The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 40, No. 2 & Volume 41, No. 1 - 199

Spiritual Exchange

Christianity that I like. . . . I grew up pretty
conservatively. [I'm] looking for something a
little bit more liberal, a little bit more open,
I guess, to other faiths, so to speak. So, I
guess, like, I would still consider myself to
be a general Christian.
In this moment of their exchange, Anna and
Francine found connection in claiming a
Christian identity, albeit one set apart from
what they perceived "Christian" to mean in
the traditional sense (e.g., religiously engaged,
conservative).1

Approaches to Identity Construction
As participants articulated their worldviews
during the exchanges, most went beyond mere
alignment with rote doctrine or prescribed
traditions. Instead, participants engaged in
active identity construction by qualifying what
they meant by their self-ascribed worldview
labels. Dyad partners spent signiﬁcant time
reiterating the complexity of their worldview
and ensuring that partners understood and
appreciated key deﬁnitions and distinctions.
For instance, to identify as Catholic was not
sufﬁcient; participants sought to move past the
category to express a unique and individually
relevant identity. Paul (graduate student) clariﬁed the meaning of Christian so as to distance
himself from stereotyped perceptions of his
faith tradition:
I come from a Christian background. But I
don't like the idea of religion; I don't like
the idea of rules for people, and there are
so many bad connotations. . . . Again, I feel

comfortable with my faith, my internal faith,
and it's a very personal thing for me, and I try
to share that by being myself. I don't really
believe in pushing it at people at all.
In her dialogue with Pearl (graduate student),
Thorn (undergraduate) explained the nuances
of the Neo-Pagan label by sharing the complex
history within which Wicca is situated and
how, in her journey, she has moved toward a
more individualized worldview:
I'm Neo-Pagan, which is kind of a meaningless
term actually. . . . Even when you look it up in
the dictionary it's pretty vague. . . . But if you
want to get more speciﬁc, which I think we
should, I'm Wiccan, which in and of itself
means different things to different people.
The short history is that Wicca was founded
very roughly in [the] 1950s in Britain . . . and
it develops in England and gets carried over
into the United States in [the] '70s, [where it]
combines with the New Age [movement] . . .
and the women's liberation movement . . .
and they kind of fuse. So Wicca in England
is not the same thing as Wicca in the United
States. The particular tradition that I'm a part
of is more akin to what goes on in Britain. . . .
I've been on my own, and that in and of
itself has morphed into something else. And
that's why now I'm more inclined to just call
myself Pagan.

Contrasting Types of Exchanges
From a dialogic perspective, participants'
clariﬁcation and construction of identity took
place in two distinct ways: (1) through deep,
personal exchanges involving storytelling and

1
Francine and Anna were paired for the exchange because, although both had woven Christianity into their worldview, at the
time of the study their labels were sufﬁciently distinct. Francine identiﬁed her primary worldview as "Liberal/Feminist/Naturalist
(with a Protestant/Evangelical Christian Background)" and Anna identiﬁed as "Christian (with a Buddhist background)."

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 40, No. 2 & Volume 41, No. 1

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