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Understanding the experiences of Vietnamese women leaders

Advancing an existential philosophical and psychological perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID19430285
AuthorsLan Thi Nguyen (0000-0002-8848-2168), Matthew Mcdonald (0000-0002-7460-4013), Nhu Quynh Tran-Kieu (0000-0001-7831-5908), Paul Gibson (0000-0001-6118-3507)
Year2022
Volume50
Issue3
Pages399-416
Publication date2022-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Humanistic Psychologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0887-3267 • E-ISSN: 1547-3333
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/hum0000290
OpenAlexW4295960857
LanguageEN
Citations received2

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the value(s) of existential philosophy and psychology for understanding women’s lives in a cross-cultural context. It focuses on Vietnamese women and the formation of their self-identity in the process of becoming a leader. Theoretically, we draw on the existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger’s fundamental ontology that emphasizes being, temporality and context (thrownness), Simone de Beauvoir’s account of gender and other pertinent existentialists. To illustrate the value of an existential perspective, we offer an empirical example of a Vietnamese woman’s life-story (who was chosen because she is a leader), interpreting her self-identity as it unfolds over the life span. This approach has the potential to capture an individuals’ diverse and complex modes of being, how they take part in shaping their reality through their situatedness in the world. The value of existentialism lies in its view of self-identity as a process of becoming, as opposed to a fixed and stable entity, providing the means for theorizing the possibilities for female agency, which addresses one of the limitations of the existing research on women’s leadership in Vietnam. Our analysis of the participant’s life-story offers a case illustration of her encounters with the conditions of existence, which serve as important events, milestones, and turning points that promote a critical reflection on the role that culture, choice, and meaning plays in her life and leadership

Art · Epistemology · Existentialism · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Sociology · Vietnamese · Leadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies · Philosophy · Psychology

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Citations per year1
Citation span2024 - 2025 (2)
Highly citedNo

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