A Review of the Edited Collection, Narrative Research Now: Critical Perspectives on the Promise of Stories

Authors

Kristina Lainson, University of Waikato, New ZealandFollow

Abstract

Narrative Research Now: Critical Perspectives on the Promise of Stories, edited by Ashley Barnwell and Signe Ravn (2024), is a compelling and engagingly written collection of research projects, or stories, that showcase use of narrative in research. This review, written through the lens of a narrative therapy and community work practitioner-researcher, asks what resonances and points of interest the collection may hold for the narrative therapy and practice research field. Congruent themes highlighted include nuanced ethical caretaking, concern for matters of social justice, bringing forth subordinated knowledge, centering lived experience, paying attention to the politics of representation, and researcher transparency when grappling with complex decision-making. Traversing diverse social, ethical, and creative terrains, while carrying people at its heart, this wonderfully crafted collection is an exciting offering. This review proposes that in its interlacing of storytelling, academic endeavor, and context-relevant ethics to produce meaningful, transformative research innovations, Narrative Research Now has much to offer narrative therapy and community work practitioner-researchers by way of inspiration, companionship, consultation, and possibility.

Keywords

narrative research, narrative therapy and community work, practitioner-researcher, book review, storytelling

Author Bio(s)

Kristina Lainson is a narrative therapy researcher, practitioner, and educator living in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her narrative therapy practice focused on community-based mental health and her Ph.D. applied narrative therapy ideas in mental health research to produce hopeful stories that counter deficit understandings (see Lainson, 2020). Kristina is currently a Lecturer in Counsellor Education at the University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato. Please direct correspondence to kristina.lainson@waikato.ac.nz

Publication Date

12-16-2024

Creative Commons License

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

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7805

Recommended APA Citation

Lainson, K. (2024). A review of the edited collection, Narrative research now: Critical perspectives on the promise of stories. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 107-111. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7805