Life Event Stories episodic interviews Detailed narrative accounts of particular experiences In connection with life histories - standing alone Interview-style ranging between more open- ended and structured (semi-structured) Topics: chronic pain, my first kiss, divorce � Work with some DATA (Betty tells her story)
Why analyzing stories? GUIDING QUESTIONS –What are narratives? –What are they used for? –Identity and identities –Identity analysis
What are narratives? Narratives in narratology –Narratives as texts –Narratives as themes Narratives as discourse –as talk-in-interaction –as actions that do jobs Narratives as ‘sense-making devices’ >
Dimensions (Ochs & Capps, 2001) life event approaches vs small stories Tellership one teller versus multiple co-tellers Tellability high versus low tellability Embeddedness detached versus contextually and situationally embedded Moral stance certainty versus uncertainty Linearity, temporality, causality closed temporal + causal order versus open arrangements
What are narratives used for? they engage in projects such as »Tellership »Tellability »Embeddedness »Moral stance »Linearity, temporality, causality –They are making claims about who I am in WHAT is said & HOW it is said –They are producing Speaker-Audience relationships –They establish IDENTITY
Identity and Identity Analysis Constructions of answers to ‘who are you?’ In all talk-in-interaction With narratives as talk in social interactions Analysis of such constructions Analysis of narratives Analysis of social contexts Narratives as tools // heuristics For the analysis of subjectivity and selves For the analysis of interactive situations Linking subjectivity and social interaction into the empirical site where both are emerging
Implications for narrative analysis No direct access to selves and identities through the stories of story tellers Indirect access to how story tellers want to be understood ‘here + now’ Starting with the story –Analyzing the construction of characters in space + time of the story-realm Adding the interactive context –Analyzing the discursive context of telling the story
Micro-genesis vs. Macro-genesis Microgenesis –As a form of analysis Bottom-up Selves in interaction as agents Analysis of interactive structures Advantages + disadvantages Macrogenesis –As a form of analysis Top-down Macrostructures as social agents Analysis of social structures Advantages and disadvantages
Positioning & Positioning Analysis Level 1: Positioning characters in the story (referential plane of what the talk is about) --- (characters can be ‘I’ and ‘you’) Level 2: Positioning myself as speaker vis-à-vis my interlocutors Level 3: Positioning myself vis-à-vis myself --- drawing up a position vis-à-vis dominant discourses (master narratives) Analysis proceeds from level 1 to 3
Some DATA this morning Sequencing exercise What are events - what is a sequence? Betty positioning her friends & herself What is the sequence of events? What is the theme? What does her story mean? Positioning with Davie Hogan Stories about others - embeddedness - tellability
This afternoon Positioning self + gays (by way of a girl) Stories about self + others - embeddedness Positioning self + Linda Larssen Stories about self - embeddedness - who am I? Role of the interviewer in group interactions Doing ‘research agenda’ - question of authenticity