Narrative Analysis
Linguistics 619
Winter 2007
Professor Deborah Keller-Cohen
1190 Undergraduate Science Bldg.
763-9176
dkc@umich.edu
Office hours: Thursday 10–12 and by appointment at the USB
Occasionally, I will need to meet with you at my Women’s Studies office.
1122 Lane Hall
763-2047
Many would argue that no single approach to understanding the human condition has
had the wide impact that the narrative turn has. From medicine to law, history,
psychology, sociology, education, anthropology and linguistics, narrative has been a way
of making sense of experience. One of the downsides of this is that it is impossible to
design a course that comprehensively covers the use of narrative in every discipline in
which it operates or that introduces a student to every approach available. As a
consequence, the goal of this interdisciplinary course is to introduce students to the use
of narratives in research across a broad range of disciplines. We will consider what types
of questions narratives can be used to address as well as how narrative theory and/or
analysis can be used to understand our social world. To benefit from this course, you
should be willing to read outside of your discipline as well as to engage in discussions
about data from other disciplines.
This seminar is aimed at graduate students who are at the point of thinking about data
they might use or gather for a preliminary level project or a dissertation. Data
workshops, an important component of this course, are designed to engage you with
these data. These are aimed at helping you think through the issues, concepts and
analytical tools to which you will be introduced. It would be helpful to you to bring to
the course data on which you are working, plan to work, or are considering working.
However, if you do not have any data, there are numerous sources of data to which I
have access or that are available on the internet that would be appropriate. I will also be
bringing data to class periodically to help us think through particular issues.
No prior background in linguistics is assumed. Because this course engages
interdisciplinary subject matter, you may find that you are unfamiliar with concepts and
vocabulary used in another discipline, both in readings and discussions. Please raise this
From the companion website for Rogers, R. (2011). An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education, 2nd edition. New York: Taylor and Francis at
www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415874298
in class, and remember that your own discipline may be equally mystifying to others in
the seminar.
Readings
All required article readings are posted on the course CTools web site in separate folders
by date. Two of the book length case studies (Wortham and Mattingly) have been
ordered through Shaman Drum. The others you can obtain through resale internet sites.
I have also asked the library to put the books on reserve as well.
Course requirements:
1.
Leading discussion of readings during the term. We will divide up the readings
among the class members so that all readings are covered. Prepare a handout with key
issues and concepts to help orient the discussion and bring enough copies to class for
everyone.
2.
Summary/responses to the article readings for the weeks you lead discussion.
From among the readings you discuss, select two articles for which you will prepare
summary/response papers and write one discussion of a book reading. Papers should be
about two pages in length unless the article is very long and complex. Roughly twothirds of the article paper will be summary with one-third response. As the semester
progresses, the summary to response ratio is likely to shift as you are able to write
longer responses.
For book-length readings, your paper will consist entirely of a response. Please place
your papers in the CTools Resource folder that contains the readings to which you have
responded.
3.
Discussion questions. Prepare three discussion questions for each class meeting
and post them in CTools under Discussion. There you will find a topic for each date our
class meets after which you can paste your questions headed by your name. To print
out the questions for a particular class meeting, copy and paste the list of questions into
a Word document. This is the easiest way to gather the questions for each class because
CTools has not yet created a simple way to print from Discussions.
4.
One data workshop: One of the goals of this course is to provide intensive
experience working with narrative data. This aim is advanced by extended discussion of
data you bring to the class as well as your participation in the consideration of others’
data. Once during the term each person is responsible for providing the class with some
data for consideration. Each person will have at least 30 minutes in a class meeting to
raise questions, discuss conceptualization of problems or analysis, and otherwise seek
input from course members. These data should be posted in CTools under Resources in
the Data Workshop folder preferably no later than 6 PM on the Tuesday before your
workshop. Label your data file with your name and date of your workshop. You should
also attach a list of questions you’d like us to consider. You might wish to meet with me
earlier that week to discuss plans for your workshop. Everyone should print out the data
which we will discuss in class.
