Sina Muscarina

Präsentation über Polyamorie und Transformationsprozesse in Biographischen Narrativen

Paraflows Id/entity 2016
Auf Basis sich verbreiternder Informationsmaterialien und damit auch vielfältigen Angeboten zur Arbeit am Ich wird die Frage nach dem Bauplan des modernen Subjekts neu reflektiert. Insbesondere Aspekte der Normierung sowie des Verhältnisses unseres Ichs zum Netz und damit verbundene Machtstrukturen finden sich in der Auseinandersetzung. Als Quelle von Sinn und Erfahrung (Castells) grenzt Identität immer auch an Prozesse der Sinnkonstruktion, der Identifikation, an persönliche oder soziale Ziele und kulturelle Attribute. Die Baumaterialien unserer Identitäten sind vielfältig: Religion, Biologie, Klasse, Rasse, Geschlecht, Kollektive, Phantasie, Kultur sowie Zeit sind nur einige der Quellen, auf die wir bei der Konstruktion unseres Ichs zurückgreifen. Durch mediale Prozesse und Simulationen stellt sich zunehmend die Frage nach der Verarbeitung und Präsentation unserer Identitäten, die in Bezug auf Selbstdarstellung und soziale Rollen im Einklang, Widerspruch oder Konflikt stehen können.

Dennoch stellen wir uns Identität als jene Form vor, die nach außen abgeschlossen und stabil ist und nach innen über ein Bewusstsein von sich selbst verfügt, das keine allzu großen Widersprüche aushalten muss. Inwieweit aber stellen uns aktuelle gesellschaftliche und mediale Strukturen vor die Herausforderung, diese Widersprüche zu integrieren?

Identität ist auch Selbstbeherrschung: Das mit sich selbst identische Subjekt ist der „Staat im Staat in der ersten Person“, wie es in einem frühen Song der Gruppe Blumfeld heißt. Juristische Identität ist der Ausgangspunkt für den freien Willen, für die autonome Person und die individuelle Freiheit. Im Namen jener Entität, die wir in der Identität geworden sind, kommunizieren und verhandeln wir miteinander. Vor allem aber ist Identität Arbeit an sich selbst, über performative Akte oder ökonomische und kapitalistische Anrufungen. So verwalten und verwerten wir uns und werden dadurch auch berechenbar: nicht nur da, wo uns Identitätswaren im Sinne der Gruppenzugehörigkeit oder eines Lebensstils angeboten werden.

Presenter

Queering Partnering is the 1st International Conference stemming from the large ERC funded study INTIMATE: Citizenship, Care and Choice – The micro-politics of intimacy in Southern Europe (www.ces.uc.pt/intimate). This year the Conference will focus on LGBT/queer partnering.

The ways in which people choose to be, or are constrained into being, coupled have been at the centre of public debates on intimate citizenship. From legal demands voiced by activists to the de/construction of love and relationality proposed by academics and the constant advancement and setbacks echoed by the media, never as strongly as today could we speak of diversity when it comes to partnering.

Faced with challenges advanced by non-heteronormative partners, the time has come to think critically about queer intimate relationships.

Co-Founder and Member of Scientific Committee

The year 2015 marks the official launch of the Non-Monogamies and Contemporary Intimacies, a project intended to be continued and replicated in the upcoming years, in other places. More than a single conference, we aim to create a platform to encourage European and worldwide research on (consensual) non-monogamies and other under-researched topics dealing with contemporary intimacies, like asexuality and a-romanticism.

Among the issues we are concerned about, we can list the following:

Research around the lived experiences of non-monogamies, especially those considered consensual;
Ideological and representational changes in how intimacies are thought of;
Intersections with race, sex-gender, sexual orientation, kinship, kink, sex work, class, culture, religion, dis/ability, asexuality, a-romanticism
Activism and community-building around non-monogamies;
Reproduction of normativities and resistances: polynormativity and relationship anarchy, neo-liberalism and political contestation;
Evolution of scientific discourses on non-monogamies;
Challenges to counseling, psychotherapy, (public) health and legal frameworks around non-monogamies;
The roles of mass media and new technologies around transformations of intimacy.

