(From
Lawler chapter in May: ‘Qualitative Research in Action’)
Narrative analysis:
·
focuses
on “the ways in which people make and use stories to interpret the world”
·
does
NOT treat narratives as stories that transmit a set of facts about the world,
and is not primarily interested in whether stories are ‘true’ or not (so is
closer to social contructionism than positivist approach)
·
views
narratives as social products that are produced by people in the context of
specific social, historical and cultural locations
·
views
narratives as interpretive devices through which people represent themselves
and their worlds to themselves and to others
Narrative theory argues that:
·
people
produce accounts of themselves that are ‘storied’ (ie. that are in the form of
stories/narratives)
·
the
social world is itself ‘storied’ (ie. ‘piblic’ stories circulate in popular
culture, providing means people can use to construct personal identities and
personal narratives). Ricoeur argues that narrative is a key means through
which people produced an identity.
·
Some
of most interview accounts are likely to be ‘storied’ (ie. in narrative form)
·
Narratives
link the past to the present, but …
·
There
is no ‘unbiased account of the past
Definitions
Narrative can be characterised by:
·
Accounts
which contain an element of transformation (ie. change over time)
·
Accounts
containing some kind of action and characters
·
That
are brought together in a plot line
So:
·
narratives
have a temporal dimension
·
characters
and actions can be imaginary/fantasy
·
‘emplotment’
is a process through which narratives are produced: many disparate elements go
together to make up one story (eg. digressions, sub-plots etc.)
·
Narratives
must have a point (a ‘so what?’ factor), which often takes the form of a moral
message
Research Methods and Narrative
Analysis
Research that focuses on the role
of narrative:
·
Usually
involves life story research or oral history
·
Usually
adopts a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews rather than
questionnaires
·
Usually
the researcher says very little, acting primarily as an attentive listener, but
…
·
All
narratives are always co-constructed, even if the audience is oneself or an
imaginary other, or if the story is told to oneself in the form of a daydream
Structuralist approaches to
narrative:
eg. Propp, 1968 / Labov, 1973
(from Silverman’ 2nd
edition, ‘Interpreting Qualitative Data’)
Narratives can take different
forms, and Propp (1968) argued that:
·
The
Fairytale involves a narrative form that is central to all story-telling
·
The
Fairytale is structured not by the nature of the characters but by the function
they play in the plot
·
And
the number of possible functions is fairly small
Example: (Using
Propp’s approach)
Most
fairytales follow a similar plot line…
‘A
dragon kidnaps the king’s daughter’
Element Function
Replacement
Dragon Evil force Witch
King Ruler Chief
Daughter Loved one Wife
Kidnap Disappearance Vanish
Now –
can you do the same using ‘Star Wars’ as an example?
Narrative Theory: Approaches to the study
of narrative
(a partial and incomplete list)
a)
Structural
analysis: eg. Labov, 1973
Focus
on story grammar
b)
Sociology of
stories approach: eg. Plummer, 1996
Focus
on cultural, historical and political context in which particular stories are
(or can be) told by whom and to whom (eg. ‘coming out stories’)
c)
Functional
approach: eg. Bruner, 1990
Focus
on what work particular stories do in people’s lives
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Examples of structural analyses of
narrative
1) Setting/ orientation 1) Setting
Abstract/
summary of story
2) Initiating event 2) Initiating event
3) Complicating action 3) Internal reaction/
response of protagonist
4) Resolution/ result of action 4) Action by
protagonist
to deal
with
situation
5) Evaluation/ point of story 5) Consequence of
action
6) Coda/
return speaker to 6) Reaction to events/
present moral
of tale
Bruner,
1990: ‘Acts of Meaning’
** Functional
analysis of story-telling as a means of conveying meaning
** Functions
of narrative = solving problems
=
tension reduction
=
resolution of dilemmas
** Narratives
allow us to deal with and explain
mismatches between the exceptional and the ordinary. When events occur that we perceive as ordinary, then explanations
are not required.
** Narratives
allow us to re-cast chaotic experiences into causal stories in order to make
sense of them, and to render them safe.
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Canonical Narratives
** Narratives
of ‘folk psychology’ (or ‘common sense’) summarise ‘how things are’ and (often
implicitly) how they should be.
** When
we perceive that things are ‘as they should be’, the narratives of folk
psychology are unnecessary.
** Narratives
are a unique way of managing departures from the canonical
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QM-Narr-lec