Narrative Psychology and Vygotsky in Dialogue
Changing Subjects
Concepts for Critical Psychology Series

This book draws together two domains of psychological theory, Vygotsky?s cultural-historical theory of cognition and narrative theories of identity, to offer a way of rethinking the human subject as embodied, relational and temporal. A dialogue between these two ostensibly disparate and contested theoretical trajectories provides a new vantage point from which to explore questions of personal and political change.

In a world of deepening inequalities and increasing economic precarity, the demand for free, decolonised quality education as articulated by the South African Student Movement and in many other contexts around the world, is disrupting established institutional practices and reinvigorating possibilities for change. This context provokes new lines of hopeful thought and critical reflection on (dis)continuities across historical time, theories of (social and psychological) developmental processes and the practices of intergenerational life, particularly in the domain of education, for the making of emancipatory futures.

This is essential reading for academics and students interested in Vygotskian and narrative theory and critical psychology, as well as those interested in the politics and praxis of higher education.

Series Editor Preface

Author Preface

Chapter 1 - Vygotsky’s Narrative Subject

Chapter 2 - The subject of psychology: A narrative of Vygotsky and critical psychologies

Chapter 3 - Ubuntu: reconceptualising personhood

Chapter 4 - (Mis)understandings and active ignorance

Chapter 5 - The question of potential: a Narrative of Vygotsky in action, then and now.

Chapter 6 - Educating (Our)Selves: Narratives of (un)learning and being

Chapter 7 - Histories and hope: acting, thinking and being in the present

Bibliography

Jill Bradbury is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. She teaches in the fields of narrative psychology and psychosocial childhood studies. Her research focuses on intergenerational narratives, sociohistorical theories of personhood, the transformation of higher education and the (im)possibilities of individual and social change. She is a principal investigator on the interdisciplinary research project, NEST (Narrative Enquiry for Social Transformation).