The performance of hope : the social construction of self stories embedded in God-stories in the context of a short-term rehabilitation programme for addiction

Abstract

The purpose of the research, which shaped the research question, was exploring the social construction of cultural stories of substance abuse and the difference that God-stories can make in these circumstances. The research is about the difference that the positioning of the self in the biblical and Christ-stories, the stories of faith, can make in the construction of self-stories in the context of substance abuse. This study thus studied the social construction of self-stories embedded in God-stories in the context of a short-term rehabilitation programme for addiction. I had conversations with 12 participants in Ramot, a rehabilitation centre for alcohol and drug addiction in Parow, Cape Town in the year 2005. A narrative approach was followed, because it is particularly suited to exploring the interaction between stories of identity or self-stories, stories of faith or God-stories, and stories of the struggle with substance abuse. The concept of stories opens up issues and ideas that initially seem to be fixed „realities‟ to change, as alternative meanings can be applied and stories can be told differently in different contexts. This approach therefore correlates with people‟s lived experience. Stories as texts are constitutive of our worlds, but are open to re-visioning and editing. With regard to problematic stories, hope can thus be performed in telling stories differently (recognising different contexts) or in telling different stories (previously marginalised texts). The main body of the research is a theoretical consideration of the way self-stories, God-stories and the stories of a struggle with substance abuse are socially constructed. Particular attention is paid to the way in which self-stories are socially constructed, because that is the basis for the narrative approach adopted in the research. This includes the postmodern, social constructionist and poststructuralist emphasis on the discursive positioning of the self, with the alternative positionings that this makes possible. Religion/spirituality are explored as part of the narrative resources or context that contribute to the social construction of self-stories. For a believer, this relationship with God through biblical stories informs other relationships and influences the construction of the person‟s self-stories.This research report therefore also reflects a critical interaction between the contemporary situation in respect of the struggle with substance abuse and the stories of the Christian tradition for the sake of improved praxis by the faith community.