Online Journal
International Journal of Narrative Practice
Spring 2009 Vol1 ISSN 2041-2207
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IJNP Spring 2009 Vol1Abstracts
"The Narrative Practitioner: Theory and Practice" by Alexander M. Carson
This paper outlines a method that shows how narratives can be used to bridge the ‘gap’ between theory and practice. The paper begins by showing that every narrative is a claim to see what is going on in any situation. The narrative practitioner is the person, in this paper, who wants to question this claim by engaging in a critical conversation with the narrative. The narrative practitioner’s motivation to engage in this conversation is her assumption that the narrative is not the only possible claim and that other, better possibilities may be available. The conversation is designed to reveal the assumptions underlying the original narrative and to present other possible narratives. This conversation, while bound within the original narrative, is a joint search for meaning and self understanding. The paper illustrates the use of this method as either an empirical interaction or that soundless conversation we call thinking. The paper concludes by showing how this conversation can bring theory and practice together.
"Critical Social Work Practice: A Narrative Approach" by Karen D. Roscoe and Iolo Madoc Jones
This paper outlines the theory and approach of narrative therapy and applies this specifically to the context of contemporary practice in social work. This paper explores the use of externalising conversations to assist service users to re-author their lives. The problems inherent in adopting narrative approaches in Care Management is explored arguing that critical practice in social work requires a need to develop a language for practice which provides for recognition of the skilful activity of the work that social workers do.
The social work endeavour, to promote change, problem solve and with the emphasis on empowerment of people.
"Telling stories: Writing narrative" by Marjorie Lloyd
Narrative research is about helping people to tell their stories but it is only when these stories are crafted together do they become narratives (Frank 2008). This paper will discuss the creation of narrative from the stories of individuals who have experienced the mental health care system in the UK. Their stories highlight a number of issues that are often unheard or dismissed as being too subjective to be of value for (objective) evidenced based practice. This paper will discuss how using traditional data collection methods, stories from “hard to reach” participants can be woven together to form strong narratives. Narrative methods are used to analyse the stories in a way that will authentically support evidence based practice that at the same time respects and values the subjective collective voice.
"Telling stories and making sense of cancer" by Michael Murray
Storytelling is not just the domain of the professional writer. Rather, we are all natural storytellers – we construct and reconstruct our worlds through the stories we exchange (Murray, 1997, 1999). These stories are not simply spun out of fantasy but engage with the social and material world in which we live. In this paper I want to explore the role of narrative for everyday making sense of cancer.
The advent of serious illness is a crucial turning point in our lives that causes us to reflect upon our materiality and the transitory nature of our lives. According to narrative psychology the person begins to grasp the meaning of a crisis by creating a story about it (e.g. Bruner, 1987). A central belief in Western society is that our lives have a form of linearity and continuity (Becker, 1997). A challenge to our expected organized storyline can lead to disorientation. The experience of illness represents a crisis for the patient and for their families. On initial diagnosis the individual can experience substantial existential dislocation. It is through narratives that sick people can define themselves and clarify their relationship with their bodies and with society. In this paper I want to discuss how narrative shapes our understanding of cancer in everyday life.
"Fictions of Solidity in The Time Machine" by Stephen C. Kenyon
This paper will examine the specific peculiarities of narrative technique present in HG Wells original novella, what has been termed the ‘fudge and tell’ elements of the narrative form itself. The focus here is the examination of conflicting elements between reality, and if not an ‘un’- reality, then an alternative construction which relies upon the unusual practice of presenting "precision in the unessential and vagueness in the essential." (Bergonzi, 1961. 43) This textual interrogation will then be applied to the divergent interpretations contained in this fiction focusing upon George Pal’s (1960) adaptation, and illustrate.
" ‘Moving beyond the limits of language’ Autobiographical narrative in animation shorts" by Yvonne Eckersley
I intend to examine how selected animators have interpreted autobiographical themes through the medium of animation. For the purpose of this paper I will be looking at five animated shorts by different artists, which vary in length from four to fifteen minutes. They are largely ‘labours of love’, (indeed one is a student degree film), having brought little financial reward for the artists who made them and whose main audience is that of the animation festival plus occasional airings on TV.
The main areas under analysis will be autobiographical themes, narrative structures, visualisation as well as the motivation of each artist in making their film. I am particularly interested in whether therapeutic benefit to the artist might provide a motivation, both in terms of the animation production process and thedesire to communicate a personal truth.
"Narrative Based Medicine: Potential, Pitfalls, and Practice" by Vera Kalitzkus, PhD / Prof. Dr. Peter F. Matthiessen, MD
Narratives have always been a vital part of medicine. Stories about patients, their recovery from illness, as well as the experience of caring for them have always been shared. With the rise of “modern” medicine, narratives were increasingly neglected in favour of “facts and findings” regarded as more objective and scientific. Yet, in the recent years the medical narrative is changing again – patient narratives and the unfolding story between health care professionals and patients are both gaining momentum.
In due course this led to the formation of Narrative-based Medicine (NbM). The term was coined deliberately to mark its distinction from Evidence-based Medicine (EbM), with NbM propagated to counteract the shortcomings of EbM (Greenhalgh 1998; Charon/Whyer 2008). But what does this term actually contain? Is it a specific therapeutic tool, a special form of doctor-patient communication, a qualitative research tool, or does it just signify a particular attitude towards patients and doctoring? It can be all of the above, but depending on the field of application, a different form of narrative or practical approach is called for.
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