Meaning-Making in Emerging Adults’ Narratives About the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

Abstract

The study aimed to explore narratives of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election to describe the ways emerging adults constructed the meaning of the self when narrating what the historical event meant. Using life story theory, place, power, and voice from feminist theory and a model of individual development that connects self to history, I argue that the historical election provided emerging adults with a socioculturally mediated context to construct the meaning of the self in the world. The narrative analysis revealed that the meaning emerging adults constructed reflected developmental processes such as individuating from parents and connecting to a collective identity as well as developing a political consciousness. Also, some emerging adults constructed personal meaning by positioning the self in relation to master narratives about breaking racial barriers and voting privileges. The findings extend and compliment current understanding of meaning-making construction within sociocultural and historical contexts as well as the formation of political interests.