Narrative Analysis: Studying the Development of Individuals in Society

About the Book

Narrative Analysis: Studying the Development of Individuals in Society aims to help researchers and students identify and evaluate the wealth of rationales, practices, caveats, and values of narrative inquiry for understanding human development. A rich collection of chapters articulates diverse, interdisciplinary perspectives within the integrative theme that identity and knowledge development occur in dynamic social environments.

Editors Colette Daiute and Cynthia Lightfoot have brought together an internationally renowned team of experts in narrative analysis to create a volume perfect for qualitative researchers in sociology, psychology, social work, education, and anthropology. Students, professors, and experienced researchers will find the pedagogical elements and case studies perfect for course use and professional reference.

Case study examples offer a wide range of research contexts and goals, including:

• School-based violence prevention
• Holocaust survivors
• Undocumented children and families from Mexico
• Generational trends among women
• Suicide rates among First Nations youth

Narrative Analysis is organized around three approaches or "readings." Literary Readings focus on aesthetic, metaphorical, and other literary qualities inherent to narrative approaches. Social-Relational Readings build upon the idea that narrative discourse is personal but also echoes political, economic, and other material relationships in the environment. Readings through the Force of History explain how narrators come to know themselves and their worlds in terms of and in spite of the received explanations of time and place. Working in a range of ethnic, geographic, generational, class, and institutional communities, the authors demonstrate how they have used narrative inquiry to explore development in challenging social contexts.

Table of Contents:
Editors′ Introduction Theory and Craft of Narrative Analysis - Colette Daiute and Cynthia Lightfoot Literary readings Preface to Literary Readings The Role of Imagination in Narrative Constructions - Theodore Sarbin Fantastic Self: A Study of Adolescents′ Fictional Narratives, and Identity Work as Aesthetic Activity - Cynthia Lightfoot Cultural modeling as a frame for narrative analysis - Carol D. Lee, Erica Rosenfeld, Ruby Mendenhall, Ama Rivers and Brendesha Tynes Data are everywhere: Narrative criticism in the literature of experience - Mark Freeman Social-relational Readings Preface to Social-relational Readings Co-constructing the cultural person through narratives in early childhood - Katherine Nelson Adaptive and Creative Uses of Narrative Genres - Colette Daiute Positioning with Davie Hogan: Stories, Tellings, and Identities - Michael Bamberg Dilemmas of storytelling and identity - Steven Stanley and Michael Billig Readings through the forces of history Preface to Readings through the forces of history Narrating illegality as an identity in conflicting cultural discourses - Jocelyn Solis Transcendent stories and counter-narratives in holocaust survivor life histories: Searching for meaning in video-testimony archives - Sarah Carney Women of "the greatest generation": Feeling on the margin of social history - Abigail J. Stewart and Janet E. Malley Culture, continuity, and the limits of narrativity: A comparison of the self-narratives of Native and Non-Native youth - Michael Chandler, Ulrecht Teucher, and Chris Lalonde Once upon a time: A narratologist′s tale - Mary Gergen Editor and Author Bios Editor and Author Bios

About the Author :
Colette Daiute, Professor of Psychology at the Graduate Center, City University and teaches courses on theory, research, and methods in the human sciences. She has conducted research in diverse settings, including community centers, educational institutions, human rights organizations, television and computer technology environments, and informal community gatherings. The author of Human Development and Political Violence (Cambridge University Press), Narrative Inquiry: A Dynamic Approach (SAGE) and co-editor/author of International Perspectives on Youth Conflict and Development (Oxford University Press), and Narrative Analysis: Studying the Development of Individuals in Society (SAGE), Colette Daiute has published articles in a range of scholarly journals, including Global Studies Journal, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Narrative Inquiry, and Journal of Social Issues. In addition to teaching courses such as “Narrative Inquiry” and “Human Development and Globalization,” she is Co-Director of the “Narrating Change” Seminar of the Center of the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY. http://www.colettedaiute.org             Cynthia Lightfoot is a Professor and Program Director of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State University, Brandywine. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, her M.A. from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Review :
"As qualitative research methods have gained status, interest in narrative analysis has also grown. This collection of essays reflects varying definitions for processes of interpreting variety of discourse as well as varying contexts of meaning. The editors highlight the usefulness of narrative analysis as a way to reveal relationships between individuals and societies. They also emphsize the developmental qualitites of narrative analysis: in terms of life journey, cultural tool over time, complexity, and skill acquisition."