Migrations of Identity: Lesbian Women’s Constructions of Identity Following the Death of a Life Partner

This proposal utilizes Michael White’s rite of passage metaphor to describe migrations of identity undertaken by lesbian women whose partners have died. The proposal is grounded in assumptions that personal identity is constructed in relationships (Bruner, 1986), that primary relationships contribute substantially to the identity construction process (Berger & Luckmann, 1989), and that the death of a life partner necessarily alters the surviving partner’s constructions of identity (Walter, 2003). As such, surviving partners are forced to develop new theories about themselves in relationship to the world that incorporate their experiences through separation, liminality and reincorporation.