ReMembering Mother: Reconstituting Voice and Identity Through Narrative With Alzheimer's Patients

Abstract

This is the story of a mother and a daughter, now informed by the mother's worsening dementia. Identities, memories, and subjectivities are interwoven in this narrative reflection exploring the continuing, influential, and rich relationship between the mother, Mom; her daughter, Deborah; and the relatives, friends, and colleagues—both past and present—who have helped build and maintain these identities. Narratives (Bochner, 2000; 2001; Carr, 1986; Davis, 2008), memories (Connerton, 1995, 2011; Davis, 2003; Romano, 2004), and identities (Gergen, 1971, 1991) are created, revised, and reconstituted through reflexivity in consideration of the other (Madison, 2012).