5.
Final research proposal or data analysis paper (15 pages)
This course is designed to help you advance your graduate work. You may find it useful
to write a proposal for a research project or to write a paper analyzing a specific set of
data. A proposal should include: a statement of a problem/question to be addressed, a
review of the literature specific to that problem (presented critically), a review of
methods for examining that problem, a plan for research (data to be gathered,
procedures for gathering the data, plan to analyze the data), and implications of the
project. A research paper would include a reduced version of the sections in the
proposal style paper with much more attention to the actual analysis and discussion of
the data. You may also choose the data analysis option to try out some alternative
analyses on a set of data as a pilot for a future project which you would then briefly
propose. Outlines for either the proposal or the research project are due no later than
March 27. Place them in the Drop Box Tool in CTools. We will discuss these in class on
March 28 and I will also be available to talk to you individually about the outlines after
March 28. The final proposal/paper is due on Monday April 25 by 4 PM in 1190 USB.
You must submit a hard copy.
Other resources
Methods books
Abbott, H. Porter (2002). The Cambridge introduction to narrative. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Plummer, Ken (2001). Documents of life 2. London: Sage
Riessman, Catherine (1993). Narrative analysis. Qualitative Research Methods Vol. 30
Newbury Park: Sage.
Toolan, Michael (1988). Narrative: A critical linguistic introduction. London: Routledge.
Websites
http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/NABS/ Centre for Narrative & Auto / Biographical Studies,
Edinburgh University
http://www.narrativenetworkaustralia.org.au/ Narrative Network Australia: Narrative
Research Across Disciplines
http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/narpsych.html Narrative Psychology at Le Moyne
College
Read proposal for new APA Division on Qualitative Inquiry in Nov. 2006 issue of
Narrative Inquiry which appears in a folder under Resources on our course CTools site.
http://www.identities.org.uk/
Jan. 10—Introduction
Jan. 17—Uses of narrative
Bruner, Edward (1997(1986)). Ethnography as narrative. In Victor Turner & Edward M.
Bruner (Eds.), The anthropology of experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Reprinted in Lewis Hinchman & Sandra Hinchman (Eds.), Memory, identity, community:
The idea of narrative in the human sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press,
264–280.
Orbuch, Terri L. (1997). People’s accounts count: The sociology of accounts. Annual
Review of Sociology, 23, 455–478.
Bruner, Jerome. (1987). Life as narrative. Social Research, 54(1), 11–32.
Hunter, Kathryn Montgomery (1991). Doctors’ stories: The narrative structure of medical
knowledge. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Ch. 1, 3, 4.
Other resources:
See the folder Narrative Inquiry 2006 under Resources in CTools. This state of the art
issue of the journal includes pieces from many different disciplines on the uses of
narrative.
Somers, Margaret & Gibson, Gloria (1994). Reclaiming the epistemological “other”:
Narrative and the social constitution of identity. In Craig Calhoun (Ed.), Social theory and
the politics of identity. London: Basil Blackwell. (rec.)
Casey, Kathleen (1995–6). The new narrative research in education. Review of Research
in Education, 21, 211–253.
Narrative perspectives on research on teaching and teacher education (1997). Sigrun
Gudmundsdottir (Ed.), Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(1), 1–136.
Brody, Howard (2003). Stories of sickness (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frank, Arthur (1995). The wounded storyteller. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Charon, Rita, & Montello, Martha (Eds.) (2002). Stories matter: The role of narrative in
medical ethics. New York: Routledge.
Czarniawska, Barbara (1997). Narrating the organization: Dramas of institutional
identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Holmberg, Diane, Orbuch, Terri, & Veroff, Joseph (2004). Thrice told tales. Mahwah:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Jan. 24—Obtaining narrative texts
Mishler, Elliot. 1986 Research interviewing: Context and narrative. Cambridge and
London: Harvard University Press, Chapters 1–3.
