Narrative Inquiry

This course examines the concept of narrative as used across academic disciplines and public discourse, with the ultimate goal of extending critical inquiry about narrative to research design in the social sciences. We examine scholarship on narrative as a tool of human culture through out history and recent scholarship the humanities, social sciences, and journalistic discourse, in particular to consider the variety of functions it serves explicitly and implicitly to organize human interpretation and action. Although -- or perhaps because -- narrative is used and over-used in academic and public discourses, we understand it as a problematic requiring ongoing inquiry, as well as a tool for examining human development, learning, and social issues. This course involves reading, critical analysis, and application of 'narrative' as a concept and process, with topics including issues of culture, diversity, knowledge, temporality, subjectivity, regulation, and resistance. Students will apply course readings and discussion to their own areas of inquiry. No prerequisite.

All Terms

030893