Linda Devereux Linda Devereux i(7842082 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 A Bit Scottish Linda Devereux , 2017 single work autobiography
— Appears in: The Authorised Theft Papers : Writing, Scholarship, Collaboration 2017;

'There is very little scholarly research on the effects of their parents’ overseas work on the children of missionaries. These children may spend many years living in challenging cross cultural settings, and most move home frequently (Pollock & Van Reken 2009). Some have multiple separations from parents, siblings and extended family, while a number are caught up in violent civil wars or experience other trauma such as regular exposure to the effects of extreme poverty. ‘Home’ can be a slippery construct. This creative piece, part of a life-writing research project, examines how memories are constructed and maintained and the ways in which memory-triggers, in particular photographs and landscapes, can contribute to self-understanding.'

Source: Abstract.
1 Stuck between Earth and Heaven : Memory, Missionaries, and Making Meaning from an African Childhood in a Postcolonial World Linda Devereux , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Axon : Creative Explorations , March vol. 1 no. 2 2012; 'Writing memoir can create self-understanding; and reading, or listening to, the life stories of others can promote empathy through a deep engagement with the lives of other people. However, telling, or listening to, a complicated or traumatic life story is not without risks. Remembering and attributing meaning to events always talks place within a context. When I was a child my family was caught up in complex, violent, postcolonial Cold War politics in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uncertain subject positions, political complexities, and concerns for family members can all mean that complex judgments must be made about when, if, and how to tell stories like mine. Shared family experiences do not necessarily mean shared family meanings, or shared understandings about what information to conceal and what to reveal. Using insights from the fields of narrative writing, memory and trauma studies, I draw on two autobiographies, Alison Bechdel’s Fun home, and Ruth Kluger’s Still alive, along with my own experiences of life writing, to examine why certain memories or testimonies may be silenced in public and private discourses of remembering.' (Publication summary)
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