Master Thesis in Psychology

Polyamory in the Focus of Psychology

In mainstream academic psychology, the concept of a monogamous two-person relationship is rarely questioned. This study aims to fill that gap and should be understood as a contribution to increasing academic openness toward the realities of polyamorous individuals.

Research Method and Data Basis

Data was collected through narrative interviews conducted via Skype. The evaluation followed according to qualitative research method called narrative analysis developed by Schütze (1983), incorporating phenomenological, interactionist, and communication theory perspectives. The qualitative study focuses on the biographies of one woman and one man.

Both interviewees initially aligned themselves with the monogamous relationship model during early adulthood. Over time, an emotional transformation toward a polyamorous lifestyle emerged—more pronounced in the male participant. Their biographical narratives show focus on psychological developments in the sense of molding/shaping resilience and personal growth.

Theory Formation as a Process of Self-Reflection

Both participants developed personal theories of polyamory. These individual interpretations can be seen as part of a biographical processing phase—comparable to a stage of self-formation or self-therapy, in the sense of Eva Illouz. This process often follows a positive developmental trajectory, perceived as a personal growth project.

Amor Fati as a Framework for Interpretation

Another interpretive approach draws on the psychological concept of amor fati im the sense of Nietzsche—the retrospective affirmation of a previously difficult fate. This motif, sometimes expressed through ideas of karma, may represent an intriguing subject for future research into polyamorous communities.

Community as a Resource

The interviews reveal that many challenges of a polyamorous lifestyle can be mitigated through shared communal experiences. For the male participant in particular, connecting with like-minded individuals enabled a shift from a deficient, inward-looking self-perception to a more positive, socially integrated identity.

Conclusion

Both biographies can be interpreted as success stories: journeys of emancipation from socially imposed mononormative norms toward self-determined ways of living. Polyamory appears here as a fragile yet hopeful future project—a dynamic process between challenge, personal resilience, and narratives of personal fulfillment

"Psychological Transformations in Biographical Narratives"
Sina Muscarina (M.A.) is a social*entrepreneur, who earned a Master‘s degree in Psychology at the University of Vienna. Sina assembles a profound and authentic understanding of a variety of alternative lifestyles for more than a decade.
Sina‘s special focus is Polyamory and the Master's thesis is available as book.
Practicing and studying different and effective methods of exploring and broadening the spectrum of consciousness for achieving improved psychological resilience is Sina Muscarina‘s professional goal.

http://sinamuscarina.com (full lecture available in writing [EN])

2nd NMCI Conference held in Vienna, Austria, 2017 at the Sigmund Freud University

Aspects of LGBTI*ageing and aged care nursing in german speaking Europe - a literature review

Nursing Care for ageing Sexual Minorities is a relatively new area of research. A literature review suggests a dearth of nursing care facilities for LGBTI* seniors and limited knowledge of nurses about specified LGBTI* health issues. This descriptive thesis views historical implications influencing the biographies of ageing LGBTI* members, which in turn imprint nursing care agendas. Role models for nursing theories suitable for LGBTI* people and their specific histories are introduced in this work as well. Further the thesis views projects in german speaking Europe and schooling possibilities for nurses on needs of LGBTI* seniors. It seems important to broaden the competences of nurses relating to LGBTI* elders with embedding necessary training in schooling curricula.

Reference available at linkedin

"Wie möchte ich Beziehungen führen?"

Sina Muscarina

In diesem Workshop geht es um Polyamorie. Nach kurzem Input zu verschiedenen Beziehungsformen, werden Gedanken angeregt zum Thema "Normen rund um Liebesbeziehungen:
Mono/Normativity und Polynormativität." Nach diesem
Austausch lernen wir den "Charmed Circle" kennen und stellen uns die Frage, wie gesellschaftliche Strukturen unsere Werte und Haltungen beeinflussen. Hier beziehen wir uns auch auf Diskriminierung von polyamorösen Beziehungen und konsensuellen Formen nicht monoaffektiver Sexualitäten.
Darauf aufbauend geht es um die Umwertung von Werten nach Nietzsche: Welche Gemeinsamkeiten gibt es bei Werthaltungen und moralischen Konstrukten bei Mono und Poly - Liebe