240513 VO MM3 Working with Narratives: Methodological and Theoretical Approaches (2024W)

Narratives are central in the work of anthropologists. Anthropologists do not only encounter narratives but also elicit, study and (co-)create narratives, whether through ethnographic observation, by conducting interviews or through their analysis and writing of ethnographic accounts. The centrality of narratives in anthropological work asks for an engagement with approaches, theories and methods, as offered in this lecture series. At the end of the semester, students will be acquainted with the main approaches, theories and methods surrounding the nexus of anthropology and narrative.

Methodological considerations will include discussions of interdisciplinary approaches (e.g. linguistic anthropology, oral history, ...) and of different methodological frameworks (e.g. discourse and conversation analysis, narrative or person-centred interviewing). Moreover, we will critically discuss different theoretical approaches to narrative in anthropology and neighbouring disciplines (i.e. phenomenological, evolutionary, history, psychoanalytic, and literary approaches). We will explore these approaches across different themes and genres such as oral traditions and verbal art, storytelling and imaginaries of place, storytelling and narrative in organizations, voice and the ethnography as text, and devote considerable attention to narratives of personal experience and their role in sense-making, identity construction, and self-understanding. The ethnographic contexts that we will encounter, include family, village, urban, or work settings as well institutions of care, and also concern situations of adversity that question previous senses of self or where it is difficult to find words for experience.

The lecture consists of an input lecture on the core topics (supported by ethnographic and descriptive examples) and the discussion of article length compulsory readings. It is strongly recommended that students read individual texts before the corresponding thematic lecture. The lecture will be assisted by the learning platform Moodle.