NARRATIVE ETHNOGRAPHY emily dowdeswell post graduate research student

NARRATIVE ETHNOGRAPHY

emily dowdeswell post graduate research student WELS emily. dowdeswell@open. ac. u k

(1) a story or a description of an event narrative (2) a particular way of explaining or understanding events cambridge dictionary

plato then we must first of all, it seems, supervise the storytellers. we'll select their stories whenever they are fine and beautiful and reject them when they aren't. and we'll persuade nurses and mothers to tell their children the ones we have selected, since they will shape their children's souls with stories much more that they will shape their bodies by handling them (1) citizens are created through the stories we tell

bruner we live in a sea of stories, and like the fish who (according to the proverb) will be the last to discover water, we have our own difficulties grasping what it is like to swim in stories (2) knowledge is created by the narrator through the stories they tell

cajete telling and retelling a story from various perspectives and at various stages of life enriched learning, emphasized key thoughts and mirrored ideas, attititudes or perspectives back to learners for impact. . . every story is retold in a new day's light. . . (3) storytelling is the dynamic process of learning and teaching, knowledge empowers communities and people

ethnography a scientific description of the culture of the society by someone who has lived in it, or a book containing this. cambridge dictionary

strathern using relations to uncover relations (5)

anna lowenhaupt tsing the point of ethnography is to learn how to think about a situation together with one's informants; research categories develop with the research, not before it (6)

hammersley a thick approach to ethnography requires theoretical and value commitments, . . . a thin approach treats ethnography simply as a research strategy that can be employed by researchers adopting a wide variety of potentially conflicting commitments (4)

activity: what do you notice about these definitions? how do they differ? which definition represents best your beliefs? which definition might best support your research question?

narrative ethnography the ethnographic study of narratives characterized by a deeper understanding generated by the combination of both ethnographic and narrative data

an enchanted sacred spot where people meet, hauntings happen and horizons fuse (7) barbara tedlock the memories we hide from eventually catch us; overtake us as spiders weaving the dreamcatchers of our lives (8) authority is grounded in the reflective experience of the subjective researcher

jason gubrium an d jaber holstein stories reveal the relational selves of story tellers and serve as windows on distinctive social worlds (9) authority is grounded in the representation of the narrative environment

narrative ethnography: empirical examples activity: as I describe empirical examples of the ways researchers have deployed narrative ethnography in a variety of settings, note down some of the affordances and limitations of the narrative ethnographic approach, as well as any resonances with your work and experiences.

knowledge of the narrative context is key mixed methods study of biographical narratives Eichsteller, M. (2019) ‘There is more than one way - a study of mixed analytical methods in biographical narrative research’, Contemporary Social Science: Biographical Research - Challenges and Creativity: Guest Edited by Ana Caetano and Magda Nico. Routledge, 14(3 -4), pp. 447– 462.

an empirical sociological study of women's narratives of their experiences of weight management classes how a story is told is dependent on the cultural resources available O' Toole, J. Institutional storytelling and personal narratives: reflecting on the ‘value’ of narrative inquiry (2018) Irish Educational Studies, 37 (2), pp. 175189.

a case study of canabis growers and dealers' selfproclaimed motives for growing talk is shaped by situations and interactions, people's ability to play with their narratives relies on linguistic skills, cultural repertoire and roles Hammersvik, E. Making Sense of “Helping Friends”: “Flexing” Motivational Accounts of Cannabis Growing (2018) Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 47 (1), pp. 88 -112.

a study of the football world cup and its legacies storytelling as a theoretical lens through which to understand local impact. NE allows a multidimensional engagement at a micro-level. Waardenburg, M. , van den Bergh, M. , van Eekeren, F. Local meanings of a sport mega-event's legacies: Stories from a South African urban neighbourhood (2015) South African Review of Sociology, 46 (1), pp. 87105.

creative nonfiction in the genre of narrative ethnography the complexity of the researcher and participants' interactions, and the way knowledge and practice was embedded in larger narratives of meaning related to filial piety, ethnic identity, justice, compassion, tradition, and love of nature led the researcher to conclude that creative nonfiction might be the best way to record traditional knowledge in a way that does not ignore these elements. Ochs, S. Medicine and Morality in the Ho Family in Lijiang (2015) Asian Medicine, 10 (1 -2), pp. 341352.

an interview-based study of infertility and reproductive disruption among british pakistanis in northeastern england NE centres the relationships formed between ethnographer and informant in order to blur the duality of self and other. the focus is on the coproduction of knowledge through everyday narrative activity that is a situated multi-dimensional social interaction. Hampshire, K. , Iqbal, N. , Blell, M. , Simpson, B. The interview as narrative ethnography: seeking and shaping connections in qualitative research (2014)

an exploration of what is happening in the classroom through writings produced in class narratives are part of multilayered narrative processes, they document social environments, experiences, cultural beliefs and more. . . they are affected by their environment but also the children's narratives have an effect on that environment Hohti, R. Children writing ethnography: children's perspectives and nomadic thinking in researching school classrooms (2016) Ethnography and Education, 11 (1), pp. 7490.

listening to children's voices in the classroom voices are emergent, contingent on their social, discursive and physical environments and power relations. . . narratives are constructed in reciprocal processes of telling and listening Hohti, R. , Karlsson, L. Lollipop stories: Listening to children’s voices in the classroom and narrative ethnographical research (2014) Childhood, 21 (4), pp. 548 -562.

activity: what do you notice about these studies? how do they differ? how are they similar? how would this approach affect your research question?

blurring boundaries the introduction of the first person in research texts is a postmodern response to a crisis of representation with roots in epistemology, ethics and ontology. . . this conscious positioning of authors within their texts opens up possibilities for evocative, innovative ways in which researchers may represent realities, themselves and their research participants in their texts (10)

the role of ontology in shaping method

narrative ethnography: affordances and limitations

what's next?

thank you

(1) plato, republic, book 2, 377 c (2) bruner, 1996, 147 (3) cajete, 1994, 212 (4) hammersley, 2018, 7 references (5) strathern, 2005, vii (6) tsing, 2015, ix (7) tedlock, 2013, 234 (8) tedlock, 2013, 247 (9) gubrium & holstein, 2008 (10) maguire, 2006