Figured Worlds

🌀 Figured Worlds: Where Stories Shape Who We Are

What if identity wasn’t just something we have—but something we do within the stories that surround us?

In their influential book Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds (1998), Dorothy Holland and her colleagues introduce the concept of figured worlds—socially and culturally constructed realms where people learn to recognize themselves (and others) as particular kinds of people. These “worlds” aren’t fantasy lands or physical locations. They’re narrative and symbolic spaces, shaped by history, power, and culture, where roles and identities are imagined, assigned, and negotiated.

Think about school. From a young age, students are categorized—“gifted,” “struggling,” “quiet,” “disruptive.” These labels don’t just describe students; they configure how students come to know themselves. The figured world of schooling offers up roles and scripts that shape how young people see what’s possible for them, and how others treat them.

But figured worlds aren’t limited to school. They’re embedded in families, workplaces, religious life, social media, and even in the technologies we use. Each world offers its own criteria for belonging, success, and worth.

Educational researcher Kysa Nygreen powerfully extends this concept in her book These Kids: Identity, Agency, and Social Justice at a Last-Chance High School (2013). Drawing on Holland et al., she shows how students in an alternative school are often cast within a figured world of “failure” or “at-risk youth”—narratives that limit their perceived potential. But Nygreen also illuminates how youth step into counter-worlds—like participatory action research or organizing for justice—where they can re-author themselves as capable, critical, and creative agents.

This is what makes the theory of figured worlds so powerful. It recognizes that:

  1. We are shaped by the stories around us—the roles we’re given, the positions we occupy, the limits placed on our imagination.

  2. But we can also re-author our identities—inhabiting alternative worlds where new roles and relationships become possible.

When I ask, “Whose world am I in?” or “What kind of person do I get to be here?”, I’m also wondering: Is this a world I want to help reimagine?

🔍 References

  • Holland, D., Lachicotte Jr., W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Harvard University Press.

  • Nygreen, K. (2013). These kids: Identity, agency, and social justice at a last-chance high school. University of Chicago Press.

Discover more of my favorite theories at Theoretical Threads

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