Missing Links. Emotionen und Zeitlichkeit in der Geschichte von Adoptierten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Abstract

This contribution is concerned with how emotions and temporality relate to one another in the context of the history of the self. For this purpose, the article draws on the concept of chronocenosis to make sense of the life stories told by adoptees born between 1950 and 1985 and raised in West Germany. Starting from psychological insights into the cultural specificity of life stories, the contribution presents an overview of contemporaneous developmental psychology knowledge and interfamilial practices like regarding albums. Against this backdrop, it explores the role of emotions and sensory perceptions in dealing with early childhood in life stories – a period in life which, for most adoptees, cannot be assessed through the narratives of parents and other relatives.