A Chronicle of Mentoring Narrative Scholarship

Special issue: Amor Narratio: A Festschrift For Catherine Kohler RiessmanThere are many aspects of Catherine Kohler Riessman’s narrative scholarship which have established her international reputation in the field. This contribution pays tribute to the role she has played as a mentor, both through her written work and in her practice. Mentoring, which is time-consuming and painstaking work, is a critical but widely unacknowledged aspect of scholarship, which is often portrayed as an individual endeavor, the accomplishment of the name or names which appear on the publications. The article argues that all scholars are part of a larger cycle, situated mid-stream, between those who have come before and those who will follow. There are many questions surrounding the meaning of mentorship: who should do it and who receive it; if and how it should be institutionalized, calibrated, and recognized; and more. Taking Riessman’s example as its focus, the article critically examines the importance of mentoring and its role in forming, sustaining, and nourishing communityPeer reviewe

Journeys into ‘the heart of interpretation’: Narrative, culture and meaning

PDF poster, PDF of PowerPoint presentation, MP3 of audioWhat are the implications of doing narrative research in communities of which one is not a member? Does this necessarily limit the quality of the data to be collected, or might there be some advantages in being considered an outsider, that is, one to whom entire stories must be explained as nothing can be taken as obvious? The paper will consider how our cultural positioning, as it is perceived by ourselves and by those who we include in our research, feeds into the very heart of the projects we undertake. Molly Andrews is Professor of Sociology, and Co-director of the Centre for Narrative Research at the University of East London, in London, England. Her research interests include the psychological basis of political commitment, psychological challenges posed by societies in transition to democracy, patriotism, conversations between generations, gender and aging, and counter-narratives. She is the author of Lifetimes of Commitment: Aging, Politics, Psychology (Cambridge 1991/2008), and the co-editor of Lines of Narrative (Routledge 2001), Considering Counter-narratives (John Benjamins 2004) and Doing Narrative Research (Sage 2008). Her most recent monograph is Shaping History: Narratives of Political Change (2007) which won the 2008 Outstanding book of the year award of the American Education Research Association, Narrative and Research Special Interest Group.World Oral Literature Project: an urgent global initiative to document and make accessible endangered oral literatures before they disappear without recor

The role of aesthetics in advancing material circularity in landscape architecture

With growing interest in sustainability across industries, there is growing interest in how sustainability will be manifested in our outdoor spaces. The aesthetics of sustainable principles are being explored within landscape architecture projects globally. These involve a number of methods which incorporate circular economy concepts through reimagining the design process. Discussions regarding the aesthetic in landscape architecture, reveals wider discourses and shifting values in the perception of the built environment. Methods for circularity and sustainability in landscape architecture and the connections to landscape aesthetics, are explored through researching existing literature from a variety of architectural fields. This encouraged the development of circular design principles and conceptual landscape typologies to aid the landscape architect in imagining a circular landscape. In addition to the importance of material circularity, the benefits for implementing a circular landscape architecture project meet several sustainability goals, including cultural heritage preservation and the strengthening of ecological resilience.M-GL

A Chronicle of Mentoring Narrative Scholarship

There are many aspects of Catherine Kohler Riessman's narrative scholarship which have established her international reputation in the field. This contribution pays tribute to the role she has played as a mentor, both through her written work and in her practice. Mentoring, which is time-consuming and painstaking work, is a critical but widely unacknowledged aspect of scholarship, which is often portrayed as an individual endeavor, the accomplishment of the name or names which appear on the publications. The article argues that all scholars are part of a larger cycle, situated mid-stream, between those who have come before and those who will follow. There are many questions surrounding the meaning of mentorship: who should do it and who receive it; if and how it should be institutionalized, calibrated, and recognized; and more. Taking Riessman's example as its focus, the article critically examines the importance of mentoring and its role in forming, sustaining, and nourishing community

Poliittisen anteeksiannon narratiivinen rakenne

Artikkelin on kääntänyt suomeksi Irinja Bickert. Professori Molly Andrews käsittelee englanninkieliseen alkuperäisartikkeliin pohjaavassa katsaus-artikkelissaan poliittisen anteeksiannon narratiivisia rakenteita. Nojaten laajamittaiseen narratologiseen tutkimukseen entisen Itä-Saksan (DDR) salaisen poliisin Stasin informanttien ja näiden kohteiden kohtaamisista artikkeli rakentaa aiempaa monipuolisemman kuvan anteeksiannon mekanismeista ja rationaliteetista poliittisen sorron jälkeen. Artikkeli havainnollistaa usein käännettyjen haastattelujen välityksellä miten moninaisilla tavoilla poliittisen sorron kohteet suhtautuvat anteeksipyyntöihin ja anteeksianatamiseen. Liian idealistiset anteeksiantamisen ja anteeksisaamisen tavoitteet ja odotukset poliittisen sovinnon taustalla voidaan artikkelin pohjalta hyvin perustein myös kyseenalaistaa. Kysymysten kuka, mitä, milloin, missä, miksi ja miten tarkastelu paljastaa poliittisen anteeksiannon monikerroksellisuuden ja monimutkaisuuden. Artikkelissa esitellyt henkilökohtaiset kertomukset paljastavat poliittisen anteeksiannon ytimessä olevan kovan sisäisen työn ja toisaalta yleisimpiä esteitä sen toteutumiseksi

What is Narrative Interviewing

Presentation by Professor Molly Andrews at the National Centre for Research Methods Research Methods Festival 2012

Introduction: What is narrative research?

In the last three decades, narrative has acquired an increasingly high profile in social research, following a series of ‘narrative turns’ in other disciplinary fields, like history and literary studies. (Hyvärinen, 2010). It often seems as if all social researchers are doing narrative research in some way. Yet narrative research, although it is popular and engaging, is difficult; how to go about it is much discussed. People working in this field are frequently approached by students and colleagues, in and outside academia, asking questions like, ‘Should I request respondents to tell stories or not?’; ‘What happens if my respondents don’t produce any narratives?’; ‘What is a narrative, anyway?’and, most regularly, ‘What do I do with the stories now I’ve got them?’ Narrative data can easily seem overwhelming: susceptible to endless interpretation, by turns inconsequential and deeply meaningful