Abstract
Researchers of culture and consciousness who use narrative are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On the one hand, we strive to listen and represent those we study “on and in their own terms.” On the other hand, we recognize that our role in shaping the ethnographic encounter is huge; that whether consciously or not, we listen and make sense of what we hear according to particular theoretical, ontological, personal and cultural frameworks and in the context of unequal power relations. There is always the worry that the voices and perspectives of those we study will be lost or subsumed to our own views and interests. Given all this, it is understandable that some researchers see no way out of this dilemma.1 But I advocate a different way of looking at the problem. I don’t believe that researchers can eliminate tensions, contradictions, or power imbalances, but I believe we can (and should) name them. I like the way that feminist researchers Mathner and Doucet (1997) put it:
The best we can do then is to trace and document our data analysis processes, and the choices and decisions we make, so that other researchers and interested parties can see for themselves some of what has been lost and some of what has been gained. We need to document these reflexive processes, not just in general terms such as our class, gender and ethnic background; but in a more concrete and nitty-gritty way in terms of where, how and why particular decisions are made at particular stages. (138)
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© 2005 Naomi Quinn
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Luttrell, W. (2005). “Good Enough” Methods for Life-Story Analysis. In: Quinn, N. (eds) Finding Culture in Talk. Culture, Mind and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-05871-3_7
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