When Participants Embody the Answer: A Narrative Case Study of Community Leadership

Abstract

Community leadership has been studied for decades, yet more still needs to be understood about its development among members of an area. While scholars can investigate phenomena from various methodologies and disciplines, there are other methodologies that can help researchers delve deeper into understanding a concept such as this. Narrative case study research with an emphasis on counter-narratives and embodiment is one way to understand community leadership. Through this single holistic narrative case study, I examined how community leadership developed in a low-income and segregated community. The findings of this study focus on four main areas: (1) care work with subthemes such as community leadership among church members and community members, (2) entrepreneurship, and (3) embodiment of the counter-narrative. The insights from this article serve as a way for scholars to identify the emergence of counter-narratives, as well as ways in which counter-narratives can help others learn about community leadership.