Discourse and narrative analyses: Case studies and applications

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19 September 2014, 11.00am (Room no to be confirmed)

Discourse and narrative analyses: Case studies and applications

A Seminar for PhD students and their Supervisors with Dr Marco Gemignani, President of the  Qualitative Inquiry Section of the American Psychological Association , hosted as a joint initiative between The Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research Group, Psychology, and the Social Policy Research Centre.

The seminar will be of interest to all candidates using qualitative and mixed methods in their research and is part of a unique programme of seminars with Dr Gemignani at the beginning of his tenure as President of the Qualitative Inquiry Section of the American Psychological Association.  There will be time for discussion and networking at this exciting event.

The Abstract appears below.

Please email Nollaig Frost, n.frost@mdx.ac.uk, or Louise Ryan, L.Ryan@mdx.ac.uk, to confirm attendance and for further details.

Abstract

To an extent, the separation between narrative and discourse analyses seems to imply that these two forms of inquiry can exist in isolation from each other. My position, instead, is that they are not only complimentary, but that their interplay allows for sophisticated interpretations and deconstructions of complex processes or issues and for culturally-sensitive co-constructions of data. Major epistemological questions about the location of knowledge and the role of individual agency come with the entanglement of narrative and discursive approaches, especially in participatory, applied, or critical modes of research. Using as example a community-based support group in which I collaborated with Iraqi refugees who had recently relocated in the U.S., the collaboration between narrative inquiry and discourse analysis encourages bridging individual and socio-cultural dimensions of experience and knowledge.