Narratives We Organize By

Topics covered by this title include: structuralist approaches to narrative analysis; poststructural approaches to narrative; genre analysis; and narrating ourselves.

From time to time we all tend to wonder what sort of “story” our life might comprise: what it means, where it is going, and whether it hangs together as a whole. In The Stories We Are, William Lowell Randall explores the links between literature and life and speculates on the range of storytelling styles through which people compose their lives. In doing so, he draws on a variety of fields, including psychology, psychotherapy, theology, philosophy, feminist theory, and literary theory. Using categories like plot, character, point of view, and style, Randall plays with the possibility that we each make sense of the events of our lives to the extent that we weave them into our own unfolding novel, as simultaneously its author, narrator, main character, and reader. In the process, he offers us a unique perspective on features of our day-to-day world such as secrecy, self-deception, gossip, prejudice, intimacy, maturity, and the proverbial “art of living.” First published in 1995, this second edition of The Stories We Are includes a new preface and afterword by the author that offer insight into his argument and evolution as a scholar, as well as an illuminating foreword by Ruthellen Josselson.

This book systematically investigates intercultural experiences of Polish managers and specialists delegated by their multinational company (MNC) on an international assignment to China. The book employs narrative inquiry to explore language, intercultural communication, collaboration, learning, and expatriate adjustment in the MNC. This approach offers new insights into intercultural experiences, communication, and cultural challenges faced by an under-researched group of professionals exposed to intensive collaborations with the local managers and employees. The findings also illustrate how the expatriates learned to better navigate the multicultural and multilingual business context and what factors facilitated and inhibited their learning and adjustment. Encouraging the qualitative, context-sensitive examination of expatriate-local personnel interactions, the book will be an invaluable source for scholars and practitioners interested in, among others, novel approaches to investigating language and intercultural communication in international business, cross-cultural management, qualitative cross-cultural research, as well as for lecturers and students interested in Central Europe and China.

Recipient of the 1994 Critics′ Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association People tell stories to help organize and make sense of their lives. In the past, their narratives have often been torn apart by social scientists looking for themes, variables, and specific answers to specific questions. But in recent years, the development of narrative analysis has given life to the study of the narrative as a form of information for social research. Why are they constructed as they are? How does one dissect a narrative to understand the lived experience of the narrator? What steps can the researcher take to translate these tales and life stories into usable research? Catherine Kohler Riessman provides a detailed primer on the use of narrative analysis, its theoretical underpinnings and worldview, and the methods it uses. Replete with examples and transcriptions from previous narrative studies, Narrative Analysis is a useful introduction to this growing body of literature.

From setting up the fieldwork to writing up the research, this volume takes readers through the narrative approach to qualitative research with a focus on organization studies. Inspired by the work of Bakhtin, Eco, Rorty and Silverman, the author demonstrates that narratives are still the main carriers of knowledge in all societies.

The Handbook of Narrative Inquiry is the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the developing methodology of narrative inquiry. International in scope, this Handbook outlines the historical development and philosophical underpinnings of narrative inquiry and describes different forms of narrative. This one-of-a-kind volume offers a methodological map of this field of inquiry and encourages further dialogue, discussion, and experimentation as the field continues to develop. Key Features: Offers coverage of various disciplines and viewpoints from around the world: Leading international contributors draw upon narrative inquiry as conceptualized in Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, Nursing, and other disciplines. Illustrates the range of narrative inquiry forms: The Handbook presents both conceptual and practical in-depth descriptions of narrative inquiry. Portrays how narrative inquiry is applied to research in different professional fields: The contributors pay particular attention to representational issues, ethical issues, and some of the complexities of narrative inquiry with indigenous and cross-cultural participants in addition to child participants. --

"Scheib draws on her extensive research; insights of gerontology, sociology, psychology, and anthropology; and her experience as a practical pastoral theologian to develop a new approach to pastoral care with older women, a pastoral approach to aging that takes into account the social context, as well as individual analysis, and theological reflection. She proposes a model of care and a set of practices that challenge women's invisibility and assist congregations in being good places to grow old."--BOOK JACKET.

Featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field, The Handbook of Narrative Analysis is the first comprehensive collection of sociolinguistic scholarship on narrative analysis to be published. Organized thematically to provide an accessible guide for how to engage with narrative without prescribing a rigid analytic framework Represents established modes of narrative analysis juxtaposed with innovative new methods for conducting narrative research Includes coverage of the latest advances in narrative analysis, from work on social media to small stories research Introduces and exemplifies a practice-based approach to narrative analysis that separates narrative from text so as to broaden the field beyond the printed page