Memoir To Meaning: A Narrative And Analysis Of Childhood Experiences

This thesis project is an exploration of the self in finding how personal childhood experiences impact our lives. “Phenomenological research is the study of lived experience. To say the same thing differently: phenomenology is the study of the lifeworld—the world as we immediately experience it rather than as we conceptualize, categorize, or theorize about it. Phenomenology aims to come to a deeper understanding of the nature or meaning of our everyday experiences (Max Van Mannen, 1984).” Through the telling of seven key points of memory, flashpoints, in the form of short stories, I reflect the significance of the event, my emotions, the senses I recall, my own speculations and perspective as a child, and how I was transformed from that experience. After the series of short stories, I will conduct a thorough analysis of these aspects from a pedagogical perspective, reflecting on how the self, the child-self, is valued, is taught, and develops from the pedagogy of life experiences. Chang describes autoethnography as “transcend[ing] mere narration of self to engage in cultural analysis and interpretation (Chang, 3, 2016).” Chang continues: “mere self-exposure without profound cultural analysis and interpretation leaves this writing at the level of descriptive autobiography or memoir (51).”