Citation

J. Phenomenol. Psychol. 2006; 37(1): 53-83.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Brill Academic Publishers)

DOI

10.1163/156916206778150448

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study employed the Duquesne method of phenomenology to explore eight participants' experiences of not belonging. These experiences began with a discomforting sense of difference that then developed into self-conscious, wary behavior. This experience was followed by attempts at interpersonal transformation whose success led to an episodic view of not belonging and whose failure led to a more dramatic, personalized, isolating, and permanent view of not belonging. Such a view was also accompanied by a profound transformation in how the participants experienced themselves, others, and their social environments. Among the most interesting findings in this research were the descriptions of isolated belonging--a pattern of relating involving many intepersonally distant relationships--and consistent, generalized not belonging--an experience where not belonging is the primary mode of interpersonal relation.