”Det finns en hel värld där ute, Tara.” : en analys av dekonversion i boken Allt jag fått lära mig

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to analyze deconversion and its narrative in Tara Westover’s autobiography Educated. The study aimed to answer three key questions: What does Westover’s path to deconversion look like in Educated? How can Westover’s deconversion be interpreted from the perspective of Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh’s (1988) model for exit processes? What type of deconversion story does Educated reflect in light of Heinz Strieb et al. (2009) theory about deconversion stories? The material has been analyzed through qualitative content analysis and qualitative narrative analysis. The findings point to a long and uneven deconversion for Westover. The result suggests that her deconversion started when she left for college and continued until she broke off from her parents and their convictions. Results also show that Westover’s deconversion does not follow the narrative of Ebaughs model for exit processes even though she goes through all the phases of the theory. The narrative in Westover’s story is the most comparable to Streib et al.’s deconversion stories Pursuit of autonomy and Debarred from paradise, as their characteristics are very similar to those in Westover’s description of her deconversion.