Positioning with Master and Counter-Narratives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Hyvärinen ◽  
Mari Hatavara ◽  
Hanna Rautajoki
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Narrative Theory ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Narrative Studies ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Conceptual Distinction ◽  
Small Story ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Positioning Analysis

Abstract Narrative studies have witnessed a growing interest towards positioning analyses and the analysis of master and counter-narratives. While the former tends to prefer a small story approach and to draw on Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analysis, the latter engages in a variety of methodological approaches and works with narratives of several sizes, often within institutional and political contexts. Counter-narrative is a positional category by name, and it has recently been brought together with positioning analysis in the study of oral narratives. However, the narrative nature of master narratives, as well as their conceptual distinction from dominant discourses, remains largely unaddressed. This article aims at placing master narratives within narrative theory. To that end, we consider the three analytical levels of narrative positioning in terms of master and counter-narratives. By analysing an interview with a 92-year-old Finnish woman, we argue for the empirical relevance of master and counter-narratives within positioning analysis.

scholarly journals Counter-Narrative Tradition

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-102
Author(s):  
Umadevi D
Keyword(s):  
Food Culture ◽  
Skin Colour ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Narrative Tradition ◽  
Culturally Informed ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Black Skin ◽  
Counter Culture

The term “counter narrative” refers to a narrative that takes on meaning through its relation with one or more other narratives. While this relation is not necessarily oppositional, it involves a stance toward some other narrative(s), and it is this aspect of stance, or position, that distinguishes counter narrative from other forms of intertextuality. The article explained, “counter‐narratives only make sense in relation to something else, that which they are countering counter narratives has been seen as a means of opposing or resisting socially and culturally informed master narratives (about, for example, skin colour, ethnicity, and food culture), which are often normative or oppressive, or exclude perspectives or experiences that diverge from those conveyed through master narratives. In this sense, counter narratives play a role in storytellers positioning themselves against, or critiquing, the themes and ideologies of master narratives. Used in this way, “counter narratives” refer to “the stories which people tell and live which offer resistance, either implicitly or explicitly, to dominant cultural narratives” This articles explains the counter narratives on perception of black skin colour and food culture. Both the concepts of counter-culture and counter-narrative tradition are new in the folklore field of Tamil traction.

“To have or not to have a boyfriend?” Large identities in small stories

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-376
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Saloustrou
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Friendship Group ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Small Story ◽  
Small Stories ◽  
Positioning Analysis ◽  
Micro Analysis ◽  
Old Greek ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

AbstractIn this paper, I draw on recent work on small stories that has been proposed as a counter-move to the dominant paradigm of big stories. Small stories are fragmented, heavily co-authored and open-ended tellings, and have proved a prime site for the joint drafting of identity positions in concrete interactional sites. The context in which the use of small stories is examined in this study is a group of three 20-year-old Greek women, who portray themselves as best friends. This friendship group was studied ethnographically in Syros (Greece) between 2014 and 2015, and data collection involved 10 hours of audio-recorded conversations, as well as field-notes. For the analysis of the participants’ small stories, this paper draws on positioning analysis and conversation analysis vis-à-vis small stories research as a framework to study identities-in-interaction. In particular, it employs the model of positioning in the fine-grained micro-analysis of a co-authored ‘small story’ about relationships with men. It demonstrates how the deferrals of telling and the refusals to tell are as integral a part of the analysis as the actual telling, since they allow us insights into the teller’s contradictory views about big issues and large identities. Moreover, the findings show how the teller manages the participation framework in cases of narrating difficult topics and ambivalent identities.

Narrative resistance in social work research and practice: Counter-storying in the pursuit of social justice

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne McKenzie-Mohr ◽  
Michelle N Lafrance
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Practical Guidance

In this article, we propose ‘narrative resistance’ as a potent and useful concept for both social work research and practice. A concept that attends to power and oppression, narrative resistance provides a platform for tangible applications to support people’s efforts to resist harmful storyings of their lives. The aim of this article is to provide practical guidance for how social workers can attend to and support people’s acts of narrative resistance. This is achieved by introducing the functions of narrative in people’s lives and its inextricable links to power; discussing ‘master narratives’ and their potential for harm; and exploring narrative resistance by articulating the role of ‘counter narratives’ as a means to ‘talk back’ to injurious master narratives. The remainder of the article outlines considerations, skills and tools required to enhance counter-storying efforts in the service of emancipatory change. We spotlight examples of narrative resistance in the literature to illustrate the pragmatic mobilization of this work.

scholarly journals Leadership in a post-truth era: A new narrative disorder?

Leadership ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Foroughi ◽  
Yiannis Gabriel ◽  
Marianna Fotaki
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Digital Revolution ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Historical Periods

This essay, and the special issue it introduces, seeks to explore leadership in a post-truth age, focusing in particular on the types of narratives and counter-narratives that characterize it and at times dominate it. We first examine the factors that are often held responsible for the rise of post-truth in politics, including the rise of relativist and postmodernist ideas, dishonest leaders and bullshit artists, the digital revolution and social media, the 2008 economic crisis and collapse of public trust. We develop the idea that different historical periods are characterized by specific narrative ecologies, which, by analogy to natural ecologies, can be viewed as spaces where different types of narrative and counter-narrative emerge, interact, compete, adapt, develop and die. We single out some of the dominant narrative types that characterize post-truth narrative ecologies and highlight the ability of language to ‘do things with words’ that support both the production of ‘fake news’ and a type of narcissistic leadership that thrive in these narrative ecologies. We then examine more widely leadership in post-truth politics focusing on the resurgence of populist and demagogical types along with the narratives that have made these types highly effective in our times. These include nostalgic narratives idealizing a fictional past and conspiracy theories aimed at arousing fears about a dangerous future.

