Narrative Practice Key Learnings: Definitional Ceremonies

Definitional ceremonies are something I have only had experience with once, and I found that in the experience I did not the flow I had hoped for.  I am especially intrigued by White’s (2007) discussion of definitional ceremonies so that I can continue to build competency in the underlying processes.

White starts off by orientating practitioners to the idea that contemporary cultural rituals tend to degrade individuals by measuring them against others or socially constructed norms.  This runs the risk of making an individual feel like a failure.  Marxist theorists such a Guy Debord (1995) would likely argue that this is by design within the consumerism/individualist discourses of capitalist societies.

Definitional ceremonies provide an alternative to the typically degrading ceremonies by providing an option where individuals tell or perform the stories of their lives carefully to chosen outsiders.  The outsiders, in turn, respond with a “re-telling” that is shaped by an acknowledgement of the individual’s disclosure.  In this process, there is an exchange in which conversations about expressions in the ceremony that outsiders were drawn to.  This can include images evoked, personal experiences that resonated with the expressions, and how their lives have been touched by the expression(s).  One of the goals in a definitional ceremony is to connect people through shared/precious themes that thicken emerging narratives in their lives.

It is powerful if the outsider can pick up on an externalizing term as they provide a summary of the observations to the client.  White (2007)  makes mention of having individuals who have been at the centre of a definitional ceremony put in the outsider role.  This may be a useful consideration for therapeutic value when there are no ethical violations in doing so.

What the outside witness wants to develop is a picture of who the client is.  This can include descriptive metaphors that provide insights about the client.  Ideally, the exchange between the client and outsider highlights their preferred developments or path in life in a way that challenges traditional power relations.   The role of the audience in this circumstance is to verify the alternative narrative.

In an outline of the history of definitional ceremonies, White (2007) makes mention of Barbara Myerhoff, and her work regarding forums held by communities to tell/retell and perform/reperform the stories of their lives.  These forums allowed the individual to reappear on their own terms while creating an environment in which developing collective self-definitions with the audience become possible.  The collective self-definition can be captured by any means necessary – thereby allowing the truth of the group’s history to be available for individuals to understand.  This method works against the invisibility and marginalization the individual may typically experience by providing opportunities to be seen on one’s own terms while being witness to their own worth, validity, and being.  In doing so, thick conclusions of one’s identity that counters social displacement can emerge – providing self-reflexive consciousness.

Participants of definitional ceremonies contribute to the ongoing construction of each other’s identity – becoming more aware of their own contributions to the production of identity.  This allows participants to become more aware of what they want and become more congruent with their own values/beliefs.

Definitional ceremonies recognize several things:

• Identity is public and socially achieve.  It is not crafted privately.  This is reminiscent of systems theory and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory.
• Identity is shaped by historical and cultural forces.  It is not a product of human nature.
• A sense of authenticity forms when people are acknowledged for their preferred identity and history.
• Identity is a result of identity claims that constructed from social contexts.  Verifying the claims that emerge from the applied social context provides legitimacy to the identity.
• The outsider witnesses are active participants of the ceremony.  Audience retellings of a narrative increase the viability of the narrative as being interpreted as factual.  This rebuilds personal authenticity.

In practice, definitional ceremonies allow the client to:

• Reappear on their own terms in the eyes of the community and eyes of invited outside witnesses.
• Receive acknowledgement of the identity claims expressed in the stories.
• Experience the authentication of identity claims.
• Intervene in the shaping of their lives in ways that are congruent with the values they hold (or in ways that honour what is precious to them).  This is a validating experience.

The invited outsiders fulfill this role by describing the preferred developments of the client.  This allows outsiders to take on the perspective of the client.

 

The structure of a definitional ceremony:

1. Allows the individual to tell a significant life story
2. Have the outsider witness(es) retell the story
3. Have the individual retell what they got from the outsider witness(es) retelling(s).  There is a bi-directional meaning-making.

There are several components of the telling process:

• The individual is interviewed and consulted with what the outsider witness(es) listen as an audience
• The interview outlines the significant stories relevant to personal and relationship identity
• The witness(es) listen carefully and prepare(s) for retelling what they heard

There are also several components to the retelling process:

• The witness(es) switch role(s) with the client
• The practitioner questions the witness(es) on what aspects they are drawn to so that the retelling exceeds the depth of the original telling.  The practitioner wants to seek out rich descriptions of the relationships and personal identities of the client.
• Retelling contributes to a linkage of stores around shared themes.

The acknowledgement component of the retelling has 4 principal categories of inquiry (expression, image, personal response, and transport).  The goal is to not have retellings focus on anecdotes, the beliefs or witnesses, interpretations, suggestions for the client to take, etc.  This means there is an ethical responsibility for the consequences of an audience’s participation and a duty to guide and/or facilitate the conversation.  Some of the preparation for outsider witnesses includes:

• Informing them of their part in the tradition of acknowledgement and rich story development.
• Discuss and explore how the retellings are an outcome of close listening that draws from the aspects of the story that outsider witnesses are drawn to.
• Providing a run-through of how retellings can be told in non-imposing ways.
• Discussing the importance of stepping away from, and providing examples of, opinion giving, advice-giving, making judgements, and theorizing.

