ABSTRACT
The narrative self has historically been identified with long, autobiographical narratives. However, medical and neuropsychological studies have portrayed Alzheimer's disease from the perspective of a gradual loss of memory and selfhood. During the progression of the disease, the traditional concept of the narrative self loses much of its relevance. This article suggests that positioning analysis offers powerful tools for locating the agentive, embodied and fragmentarily narrative self of patients with advanced dementia. Videotaped occupational therapy sessions from a Japanese nursing home are used to study borderline cases of the narrative self that challenge the dominant models for theorizing selfhood. The two women studied have advanced dementia and yet possess an urge to tell about and visit their pasts—the remains of their narrative selves. The article suggests that “narrative” in the narrative self should be understood as a verb or an adjective, and not exclusively as a noun.
