Narrative Identity and Social Networking Sites

Abstract

The following paper takes on a double hypothesis: (1) that the concept of narrative identity, as developed by Ricoeur, is a strong candidate to account for the consequences of the “emplotment (mise en intrigue)” of our identities on social networking sites; and (2) that social networking sites can be useful to reconsider some of the assumptions at the basis of the Ricoeurian concept of narrative identity. The analysis is developed in three sections: (a) Ricoeur’s “temperate” notion is compared to the “savage” post-modern concept of performative identity; (b) part of the literature about identity on social networking sites is criticized in the light of the Ricoeurian concept; and (c) the paper considers the impact of such a “detour” through social networking sites on Ricoeur’s still monomediatic and monolinear notion.

Keywords

• Hermeneutics, Narrative, Identity, Social Networking Sites