240507 VO Working with Narratives: Methodological and Theoretical Approaches (P2) (2021S)

Narratives are central in the work of anthropologists. Anthropologists do not only encounter narratives but also elicit, study and (co-)create narratives, whether through ethnographic observation, by conducting interviews or through their analysis and writing of ethnographic accounts. The centrality of narratives in anthropological work asks for a closer methodological inquiry, as offered in this lecture series.

Methodological considerations will include discussions of interdisciplinary approaches such as linguistic anthropology and oral history and will investigate different methodological frameworks (such as narrative interview or conversation analysis) as well as recent ethnographic interventions like memory-guided city walks and digital and visual narrative approaches. Moreover, we will critically discuss different theoretical approaches to narrative in anthropology and neighbouring disciplines (i.e. phenomenological, evolutionary, historical approaches). Themes such as narrative and identity, narrative and temporality, or ethnography, voice and the role of the anthropologist, will be explored in different ethnographic contexts (families, migration, refuge, development, city planning, place-making).

The lecture consists of an input lecture on the core topics (supported by ethnographic and descriptive examples) and the discussion of compulsory readings. The lecture will be online throughout, using a video-conference platform (Zoom) together with the learning platform Moodle. Exact exams modalities and compulsory literature will be announced in due time and will be uploaded on Moodle. The texts below are key reference texts, they are not identical with the compulsory readings.