The 4 categories of inquiry are as follows:

1. Expression
   • What were you drawn to?  What caught your attention and imagination?
   • What does the person accord value to in life?  This can include word/phrases/moods/sentiments.
   • Signal one’s interest as particular and distinct to the client – what were some specific expressions highlighted in the retelling?
2. Image
   • Describe any images that came to mind that come from the expressions you were drawn to?
   • Were there any metaphors of the person’s life or mental pictures of their identity or relationships that stood out?
   • What do the metaphors, mental pictures, or images reflect about the person’s purpose(s), values, beliefs, hopes, aspirations, dreams, sentiments of living, perspectives on life, or commitments?  What might this say about the client’s identity?
3. Personal Response
   • Have the witnesses speak to the ways they are moved/drawn to the expressions.
   • Identify what expressions struck a chord with the witness’s own history.
   • What links are there between the client and witness (personal interest(s) – not academic/armchair interest)?
   • Witnesses speak to experience in their own history that was drawn from personal memory by the ceremony.
4. Transport
   • Have the outsider witness identify and speak to the ways they were moved by being present for the client’s story.
   • What is new to the witness as a result of participating?
   • What impact has this had on the witnesses’ thoughts, reflections on their existence, and understandings of one’s own life or perspectives on life.

White (2007) makes mention of transport being about katharsis (not catharsis).  Katharsis is viewed as a response to witnessing powerful expressions of life’s dramas.  Some of the common components of katharsis include:

• Achievement of a new perspective on one’s life and/or identity.
• reengagement with neglected aspects of one’s history.
• Reconnect with revered values and purposes of one’s own life.
• Create new meanings of experiences of one’s life that were not previously understood.
• Experiencing a familiarity with knowledge of life and skills of living that one was previously barely aware of.
• Intricate steps in one’s life otherwise not considered.
• Thinking beyond what one routinely thinks.

These elements take us to places we would not have predicted.  The goal is to find appropriate ways of acknowledging the expressions that shaped witnesses’ lives in ways where we are better for having witnessed the client’s expressions.  This may also include impacts the practitioner notices.

Once the outsider witness(es)  retelling(s) are complete, the client is interviewed about what was heard in the retelling.  This process uses the expression, image, resonance, and supportive pathways of inquiry.  The focus remains on the client, and a point if exploration can include the metaphors or pictures that emerged from the retelling.  Clients are interviewed about:

• Outside witness expressions they were drawn to.
• Newly emerging ideas/mental pictures from the retelling.  What do these reflect about their own lives and values?
• Personal experiences expressions touched on.
• How outsider witness expressions influenced their thoughts, perceptions of their lives, and reflections on possibilities for action.

There are several suggestions White (2007) makes in regards to selecting and preparing outsider witnesses:

1. Individuals who have told their stories as a part of a prior definitional ceremony, provided there are no confidentiality or conflict of interest concerns.
2. “Repositioning” adjusts the witnesses into the role they will fulfill for the definitional ceremony.  A warm-up including thinking of times they experienced the following (and who they experienced it from) may be helpful:
   •  Acknowledgement
   • Being understood
   • Receiving compassion
   • Receiving acceptance

• Note: Figures chosen should not be associated with negativity or alienation for the outsider witness.  The practitioner wants to have the outsider witnesses think of how acknowledgement, being understood, receiving compassion, and receiving acceptance were displayed by the others they have selected, and then ask the outsider witnesses how it was displayed and what skills were used to do so.

Once that component of the warm-up is completed, the practitioner then wants to draw out the witnesses understandings of their selected figures:

• Perspectives on life
• Sentiments of living
• Purposes
• Values
• Beliefs

White (2007) highlights that it is important to not rush this process.  Once the outsider witnesses finish this process, the practitioner would inform them that they will fulfill the role of the individual they received acknowledgement/understanding/compassion/acceptance from in the definitional ceremony.

 

There are several other suggestions White (2007) makes in working with the outsider witnesses:

• The practitioner will want to discuss ways they can interject if habitual responses arise.
• Discuss how the practitioner may redirect the conversation from superlatives to components of the narrative that struck a chord with them).
• Move away from advice-giving  by focusing on what stood out, what the parallels were between the client and witnesses’ identity
• Refocus the conversation so that it prioritizes the experiences of the client.

There are several different scenarios that can unfold that move away from the focus of the client in a definitional ceremony.  White (2007) outlines the following – along with ways to address them:

1. Going one Down
   • This is where the witness compares their life to the client.  The outside witness then reasons that they did worse in a domain than the client had.  The problem here is that it diminishes one individual’s life for the elevation of another’s.
   • This leads to erosion of chared themes, and the power to unite people under those shared themes.
   • Can construct a heroic account of the client’s identity – which isolates them as an outsider.
2. Expressions of Anguish
   • This is where one goes through neglected life narratives and gives them meaning – positive subordinate storylines.  They can, however, be linked with frustration and pain.
   •  To navigate expressions of anguish, meaning-making questions that draw out the hopes, values, dreams, etc. are implicit in the storylines.
   • Witnesses can be asked to speculate on the client’s hopes and dreams – establishing what may be important to the client.
3.  Physical Distance
   • When people can no meet face-to-face, conference calls can help keep the roles of the client and outsider witnesses more clear.  Alternatively, if all members consent, recordings can be taken and transmitted between the parties so that the telling and retelling process can still unfold as a bi-directional meaning-making process.

• A special note here is that outsider witnesses with a medical model background may be more prone to pathologizing the client.  Be sure to address this and set a clear understanding that diagnosis is not a part of the telling and retelling process.

References

Debod, G. (1995). The society of the spectacle. New York, NY; Zone Books

White, M. (2007). Maps of narrative practice. New York, NY; W. W. Norton & Company