interests include identity construction, marginalized groups, self-injury, narratives, edgework, and social media platforms. She intends to further her work on self-injury throughout her doctoral program.
Carol Rambo
CAROL RAMBO is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Memphis in Memphis, TN. She was the editor of the journal Symbolic Interaction from 2007–2011. Her past research has delved into topics such as Striptease Dancing, Mentally Disabled Parenting, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Trauma, and theorizing the craft of writing Autoethnography. She has published her work in a variety of outlets including Deviant Behavior, Mental Retardation, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, and Qualitative Inquiry.