Narrative Portraits in Qualitative Research

Description

Narrative Portraits in Qualitative Research offers an analytical approach to qualitative data. Through narrative portraiture, research findings can be contextualised in broader social narratives without losing sight of the unique personal qualities of the research encounter. Drawing a parallel between the artistic work of a portrait maker in depicting a subject – sometimes an object – and the work of the researcher in exploring people’s experiences, narrative portraiture invites a close-up into a person’s narrated and embodied experience and argues that one of the main research findings in qualitative research is the person themselves; their circumstances, and their life story. The book proposes four approaches to narrative portraiture: (1) a systematic approach to narrative analysis, (2) the use of phronesis in narrative portraiture, (3) the concept of ‘imagined portraits’ as a collaborative approach between visual arts and social sciences, and (4) the use of ‘performative portraits’ both as an analytic tool and product for research communication. This book will help qualitative researchers create first-person narratives that will give a glimpse into the participants’ lives in a way that is simultaneously deep, concise, and evocative. This book will be suitable for those interested in narrative methods and qualitative research in health care, education, and the social sciences. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents A foreword for Narrative Portraits in Qualitative Research Introduction A narrative portrait of my best friend’s death What is a narrative portrait? – an overview of this book A note on the role of ‘the body’ in qualitative research A note on linguistic capital The complexity of life experience and the limits of discursive representation A narrative portrait is a depiction of an absence Narrative portraits and their relationship with research into disadvantaged populations A note on decoloniality References 1 A systematic approach to narrative portraiture 1.1 Analytic proceedings – transforming Maurice’s story into a narrative portrait 1.2 Characters – he was treating me well 1.3 Orientation in time, space, and circumstances – the boy who travelled 300 miles 1.4 Complicating actions (and crisis of the Self) – ‘he was kissing someone else’ 1.5 Result and evaluation – ‘I was too young’ 1.6 Small stories within the life story – ‘you aren’t going to care about me anymore’ 1.7 Identifying themes in narrative portraits – special narrative features 1.8 The intertwinement of phenomena in research projects – ‘I still have feelings for him’ 1.9 The abstract – ‘he is home’ 1.10 Arranging a narrative portrait 1.11 First narrative portrait – Maurice 1.12 Devising exercise References 2 The use of phronesis in narrative portraiture 2.1 Second narrative portrait – Cameron 2.2 Reverberations of the participant’s voice – ‘what did I do in all those 40 years?’ 2.3 Powerful phrases – ‘it was a bit like the expression “Hobson’s choice”; you didn’t have any choice’ 2.4 Unspoken – important nonverbal moments 2.5 Crucial moments; on the verge of an insight, confusion, uncertainty, suspicion while researching into participants’ lives – ‘in three occasions in life I’ve been infatuated with people’ 2.6 Recognising transpersonal experiences and narrating them evocatively – ‘is that uncommon?’ 2.7 What can phronesis do for narrative portraiture? 2.8 Devising exercise References 3 Imagined portraits 3.1 ‘The absent presence’ in research – the young body, the attractive body, the disabled body, the eroticised body, the ageing body, the muscular body, the white body, the dark-skinned body . . . tall, short, thin, natural, fully fleshed bodies 3.2 The ethical and political challenges of bringing the bodies into research – ‘You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder side’ 3.3 A collaboration between visual arts and social sciences – ‘we also asked for love’ 3.4 Affect theory in imagined portraits – Nick, the man who sang an anthem in Hampstead Heath 3.5 Queer spaces – cars, roads, bridges, woods, secluded areas 3.6 Third narrative portrait – Nick 3.7 Devising exercise References 4 Performative portraits 4.1 Fourth narrative portrait – Luca 4.2 What are performative portraits? 4.3 Performative portraits as a medium for analysis – some actions need to be seen and experienced 4.4 Performative portraits as research communication 4.5 Performance as a way to engage in the ethics and aesthetics of qualitative research – the boy who was very hungry for being loved 4.6 Spatiality in narrative data analysis – ‘loving outdoors because you can’t bring your boyfriend home’ 4.7 Materiality in narrative data analysis – the red jumper and the black ribbon 4.8 Conjuring life through body movement – their feminine masculinity 4.9 Devising exercise References Conclusion Fifth portrait – Malone Conflicting narratives – the boy who prayed for God to make him straight A narrative portrait of an individual and his community A double portrait – when the researcher makes themselves visible in the text Staying with the complexity – two narratives A ubiquitous narrative – sex A narrative of resistance – love Limitations of narrative portraiture Suggestions for future research A sense of an ending References Index