Narrative Matters 2012 Conference at The American University of Paris: Life and Narrative

  Workshop organizers: Ruthellen Josselson, Fielding Graduate University, (rjosselson@fielding.edu) and Amia Lieblich, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, (msamia@mscc.huji.ac.il).

  Time: This workshop will take place on Monday May 28th (all day) and Tuesday May 29th (morning).

  Cost: The fee for this workshop is 200 Euros for regular attendees and 150 Euros for students.

Narrative interviewing has as its aim an in-depth understanding of another person and attempts to understand what is not said as well as what is. The goal of this workshop will be to reflect upon and to improve skills as interviewers in the context of narrative research.

In this workshop, we will take up the problems of orienting to the interview through a clear conceptualization of the research question and we will consider the interrelationship between the theoretical context that frames the research and the actual interaction in the interview with the participant. Taking a close look at the interview itself, we will focus on understanding the interpersonal process, thinking about the data, and talking about the problems inherent in communicating the results of what we have learned. Throughout, we will keep in mind the question: What does it mean to know another person?

Each workshop member should be prepared both to interview other people and also to be a participant in an interview. There will be a written assignment between the first and second day-long workshop sessions. Participants should come to the workshop having completed the assigned readings and also outfitted with a battery-operated tape recorder and 2 tapes or a digital recorder. 

  Workshop organizers: Molly Andrews, University of East London, (M.Andrews@UEL.AC.UK) and Corinne Squire, University of East London, (C.Squire@UEL.AC.UK).

  Time: This workshop will take place on Tuesday May 29th (morning).

  Cost: The fee for this workshop is 40 Euros for regular attendees and 20 Euros for students.

Narratives are not only the means by which individuals breathe public life into personal experience, they are a primary tool by which individuals recognize and affirm themselves as members of a group, thereby often acting as a catalyst for the raising of political consciousness. Narratives can thus play a vital role in de-individualizing that which is personal; rendering experience into a narrative form can help individuals to become more actively engaged in shaping the conditions of their lives. The workshop will explore how stories' stylistic structures relate to social change: in particular, can certain forms of metaphor and other rhetorical tropes work to support social change? The workshop leaders will use examples from political speeches, community stories of living with HIV, and other forms of political talk, and will explore the relationship between micro and macro narratives of political change.

Molly Andrews is Professor of Political Psychology and co-director of the Centre for Narrative Research at the University of East London, London, England. Her research interests include the psychological basis of political commitment; the psychological challenges posed by societies in times of acute political change; the psychology of patriotism; the politics of remembering and its relationship to told and untold stories; gender and aging; and counternarratives. Her monograph Shaping History: Narratives of Political Change (Cambridge University Press, 2007) won the 2008 Outstanding Book Award of the American Educational Research Association, Narrative and Research Special Interest Group.

Corinne Squire is Professor of Social Sciences and Co-Director of the Centre for Narrative Research at the University of East London. Her research interests include HIV and citizenship, narrative theory and methods, and popular culture and subjectivities. Her books include HIV in South Africa (Routledge, 2007 – winner of the Sociology of Health and Illness/British Sociological Association 2008 Book of the Year prize), HIV Technologies in International Perspective (edited with Mark Davis, Palgrave, 2010), Doing Narrative Research (edited with Molly Andrews and Maria Tamboukou, Sage, 2008) and Public Emotions (edited with Perri 6, Susannah Radstone and Amal Treacher, Palgrave, 2006). 

  Workshop organizer: Jens Brockmeier, University of Manitoba and the Free University of Berlin, (brockmei@cc.umanitoba.ca).

  Time: This workshop will take place on Tuesday May 29th (morning).

  Cost: The fee for this workshop is 40 Euros for regular attendees and 20 Euros for students.

What has been labeled the narrative turn – or, perhaps more precisely, narrative turns – stands for a variety of developments in a number of fields. One feature these developments share is that interest in narrative has expanded beyond the mere literary text to discourse and social practice. A second new attribute of narrative is that it is conceived not only as social and discursive practice but as cultural practice. In fact, the narrative turn has come in tandem with a cultural turn in our very understanding of narrative. For many researchers and scholars it has become obvious that narrative practices are carried out not just in the mind but in particular cultural worlds – that is, that they are cultural forms of life. But it has also become clear that there are at least two different perspectives from which the interplay between narrative and the cultural world (which may comprise several, possibly contradictory cultural worlds at the same time) can be viewed. On the one hand, narrative practices are shaped and guided by cultural conventions and traditions; on the other hand, they play an important role in establishing, challenging, subverting, and transforming these very traditions.

This workshop uses these two perspectives as investigative lenses to explore how, and to what degree, narrative practices bind individuals into their cultural worlds while binding the cultural world into their minds.

Against the backdrop of present discussions on narrative as cultural practice in the social sciences (e.g., in narrative psychology and cultural psychology, sociolinguistics and pragmatics, cultural anthropology and ethnography), the human sciences (e.g., in postclassical narratology and literary theory), and the medical and health sciences (e.g., in narrative medicine, the study of illness narratives, and dementia studies), the workshop invites participants to contribute ideas and experiences as well as results, problems, and questions from their own research. Participants will be provided with a short reading list in preparation for the workshop. 

  Workshop organizer: Sylvie Patron, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, (sylvie.patron@orange.fr).

  Time: This workshop will take place on Tuesday May 29th (morning).

  Cost: The fee for this workshop is 40 Euros for regular attendees and 20 Euros for students.

  Workshop organizers: Claudia Roda, The American University of Paris, (croda@aup.edu) and Brian Schiff, The American University of Paris, (bschiff@aup.edu).

  Time: This workshop will take place on Tuesday May 29th (morning).

  Cost: The fee for this workshop is 40 Euros for regular attendees and 20 Euros for students.

  Objectives
 

The intimate relationship between narratives and identity has been at center stage in both psychological and philosophical reflections. This workshop aims at gathering a better understanding of the impact of digital technologies on this relationship.

  Questions addressed
 

• As narratives contribute to shaping identity through internal and social interaction, how do the new digital forms of social narratives impact identity?

• Are the new forms of digital narrative a better match for what could be considered natural internal story telling (as, for example, Vannevar Bush implies) and if so, do they enable more natural forms of identity?

• How do social relationships work together with new technologies?

• Which characteristic aspects of digital narratives (e.g., non-linearity, succinctness, multimodality) impact identity?

• What is a digital identity? What is the relation between the multiplicity of identities and digital identities?

  Call for contributions
 

We invite prospective participants to submit a position paper addressing one or more of the above questions (or proposing a related area of inquiry to be considered by the group).

Position papers should not exceed 2000 words and should be addressed to Claudia Roda (croda@aup.fr).

We would appreciate receiving expressions of interest with a tentative topic / title as soon as possible and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

  Workshop format
 

These position papers will be circulated about one month prior to the workshop. It is our hope to be able to facilitate the development for a short report which might serve as a resource for other interested individuals working on similar subjects.

For more information please contact the workshop organizers.