Authoring
Ambivalence: E-Mail Journals and the Membranes of
Communication on Identity (Commentary on
Dillon, 2012)
Olga
V. Lehmann-Oliveros Universidad de La Sabena, Colombia
pp. 35-43
ABSTRACT: Dillon
(2012) attempts to demonstrate that e-mail
journals well function as part of narrative
methodologies for the study adolescents’ identity.
From a dialogical approach, she identifies diverse
voices for authoring the self, which gives an
account of the tensions between success and social
acceptance. Processes of identity – decision
making and sensemaking – may occur with higher
intensity among persons considered “gifted”. But,
even if their intellectual development is
asynchronous (Webb, Amend, Webb, Goerss, Beljan,
& Olenchal, 2004), some of their trajectories
could be synchronic, in relation to other
adolescents, such as future planning,
self-discovery and goal achievement motivation. I
discuss self-making in adolescence by means of
semiotic mediation within the ambivalence of past
interpretations and future planning, and the
inner-outer nature of the self within the borders
mind and society.