Re: SV: [xmca] Narrative

From: Jay Lemke (jaylemke@umich.edu)
Date: Thu Jan 11 2007 - 15:06:45 PST


Mike's text could be a poem, could be a parody,
could be something like a riddle ... but is it a story?

Is it a narrative, or something that borrows some
of the surface features of narrative but isn't quite a narrative?

I think I'd say it's not a story. It's maybe
almost a narrative, but really just "narrative-like".

What do other people think?

JAY.

At 02:15 PM 1/9/2007, you wrote:
>Jay-- Here is a story:
>In the beginning was the big bang. Sometime later humans created God in
>their image.
>the end is in the beginning
>and the end is presumably coming.
>
>mike
>
>
>On 1/9/07, Jay Lemke <jaylemke@umich.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>>Narrative is truly a protean and mysterious phenomenon!
>>
>>I know several of the authors Monica recommends
>>and admire their work. There is also a deeper
>>layer of scholarship on narrative, from the
>>classic Propp work on folktales, to Labov's
>>discussion of narrative stages, to Greimas'
>>theory of actant semiotics. And of course a vast
>>literature in literary theory, too. I have
>>mostly steered clear of the slippery slopes of
>>narrativity, but they can't be avoided. Bruner
>>did interesting work on narrative and identity in
>>family settings, somewhat like Ochs, but more with a developmental
>>perspective.
>>
>>There are many claims that narrative is a
>>cultural universal, and somehow fundamental to
>>how humans think. I doubt it has a biological
>>basis, so I suspect its universality masks the
>>indefiniteness of our definitions of what it is.
>>There are definite narrative genres that can be
>>well defined (like folktales of various sorts, or
>>simple recounts of events), but narrative as such
>>is hard to pin down. Maybe there is nothing
>>nontrivial that all texts we call narratives have
>>in common, just as there probably is no unified
>>phenomenon for what we call 'literature' or 'poetry' or 'exposition'.
>>
>>I once wrote a short piece about the narrative
>>underpinnings of scientific discourse, and while
>>that was stretching it a bit, it was a useful
>>exercise. What may be of greater interest than
>>the unities among all narratives are the
>>differences in form and function of different
>>kinds of narratives (intra- and
>>cross-culturally), and the contrasts we create
>>between narrative and non-narrative text types.
>>
>>One suggestion from this line of thinking, and my
>>inveterate perversity, is that we keep narrative
>>and other textual forms too much segregated in
>>education, promoting narrative in the humanities,
>>and denigrating it in the natural and social
>>sciences. More narrative emphasis in science and
>>sociology, less in history and literary analysis
>>might be healthier. More hybrid forms in art and
>>science. Narrative pulls people in, in just the
>>opposite way that de-narrativized scientific and
>>academic discourse alienate and push them away.
>>But an exclusive emphasis on narrative in
>>teaching, say, writing, leaves students
>>disempowered with respect to the kinds of writing
>>that wield more overt power for their future purposes.
>>
>>Tell me a story!
>>
>>Jay.
>>
>>
>>At 08:47 PM 1/7/2007, you wrote:
>> >Narrative is a broad phenomenon, defined
>> >differently in the humanities and the social
>> >sciences. It could be anything from narrative
>> >structure and dramaturgy to the role of
>> >narrative in identity formation, learning and
>> >sense making. I teach a (net- and distance
>> >based) course called Digital Storytelling and I
>> >try to cover some aspects of it. These are: (1)
>> >generally on narrative and digital storytelling,
>> >(2) on pedagogy, learning and storytelling, (3)
>> >narrating and (cultural) identity (4)
>> >multimodality in storytelling. Here are some
>> >(English in contrast to Swedish!) texts and volumes I use:
>> >
>> > Narrative in Teaching, Learning and
>> >Research edited by McEwan and K Egan (1995).
>> > Egan, K (1995) Teaching as Storytelling!
>> > Engel, Susan (2003) My harmless inside
>> >heart turned green: children’s narratives and
>> >their inner lives. In Narratives of Childhood (Ed. Bert van Oers) 2003.
>> > Egan, K (2003) The cognitive tools of
>> >children’s imagination. In Narratives of Childhood (Ed. Bert van Oers)
>>2003.
>> > Davis, Alan: Co-authoring identity:
>> >Digital storytelling in an urban middle school
>> >http://thenjournal.org/feature/61/
>> > Mc Cabe (1997) Cultural Background and
>> >Storytelling: A Review and Implications for Schooling.
>> > Lyle, Sue (2000) Narrative
>> >understanding: developing a theoretical context
>> >for understanding how children make meaning in
>> >classroom settings. Journal of Curriculum Studies, Vol. 32, No 1.
>> > Ochs, E. & Capps, L. (1996) Narrating
>> >the self. American Review of Anthropology, 25, pp. 19-43.
>> > Ochs, E. & Capps, L. (2001) Living
>> >Narrative: Creating Lives in Everyday
>> >Storytelling. MA: Harvard University Press.
>> > Kress (2006) Reading Images:
>> >Multimodality, Representation and New Media.
>> >
>>http://www.knowledgepresentation.org/BuildingTheFuture/Kress2/Kress2Quicktime/Kress2Movie.html
>> >
>> >There is a lot out there, as I said, depending on the purpose…
>> >-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
>> >Från: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
>> >[mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] För Mike Cole
>> >Skickat: den 4 januari 2007 23:27
>> >Till: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> >Ämne: Re: [xmca] Narrative
>> >
>> >Sounds like an interesting book,. Michael, if that is your goal. Teaching
>> >Communication students my treatement of narrative is in contrast with
>> >montage as an organizing
>> >principle and my objects of analysis are two films, each organized along
>> >contrasting leading principles. For my purposes, the Abbot book looks
>>really
>> >useful, and for people
>> >who are interested in autobiographical memory as well.
>> >mike
>> >
>> >On 1/4/07, Michael Glassman <MGlassman@ehe.ohio-state.edu> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > Mike and others that might be interested,
>> > >
>> > > I have been thinking about a good book to teach undergraduate students
>> > > narrative (and even autobiographical memory
>> > and the relationship between the
>> > > two). I think a really good book is Stephen King's "On Writing". His
>> > > writing style is very accessible and many undergraduates already know
>>his
>> > > work so there are linkages. He writes the
>> > book in two parts, the first part
>> > > autobiography and the second part the mechanics of narrative, and
>>though
>> > > most people who use the book don't focus on this, it is one of the
>>best
>> > > examples of how our autobiographical experiences get turned in to
>> > > narrative. (I think a very interesting
>> > series of classes would be to read a
>> > > book like IT in conjunction and really see the relationship between
>> > > autobiography and how it is transformed in to stories that affect us
>>all -
>> > > from the public - to the private - to the public). And this might get
>> > > students interested in more complex psychological issues such as those
>> > > raised by Bruner.
>> > >
>> > > Michael
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
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>>
>>Jay Lemke
>>Professor
>>University of Michigan
>>School of Education
>>610 East University
>>Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>>
>>Tel. 734-763-9276
>>Email. JayLemke@UMich.edu
>>Website. <http://www.umich.edu/~jaylemke%A0>www.umich.edu/~jaylemke
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Jay Lemke
Professor
University of Michigan
School of Education
610 East University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Tel. 734-763-9276
Email. JayLemke@UMich.edu
Website. <http://www.umich.edu/~jaylemke%A0>www.umich.edu/~jaylemke
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