Oh wow I [if I even exist] will have to think about all this! But I agree about Alec's paper, it really is an excellent piece of work I enjoyed it immensely.

Best wishes Jo

From: Lydia Turner <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, 12 July, 2011 20:00:50
Subject: Re: welcome to my list: Narrative Inquiry where social science meets art

Hello all
 
I thought I would comment on Graham's comment below which really struck me
 
Is it possible that the 'self' is a verb, and not a 'noun'?  We are busy 'selfing' ourselves into existence, assuming that we are 'thinkers', when actually only thinking is happening ... 'rememberers', when only remembering is happening.  It's hard work ... constructing and maintaining a self ... but could it be simply a work of fiction? 
 
I guess this follows on well with the idea of mindfulness and things only being here and now. The idea of transience might be quite a scary one if we start to apply it to ourselves. If we don't assert our existence then is there a danger that we are nothing, we are just a mind existing without a 'being' around that mind, or maybe to pinch from deleuze and guattari, "a body without organs", something formed and substantive but only in the moment, before it then moves on. Maybe this is quite scary. We might use 'I' and 'me' or 'my' to give ourselves substance and definition. Or if we see ourselves as relational, rather than singular, we might say 'we', which may acknowledge others in our 'being' but still nonetheless is a way of defining us.
 
Lydia
 
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:41:02 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: welcome to my list: Narrative Inquiry where social science meets art
To: [log in to unmask]

Hi Alec and other members

Thanks for sending me your draft article for TQR.  I enjoyed reading it very much and it certainly deserves publication.
 
I have a few comments to make, from a philosophical rather than an academic perspective. Perhaps they will stimulate some debate?
 
Your title "Whose story is it?" assumes that a story has to belong to someone ... that there has to be a person to own it.  Could it be that the notion of separate individuals is a complete illusion? The mind (aka 'ego') creates stories throughout life in order to establish and develop an identity and series of roles. Along with these manufactured identities comes memories, opinions, preferences, 'personality' ... the whole elaborate structure of self and constructed reality, which is maintained through social consensus and the ego's need for security.
 
Is it possible that the 'self' is a verb, and not a 'noun'?  We are busy 'selfing' ourselves into existence, assuming that we are 'thinkers', when actually only thinking is happening ... 'rememberers', when only remembering is happening.  It's hard work ... constructing and maintaining a self ... but could it be simply a work of fiction? 
 
Without a story ... who are we? 
 
Naturally, the ego will indignantly deny the idea that the 'person' does not exist. It will fight furiously to preserve the idea of 'me'.   So narratives are produced, preferred identities are developed, and social norms and realities constructed.  Autoethnography is an approach which provides the opportunity to explore the nature and reality of our assumed identities, rather than encourage the construction of yet more illusory stories.
 
It might be asked that if we see through the fictition of the 'person', what is left ?   The answer is nothing ... no-thing ... which also means there's space for everything! 
 
What do other 'persons' think?!
 
Warm regards
 
'Graham'
 
 
 
 
From: Narrative Inquiry where social science meets art [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 11 July 2011 10:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: welcome to my list: Narrative Inquiry where social science meets art

 

 

 

Dear new members,

 

(apologies to those of you who may have received this message more than once)

 

Welcome to my new list. I should say a little about myself; I am very interested in performance and narrative, and the interface between science and art/humanities,  working across autoethnography and dialogical narrative analysis.

 

I started this list because of a need to connect more with like minded people. this list is warranted because, at present, the two others in this area - Performative Social Science (PSS) and Narrative Health Research - cater for  small and restricted user groups. PSS is not a discussion list as such and is used to showcase performative events. Narrative Health Research is, by definition, restricted to health research.

 

I envision this cross disciplinary list as a resource for scholars in the area of narrative inquiry broadly who are interested in the aesthetics of their approaches.  This cross-fertilisation of social and human science with art and humanities may include, for example, autoethnographers, performance and experimental ethnographers, cultural and communication scholars with an interest in performance, narrative and dialogic narrative researchers, those using the arts in social science enquiry, to name but a few.

 

Just to get the ball rolling I’ve attached an autoethnographic piece which is under consideration  for publication. Any feedback would be most appreciated.

 

I look forward to stimulating discussion and network building.

 

 

best,

Alec

 

Dr Alec Grant

School of Nursing and Midwifery (SNM)

University of Brighton

Robert Dodd Building (RD105)

49 Darley Road

Eastbourne BN20 7UR

email:   [log in to unmask]

phone:   01273-643100

mobile:  07813-332537

 

http://www.brighton.ac.uk/snm/contact/details.php?uid=ad84

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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