Narrative, Identity, and the City: Filipino stories of dislocation and relocation
What is it about?
Raul P. Lejano offers a boldly original synthesis of narratology, psychology, and human geography. This helps him articulate his two main insights: that our identity as individuals, though not completely determined by sociocultural factors, nevertheless profoundly reflects our embeddedness in particular places; and that the way we think of, or would like to think of, our own identity is most readily captured in the stories we tell about ourselves. Chapters include specially written essays by co-authors, Alicia Lejano, Josefina Constantino, Aaron Almadro, and Mikaella Evarist.
Why is it important?
Most revealing of all, he suggests, are our stories about coming to grips with an entire city, especially when our experience of it is actually one of dislocation or relocation – when we in some sense or other “lose” a city to which we have hitherto belonged, or when we “find” a new one.