Creating Meaning From Chaos

Abstract

The event of a family crisis calls for crucial reactions with kin in response to intense uncertainty. In this autoethnographic reflection, the author narrates her family’s struggle for meaning after learning that her brother suffered a near-fatal fall from a mountain peak of the Grand Tetons. In this article, the author depicts various perspectives she witnessed as her family dealt with multiple ambiguities surrounding her brother’s accident. The author then explores how crisis awakens an individual’s attention to present time and summons him or her to reorient his or her temporal self to focus on immediate moments. Moreover, the author demonstrates how dialogue and narrative interweave to shape family members’ interpretations of unprecedented circumstances and new relational meanings.

Keywords

family crisis narrative dialogue temporality interpersonal relationships recovery

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