Narratiewe identiteitsvorming: navigering en onderhandeling deur studente aan 'n universiteit

English: The study focuses on the narrative construction of identity of students at a South African university campus. The students from higher education institutions do not only have to navigate and negotiate continuously to adjust to a new context, but their own identities are also re-evaluated and reconstructed in the process. Not only do the students add their own, unique stories – shaped by history, culture, experiences and language – to the higher education context, but the interconnection between race, language, gender and class creates opportunities to shape new identities. Construction of identity is a flexible process, whereas negotiations and movement happen continuously when they are influenced by new contexts, processes and relationships. Since several relational networks of time and space may overlap and move, the identities of students who enter a higher education institution context, may move in relation to the ‘new’ tertiary spaces they are entering. The study was driven by a central research question: How do narratives help to negotiate and navigate the construction of identity of students at a university? In order to answer the research question, the study was conducted according to an interpretative approach and a socio-constructivist research paradigm. According to this approach, the reality is constructed socially, while the negotiations and navigations of people in their social environment contribute to constructing meaning. Eight students, representing different language and ethnic groups at the university, were selected as participants. The data were generated by means of reflective, written assignments for and semi-structured interviews with the students. A narrative methodology assisted with exploring the students’ narrative construction of identity. Narratives were used as the means by which the participants made sense of their experiences and by which they could better understand their places in the social environment. In order to ensure that the cultural embeddedness of each participant was considered while listening to their experiences in a social context, the study was conducted according to Somers’ (1994) narrative identity approach, the social identity theory of Tajfel and Turner (1979) and Dewey’s (1938) theory of experience. Somers’ (1994) theory ensured that each participant’s story was read against the background of several cultural and historical stories, while Tajfel and Turner (1979) helped to interpret the stories in the social context in which each person functions. Dewey’s (1938) theory ensured that the participants’ experiences of the past and the present that move over time and space were integrated into a storyline. A literature study helped to uncover identity, approaches to constructing identity and the nature and extent of the narrative construction of identity. Every individual has an intrapersonal identity, which includes the values, viewpoints and perspectives of that individual, as well as an interpersonal identity, which depends on the interaction with the social environment. The tension that develops between agency and communality can be investigated by the narrative identity. An overview of the university context resulted in a better understanding of the navigation and negotiation of the institutional narratives. While the first data set focused on the students’ community experiences, the second data set of experiences was captured within the university context. The participants’ community narratives were used as the starting point to determine to what extent their narrative identities within the university context were navigated and negotiated. The participants’ experiences were discussed in accordance with their multiple identities of language and race, and entwined with their personal values and viewpoints in order to portray their narrative identities. With the help of the data and elucidated by my theoretical lens, I established that narrative identities are navigated and negotiated by means of re-creation, adaptation, reconstruction and disengagement. Positive negotiation and navigation promote agency and communality, while positive identities are shaped to the advantage of transformation.