Film—Betty Tells Her Story
Atkinson, Paul, & Delamont, Sara (2006). Rescuing narrative from qualitative research.
Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 164–172.
PRODUCTION OF NARRATIVES
Jan. 31—Narrative structure
Josselson, Ruthellen (2006) Narrative research and the challenge of accumulating
knowledge. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 3–10.
Labov, William (1972). The transformation of experience in narrative syntax. In William
Labov. Language in the inner city. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 354–
396. (Earlier less readable but more frequently cited version is William Labov & Joshua
Waletsky (1997 (1967)) Narrative analysis: oral versions of personal experience. Journal
Of Narrative And Life History, 7(1–4), 3–38.
Gee, James Paul. 1991. A linguistic approach to narrative. Journal of Narrative and Life
History, 1(1), 15–39.
Ochs, Elinor, & Capps, Lisa (2001). Living narrative. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
Ch. 1 (1–59).
Recommended
Franzosi, Roberto (1998). Narrative analysis—or why (and how) sociologists should be
interested in narrative. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 517–554. (Look at pp. 528–550
for a sample analysis inspired by Labov but bringing sociological knowledge to
interpretation of the data).
Mishler, Elliot (1995). Models of narrative analysis: A typology. Journal of Narrative and
Life History, 5(2), 87–123.
Feb. 7—Methods: Thematic analysis, coherence
Ewick, Patricia, & Silbey, Susan S. (1995). Subversive stories and hegemonic tales:
Toward a sociology of narrative. Law and Society Review, 29, 197–226.
Linde, Charlotte (1993). Life stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapter 5.
McAdams, Don (1988). Power, intimacy, and the life story. New York and London:
Guilford, Chapters 1, 2.
Keller-Cohen, Deborah, & Gordon, Cynthia (2003). “On trial”: Metaphor in telling the life
story. Narrative Inquiry, 13(1), 1–40.
Feb. 14—Methods: Dialogue
Bamberg, Michael (2004). Form and functions of “slut bashing” in male identity
constructions in 15-year-olds. Human Development, 47(6), 331–353.
Hall, Rogers (2004). Attaching self and others to social categories as an interactional and
historical achievement. Human Development, 47(6), 354–360.
Thorne, Avril (2004). Putting the person into social identity. Human Development, 47(6),
361–365.
Bamberg, Michael (2004). Talk, small stories, and adolescent identities. Human
Development, 47(6), 366–369.
Feb. 21—Problems of Interpretation
Ceballo, R. (1999). Negotiating the life narrative: A dialogue with an African American
social worker. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 23, 309–321.
Borland, Katherine (1991). “That’s not what I said”: Interpretive conflict in oral narrative
research. In Sherna Berger Gluck & Daphne Patai (Eds.), Women’s words (pp. 63–75).
New York: Routledge.
Mishler, Elliot (1990). Validation in inquiry-guided research: The role of exemplars in
narrative studies. Harvard Educational Review, 60(4), 415–442.
Josselson, Ruthellen (2004). The hermeneutics of faith and the hermeneutics of
suspicion. Narrative Inquiry, 14(1), 1–28.
Feb. 28—Winter Break
March 7 Plummer, Ken (1994). Telling sexual stories. Oxford: Routledge.
March 14 Wortham, Stanley (2001) Narratives in action. Teachers College Press.
Shaman Drum
March 21 Becker, Gay (1997) Disrupted lives: How people create meaning in a chaotic
world. Berkeley: University of California Press.
March 27 (Tues) Post outlines on CTools in Resources folder: Paper Outlines
March 28 Paper outlines discussed in class. You are also welcome to talk to me
separately about your outlines.
April 4
Mattingly, Cheryl (1998). Healing dramas and clinical plots. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. Shaman Drum
April 11
Finnegan, Ruth (1998). Tales of the city. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
April 25 4PM Final paper due