About the Book
Discourses and narratives are crucial in how we understand a world of rapid changes. This textbook constitutes a unique introduction to two major influential theoretical and methodological fields - discourse and narrative methods - and examines them in their interrelation. It offers readers an orientation within the broad and contested area of discourse and narrative methods and develops concrete analytical strategies to those who wish to explore both or one of these fields as well as their overlaps.
Illustrated with examples from real life and real research, this book:
Maps the theoretical influence from poststructuralist, postmodern, postcolonial and feminist ideas on the field of discourse and narrative.
Acts as a guide to the most central analytical approaches in discourse and narrative studies supported by concrete examples of analytical strategies.
Presents a variety of oral, textual, visual and other ’data’ for the purpose of analyzing discourse and narrative.
Offers deeper insight into discourse and narrative methods within three themes of crucial importance for changing global context: media and society, gender and space, and autobiography and life writing.
Acts as a helpful guide to situated writing based on concrete workshop exercises, which promotes ethical reflexivity, analytical thinking and creative engagement in the study of discourses and narratives.
Table of Contents:
PART I: Introducing Discourse and Narrative Methods
Chapter 1. The Becoming of a Textbook. A Readers Guide
Chapter 2. Theoretical and Methodological Departures in Contested Fields of Study
Chapter 3. Themes: Media and Society, Gender and Space, Autobiography and Life Writing
PART II: Narrative and Discourse: Making Connections
Chapter 4. Narrative Phenomena: Entanglements and Intra-Actions in Narrative Research
Chapter 5. Discourse, Authoring and Performativity
Chapter 6. Narrative Modalities of Power
Chapter 7. Discourse, Power and Representation
Chapter 8. Narrative as force
Chapter 9. Discourses as Embodied Genealogies
Chapter 10. Narrative and the Political
PART III: Situated and Reflective Writing Sessions
Chapter 11. A Politics of Location in Discourse and Narrative Methods
Chapter 12. Working with Diaries and Letters
Chapter 13. Working with Memories
Chapter 14. Untimely Academic Novella Writing
About the Author :
Mona Livholts (BA, MA, PhD) is Associate Professor of Social Work at the Department of Social and Welfare Studies at Linköping University, Sweden, and coordinator of R.A.W., The Network for Reflexive Academic Writing Methodologies. The main focus of her work is emergent writing methodologies, discourse and narrative methods and artistic research processes. Research themes include media and social work, gender and intersectionality, space, memory and technological transformation. She has published monographs, co-edited and edited volumes in Swedish and English, including, ‘Women’, Welfare, Textual Politics and Critique. An Invitation to a ThinkingWriting Methodology in the Study of Welfare, Emergent Writing Methodologies in Feminist Studies, and a trilogy of untimely academic novellas: ‘The Professor’s Chair’, ‘The Snow Angel and Other Imprints’, and ‘Writing Water’.
Maria Tamboukou (BA, MA, PhD) is a professor of feminist studies at the University of East London, UK. Her research activity develops in the areas of philosophies and epistemologies in the social sciences, feminist theories, narrative analytics, and archival research. Writing feminist genealogies is the central focus of her work. She is the author of seven monographs and more than 70 journal articles and book chapters. Recent publications include the monographs Sewing, Writing and Fighting; Gendering the Memory of Work; Women Workers’ Education as well as the coauthored the book The Archive Project.
Review :
Discourse and Narrative Methods interrogates the debates on narrative and discourse from a fresh and powerful perspective. By revitalizing the post-structuralist feminist theory, Livholts and Tamboukou generate veritable canons of their own, foregrounding such authors as Hannah Arendt, Adriana Cavarero and Judith Butler. The idea of narrative as force, in particular, is intriguing and deserves further discussion. Diary, letters, autobiography and memory work are only few examples of the areas where the methods are tested. This is indeed an inspiring exercise in theory, analysis and personal writing. -- Matti Hyvarinen We have long needed a good book about how to do discourse analysis and narrative research - and this is it. Livholts and Tamboukou have written a book that is comprehensive, accessible and most importantly practical. It is an invaluable resource for students and teachers of research methods - covering the whole research process from theoretical underpinnings through data collection and analysis. -- Stephen Ball This book draws together the domains of discourse and narrative theorizing and research methodologies, in a comprehensive and comprehensible way, without offering easy answers to the perennial reductionist question: "What is the difference between narrative and discourse?" Instead, the dialogical structure of the text mirrors the connections and diffractions between the two approaches, offering us the distinct voices of two writers whose work is sometimes in synergy and interwoven, and at other times, departs along parallel lines to explore different terrains. The text is a wonderful contribution in the best tradition of feminist scholarship; a blend of personal stories, political commitments to social justice, and rigorous theorizing. -- Jill Bradbury Lively and engaging, this book opens up powerful new approaches for understanding and enacting discourse and narrative methods. Drawing on their own research experiences, and working with examples of data from across themes of gender and space, media and society, and autobiographical writing, the authors effortlessly blend analysis of theoretical and social contexts with valuable, practical research strategies. Exploring differences and connections across narrative and research methods, Livholts and Tamboukou offer dazzling insights as well as welcome guidance for the beginner and experienced researcher alike. With its compelling storylines and clear-sighted accounts, this book simply stands apart from stock-standard methods textbooks and will fast become a classic reference for anyone grappling with the richness of these methods. -- Julie McLeod A book full of insights, theoretical trails for students to follow, and voluminous references to the diversity of scholarly work informing narrative and discourse. Livholts and Tamboukou provide an important corrective to overly pragmatic books that emphasizes the "doing" of a narrative study. They invite us to think deeply about talk and text, visual image and power, and to interrogate our situated positions as researchers - essential components of good scholarly work. -- Catherine Riessman
