Dialogue in the Navigation of Loyalty Dynamics Between and Across the Generations

Abstract

At the moment of birth, each person coming into existence takes his or her place within a family legacy of loyalty dynamics. Dialogue, rooted in Martin Buber's philosophical anthropological study of I Thou relationship and defined in contextual therapy as the process of self-delineation with due consideration of the other, is a way through which these dynamics are assessed and re-formed. Two intergenerational family examples seek to explore and delineate the dynamics inherent in the process of parent and adult child turning and facing one another as they assess their legacy and loyalties and thereby renew the life between them.

Keywords:

• dialogue
• loyalty
• intergenerational
• contextual
• Buber
• legacy

Notes

¹This is a pseudonym.

²This is a pseudonym.