Situating Narrative Construction within Social Dynamics and Context to Create Complex Meaning: A Review of the Book Analyzing Narrative Reality

Authors

Becky De Oliveira, Andrews University

Abstract

Analyzing Narrative Reality (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009) examines how stories are constructed for different purposes in a variety of social situations and aims to provide a framework for analysis "oriented both to the internal and especially to the external organization of stories" (p. 2). The authors are keen to create an understanding of how stories emerge and why they are constructed, confident that these factors are vital to creating good stories-"continuously unfolding accounts, whose extensions move in many directions" (p. 228) and that go beyond the boundaries of text. The book covers narrative reality, narrative work, narrative environments and narrative adequacy partly by using Stanley from Shaw's (1930) study, The Jack-Roller, to examine how narratives are socially constructed. Empirical examples and an emphasis on interdisciplinary endeavors are intentionally utilized to create an accessible book for readers from a variety of disciplines.

Keywords

Narrative Ethnography, Narrative Environments, Narrative Work, Narrative Reality, Narrative Adequacy, and Qualitative Research

Publication Date

7-1-2010

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2010.1198

Recommended APA Citation

De Oliveira, B. (2010). Situating Narrative Construction within Social Dynamics and Context to Create Complex Meaning: A Review of the Book Analyzing Narrative Reality. The Qualitative Report, 15(4), 1016-1022. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2010.1198