Three—Not Two—Major Environmental Counternarratives to Globalization

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emery Roe ◽  
Michel J.G. van Eeten
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Environment Policy ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Policy Analysts ◽  
Taking Action

Opposition to globalization by environmentalists tends to fall into two camps: a so-called “green” counternarrative and an “ecological” one. The green counter-narrative assumes that we have already witnessed sufficient harm done to the environment due to globalization and thus prescribes taking action now to oppose further globalizing forces. It is confident in its knowledge about the causes of environmental degradation as they relate to globalization and certain in its wholesale opposition to globalization. In contrast, the ecological counter-narrative is less certain about globalization's record of environmental harm but worries about future threats given the scale and intensity of globalization's increasing reach. Rather than call for immediate action and wholesale opposition, it seeks further research to identify—and specific policy initiatives to avoid— potentially massive but as yet unknown effects of globalization on the environment. Policy analysts opposing globalization are caught between the counter-narratives and often subscribe to elements of each. The challenge is to find another, more compelling counternarrative in which real-time environmental harm can be treated more seriously than it is in either of the two primary counterparts.

scholarly journals “I’ll just make sure we’re all on the same page”: Talking fictional worlds into being

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn E Stobbs ◽  
Arlene Oak
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Membership Categorization Analysis ◽  
Information Practices ◽  
Membership Categorization ◽  
Small Story ◽  
Fictional Worlds ◽  
Roleplaying Games ◽  
Fictional Space

This poster will present emerging results from a study of material and discursive information practices in tabletop roleplaying games. The focus will be on the ways in which players collaboratively construct and interact with the fictional worlds of play. A “big and small story” approach, influenced by the ethnomethodological methods of conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis, will be used to analyze the players’ talk as they intersubjectively create and sustain a fictional space of play.

scholarly journals Breaking the ISIS Brand Counter Narrative Facebook Campaigns in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-148
Author(s):  
Anne Speckhard ◽  
Molly Ellenberg
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Violent Extremism

Despite the territorial demise of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], the group’s cyberoperations, which once drew an unprecedented 45,000 foreign terrorist fighters [FTFs] to their so-called Caliphate, continue to entice supporters online. ISIS’s slick, high-quality content encourages supporters to hope for the return of the Caliphate and to seek revenge upon those who destroyed it by executing attacks at home. The European Union [EU] was one of the highest contributors of FTFs to ISIS and continues to be a hotspot for ISIS directed and inspired attacks. The International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism [ICSVE] has produced over 180 counter narrative video clips featuring ISIS defectors, returnees, and imprisoned cadres denouncing the group, published in over 100 Facebook campaigns. This article details the results of 20 one-minute long counter narrative Facebook campaigns in eight EU countries. The results support marketing best practices of using shorter videos to increase viewer retention and suggest that EU viewers are more engaged with counter narratives in which the speaker is relatable and representative of the audience toward which the video is targeted.

scholarly journals Critical Counter-Narrative as Transformative Methodology for Educational Equity

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 269-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Miller ◽  
Katrina Liu ◽  
Arnetha F. Ball
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Race Theory ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Fundamental Goal ◽  
Transformative Action

Counter-narrative has recently emerged in education research as a promising tool to stimulate educational equity in our increasingly diverse schools and communities. Grounded in critical race theory and approaches to discourse study including narrative inquiry, life history, and autoethnography, counter-narratives have found a home in multicultural education, culturally sensitive pedagogy, and other approaches to teaching for diversity. This chapter provides a systematic literature review that explores the place of counter-narratives in educational pedagogy and research. Based on our thematic analysis, we argue that the potential of counter-narratives in both pedagogy and research has been limited due to the lack of a unified methodology that can result in transformative action for educational equity. The chapter concludes by proposing critical counter-narrative as a transformative methodology that includes three key components: (1) critical race theory as a model of inquiry, (2) critical reflection and generativity as a model of praxis that unifies the use of counter-narratives for both research and pedagogy, and (3) transformative action for the fundamental goal of educational equity for people of color.

scholarly journals Illness and heroics: On counter-narrative and counter‑metaphor in the discourse on cancer

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
pp. s213-s228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Krogh Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Special Interest ◽  
The Other ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Negative Role ◽  
The One ◽  
War Metaphor ◽  
And Function ◽  
Health Discourse ◽  
General Effort

AbstractThis article explores the nexus between narrative and metaphor by examining a specific and widespread metaphor in the discourse on cancer, namely “the war against cancer”, and paying attention to the function it has in the narratives we tell about cancer – personally as well as culturally and politically. Of special interest is how this dominant metaphor has a negative consequence in relation to the seriously and incurably ill, who are necessarily positioned as ‘losers’. The concepts of master and counter-narrative are applied to describe this and show how the war metaphor can be generatively turned against itself and function as the basis for counter-narratives of being ill. In the final part of the article, attention is paid to Danish author Maria Gerhardt’s autofictional novel Transfervindue. Fortællinger om de raskes fejl (2017) [Transfer Window: Narratives about the flaws of the healthy] as an example of a productive extension of the war metaphor. The general aim is to argue that the ‘war against cancer’ metaphor is complex and simultaneously plays a positive and negative role in health discourse. On the one hand, it structures the general effort for treatment of and research on cancer. On the other hand, it positions the incurable as losers. It is, however, argued that we cannot eradicate this metaphor from language, and that we should instead find examples of extensions of the metaphor where e. g. ‘protection’, ‘peace-keeping’ and ‘exile’ are active.

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