Narrative, Identity and Academic Storytelling

Abstract

Most simply, a narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events: a story. Narratives in the social sciences, particularly those elicited through biographical interviews, have become the preferred method of data collection for researchers interested in identity and the connections between structure and agency (e.g. Block, 2006). The idea is that identity can be explored through the stories we tell about ourselves, tapping into the accounts that individuals select, structure and relate at appropriate moments. The underlying emphasis is on reflexivity and the belief that storytelling is an active process of summation, where we re-present a particular aspect of our lives. Giddens (1991) argues that self and reflexivity are interwoven so that identity is not the possession of particular character traits, but the ability to construct a reflexive narrative of the self. Identity comprises many narratives that a person constructs for him or herself which can vary with time and occasion. 2 In other words, narrative theorists argue that by analysing the stories people tell about themselves we can understand how they make their lives coherent and meaningful. Identity thus becomes salient and available for analysis, showing how people experience their lives as members of particular social groups. Despite their popularity, however, I would argue that interviews are a poor means of understanding identity. The narratives they produce are a self-conscious assembling of experience for a complete stranger from the local university. They have little real-world significance or consequences for the subject