The Stories We Carry

Self, Scar, Struggle

The Stories We Carry is a compelling collection of essays that explore identity, trauma, and resilience through deeply personal narratives. Edited by Merlyna Lim and Kathy Dobson, this volume brings together twenty-two contributors—academics, artists, journalists, and storytellers—who refuse to separate personal experience from scholarly inquiry.

The collection unfolds in three interconnected movements: Self, Scar, and Struggle, examining how identity is shaped through history, gender, embodiment, and migration; how trauma and exclusion leave lasting marks; and how survival requires ongoing negotiation with institutions, technology, and community. Each essay is accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations, making the personal visible and visceral.

The contributors challenge academic conventions that dismiss personal writing as less rigorous, arguing instead that the narrated self is a legitimate site of knowledge. Their stories address Islamophobia, poverty, colonialism, queerness, neurodivergence, immigration bureaucracy, and the politics of belonging. This is not a book seeking inclusion in broken institutions, but one that insists the table itself must be rebuilt. It asks readers to sit with complexity, contradiction, and the unfinished work of being human.

ISBN Print: 9781997742418
Publication Date: August 2026
Page Count: 262
Binding Type: Soft cover
Trim Size: 6in x 9in
Language: English
Colour: B&W

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Merlyna Lim is a Canada Research Professor in Digital Media and Global Network Society at Carleton University. Born and raised in Dayeuhkolot, an industrial slum in Bandung, Indonesia, she is now based in Ottawa and works internationally across research, creative…

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