Creative Nonfiction in Social Science: Towards More Engaging and Engaged Research

The paper aims at identifying, explaining and illustrating the affordances of “creative nonfiction” as a style of writing social science. The first part introduces creative nonfiction as a method of writing which brings together empirical material and fiction. In the second part, based on illustrations from my ethnographic research of European “crisis reporters,” written in the form of a novel about a fictional journalist, but also based on a review of existing social science research that employs a creative method of writing, I identify several main affordances of creative nonfiction in social-scientific research. In particular, I argue that creative nonfiction allows scientists to illustrate their findings, to express them in an allegorical way, to organize data into a narrative, to let their pieces of research act in the social world, and to permeate research accounts with self-reflexive moments. I also discuss some apparent negative affordances: challenges that creative nonfiction poses to readers and to the institutionalized academic discourse. Finally, I suggest that writing about sociological problems in the style of creative nonfiction can help to produce more engaging and engaged texts, and I discuss the ethical implications of the approach

Clarifying creative nonfiction through the personal essay

In a recent issue of TEXT, Matthew Ricketson sought to clarify the &lsquo;boundaries between fiction and nonfiction&rsquo;.&nbsp;In his capacity as a teacher of the creative nonfiction form he writes, &lsquo;I have lost count of the number of times, in classes and in submitted work, that students have described a piece of nonfiction as a novel&rsquo;. The confusion thus highlighted is not restricted to Ricketson&rsquo;s journalism students. In our own university&rsquo;s creative writing cohort, students also struggle with difficulties in melding the research methodology of the journalist with the language and form of creative writing required to produce nonfiction stories for a 21st century readership.Currently in Australia creative nonfiction is enthusiastically embraced by publishers and teaching institutions. Works of memoir proliferate in the lists of mainstream publishers, as do anthologies of the essay form. During a time of increasing competition and desire for differentiation between institutions, when graduate outcomes form a basis for marketing university degrees, it is hardly surprising that, increasingly, tertiary writing teachers focus on this genre in their writing programs. A second tension has arisen in higher education more generally, which affects our writing students&rsquo; approaches to tertiary study. The student writers of the 21st century emerge from a digitally literate and socially collaborative generation: the NetGen(eration). From a learner-centric viewpoint, they could be described as time-poor, and motivated by work-integrated learning with its perceived close links to workplace contexts and to writing genres. They seek just-in-time learning to meet their immediate employment needs, which inhibits the development of their capacity to adapt their researching and writing to various genres and audiences. This article examines issues related to moving these NetGen student writers into the demanding and rapidly expanding creative nonfiction market. It is form rather than genre that denotes creative nonfiction and, we argue, it is the unique features of the personal essay, based as it is on doubt, discovery and the writer&rsquo;s personal voice that can be instrumental in teaching creative nonfiction writing to our digitally and socially literate cohort of students.<br /

The Literary Significance of Herman Melville’s \u3cem\u3eBenito Cereno\u3c/em\u3e: An Analytical Reflection on \u3cem\u3eBenito Cereno\u3c/em\u3e as a Fictional Narrative

In Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855), Captain Amasa Delano discovers a distressed slave ship in need of aid, only to later find out that his perception of the dire situation was completely incorrect. Melville’s novella is derived from Delano’s nonfiction account of the experience, titled Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (1817). This paper focuses on three questions that demonstrate why Melville wrote a novella almost completely derived from a nonfiction account of the events aboard the ship. In order to understand why Melville’s novella is powerful, one must ask, as an overarching question why he wrote it, and, more specifically, what Melville was attempting to communicate to his American readership by writing the novella. Studying what Melville changed from the nonfiction account is important in wholly understanding Melville’s intentions in Benito Cereno. This ultimately goes to show that fictional narratives can be as effective as nonfiction, if not more influential in illuminating complex realities that are likely outside of one’s limited perception

Eyebrows: A Collection of Stories about that Family You Saw in Aldi\u27s Last Week

This creative thesis will begin with an introduction to the idea of creative nonfiction and will also present a short collection of creative nonfiction stories. The creative body of the thesis will consist of short stories taken from the author\u27s own life that center around the common theme of family, focusing especially on the author\u27s role as a big sister in a family of nine children. Following these short stories, the conclusion of the thesis will briefly consider the value of personal stories like these in the larger scheme of literature. For those unfamiliar with the genre, this thesis hopes to provide a brief introduction while also presenting five stories for the enjoyment of those interested in creative nonfiction and those who will only read this thesis because they are related to the author

Approach

This short nonfiction piece is about my interaction with a woman on the streets of Kiev

A Roof of One\u27s Own: Widow Walking in the Anthropocene

A nonfiction work that explores widow\u27s walks in a time of climate change on the coasts. This piece walks the lines between speculative fiction and lyrical essay

The revolutionary founding moments of a contra-Grierson tradition [review of: Post-revolution nonfiction film: building the Soviet and Cuban Nations by Joshua Malitsky, 2013]

“The revolutionary founding moments of a contra-Grierson tradition” Joshua Malitsky, Post-revolution nonfiction film: building the Soviet and Cuban Nations (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013)

Beardsley on literature, fiction, and nonfiction

This paper attempts to revive interest in the speech act theory of literature by looking into Monroe C. Beardsley's account in particular. Beardsley's view in this respect has received, surprisingly, less attention than deserved. I first offer a reconstruction of Beardsley's account and then use it to correct some notable misconceptions. Next, I show that the reformulation reveals a hitherto unnoticed discrepancy in Beardsley's position and that this can be explained away by a weak version of intentionalism that Beardsley himself actually tolerates. Finally, I assess the real difficulty of Beardsley's theory and its relevance today

First Grade Teachers’ Perspectives on Using Nonfiction Texts in Guided Reading and Read-Aloud Lessons

This research assessed first-grade teachers’ perspectives on using nonfiction text during guided reading and read-aloud lessons. Three teachers were all surveyed, observed, interviewed, and their classroom libraries were inventoried. Later the study revealed teachers’ perspectives on using nonfiction text. The findings showed there was a positive correlation between teachers’ increase in confidence and their use of the texts, and that teachers who had a high number of nonfiction texts in their classrooms incorporated the texts more often. The research gave implications for student learning which were students benefit from being taught about nonfiction text structure and nonfiction text engages students. It is recommended that teachers require education on nonfiction text and students need to be engaged with nonfiction text