Casting on the waters : women's narratives of identity, empowerment, and resistance to patriarchy /
This study uses narrative analysis to study women's stories of how they use fly fishing as an important aspect of their adult development. I learned about analyzing narrative and the researcher's positionality with relation to study participants, content of the research study, and the subj...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2001.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=725899381&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | This study uses narrative analysis to study women's stories of how they use fly fishing as an important aspect of their adult development. I learned about analyzing narrative and the researcher's positionality with relation to study participants, content of the research study, and the subjective/objective dimension of research. I applied these understandings to explain what the women in this study said about changes in their self-identity and negotiation of a patriarchal activity. I explore narrative as a method of constructing self-identity and meaning in our lives. We tell ourselves to others through our stories. Identity is an on-going construction we make in relation to our past memories, the present context of our lives, and our future projections with respect to our social relations-past, present, and future. Who we are depends on when we view ourselves, in what context we view ourselves, and with whom we are co-creating the narrative. Feminist qualitative research necessitates examining the position of the researcher with respect to the topic of research, the study participants, and the balance between objectivity and subjectivity. I use a Cartesian graph to explore the concepts of positionality and subjectivity of the researcher. Through narrative analysis I explain how the women in this study construct new identities through their participation in fly fishing. I found they use two clear strategies to do this. Many of the women reach back into the past to reconnect with the preadolescent girl they once were. Some created or discovered a new, as yet undiscovered, part of themselves as women who enjoy the outdoors through fly fishing. The women also show how they use fly fishing to integrate the relational and instrumental aspects of their lives through mastery and pleasure. The social system of patriarchy limits women's access to and participation in leisure in general and challenging outdoor recreational activities in particular. I show how the women in this study negotiate social constraints to their participation in fly fishing through resilience, resistance, and the quest for autonomy or self-determination. Recommendations are made for practical applications of this research and for further research on women's outdoor recreation. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Educational Human Resource Development". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 138 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-132). |