Memory practises and innovative moments: Narratives of mothers and their children escaping the war in Ukraine
Chair(s): Maria Borcsa (Institute of Social Medicine, Rehabilitation Sciences and Healthcare Research, University of Applied Sciences, Nordhausen, Germany)
Discussant(s): Anssi Peräkylä (University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences, Finland)
This symposium examines the interplay between memory, narrative, and identity, emphasizing their selective and socially constructed nature (Ricœur 2003). Drawing on insights from Halbwachs, Foucault, Ricœur, and Assmann, it highlights how memory operates within social frameworks and power structures, shaping what is remembered and forgotten (Halbwachs 1992 [1924], Foucault 1971). Memory actively organizes not only the past but also the present and future, playing a central role in constructing coherent identities (Assmann 2007). These dynamics are crucial for fostering resilience and supporting mental health through adaptive remembering. Understanding these processes provides a foundation for addressing contemporary challenges in resilience and identity formation.
We use in our presentations this conceptual framework to analyse interviews with mothers and their adolescent children who escaped to Germany from the war in Ukraine.
Presentations of the Symposium
Constructing family memory: Narratives, practices, and resilience
Dietmar Wetzel
MSH Medical School, Hamburg, Germany
Family memory is not a static repository, but an active process shaped by social practices, narratives, and symbolic actions that negotiate identity across generations. In forced migration contexts, the construction of family memory becomes critical as families reconcile fragmented histories with present challenges and future aspirations. This dynamic process involves storytelling to create coherence, rituals to sustain emotional stability, and the use of material artifacts as mnemonic anchors (Wetzel, 2021).
Central to this framework is the relational and performative nature of memory-making. Narrative practices frame trauma and loss within resilient, future-oriented stories, fostering collective identity and adaptability. Rituals, meanwhile, embody cultural persistence, providing stability in contexts of social and geographic disruption.
This contribution integrates insights from memory studies and migration research to highlight the multifaceted dimensions of family memory construction. It argues that family memory is not only a tool for cultural preservation but also a strategy for resilience, offering a critical lens on identity formation within shifting socio-cultural landscapes (Morgan, 2011).
Self-presentations of mother-child dyads from Ukrainian war zones: A narrative positioning analysis
Paula Witzel1, Maria Borcsa2
1University of Erfurt, Germany, 2Institute of Social Medicine, Rehabilitation Sciences and Healthcare Research, niversity of Applied Sciences Nordhausen, Germany
Mothers and children who have to leave their homeland due to the war in Ukraine are confronted with biographical challenges that threaten their identity. In our project, we analyse how they manage to meaningfully integrate their traumatic experiences into their biography. Our central assumption is that communicative practices and narratives provide insights into integration achievements and resilience processes.
Narrative individual interviews with the mothers and semi-structured interviews within two family dyads (mother-child) are compared using positioning analysis (Bamberg, 1997, 2011). The text is analysed first structurally and then examined for positioning activities. This includes the positioning activities of narrators in relation to their past self ("narrated I"), their present self ("narrating I"), as well as in relation to societal discourses. The analysis of trauma representation is incorporated (Lucius-Hoene & Deppermann, 2004).
The results suggest that communicative practices offer insights into the course and status of integration and coping achievements. Progress depends on individual resources, subjective evaluations, and a sense of coherence.
Selective memorising in maintaining mental health
Maria Borcsa1, Paula Witzel2, Dietmar Wetzel3
1Institute of Social Medicine, Rehabilitation Sciences and Healthcare Research,University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen, Germany, 2University of Erfurt, Germany, 3MSH Medical School Hamburg, Germany
The sense of coherence is a crucial aspect in the concept of salutogenesis by Antonovsky (1997). A meaningful integration of problematic experiences into one’s life story creates coherence and helps to maintain a positive sense of identity. As we know from narrative therapy (White & Epston, 1990), problematic self-narrations block meaningful integration. Innovative moments (IMs) according to Santos et al. (2009) are small sparkling moments in self-narrations and exceptions to the problem-saturated storyline.
Individual interviews with mothers are compared with interview material from subsystem interviews, where mother and child are present. Using a circular interview method, we focus on innovative moments in our analysis to reflect on the therapeutic applicability of our research.
