Abstract
As narrative theorists claim, we are made from the stories we tell. Yet, we may also say that the stories we tell are made from the lives we live. These two versions of narrative analysis summarize the central contention of narrative research.1 Within these boundaries, it is clear that the focus of narrative research has been almost exclusively on the relationships people have with other human beings.2 Overall stories range from the intrapersonal and intimate interpersonal relationships to those of the broader societal groups — clans, communities and nations. The emphasis of philosophers, literary theorists, social scientists, psychotherapists, and other narrative scholars has been on the ways in which narratives create meaning for groups of people in terms of their customs, roles, behavioral expectations, status hierarchies, power relations and moral order. Stories teach people how to act with each other in their social groups. Stories shape people’s identities, provide them with appropriate goals, inform them of their social value, and teach them how to feel and think. Stories tell people what is meaningful, good, and worth caring about. Changing our stories can change how we feel about life (White and Epston 1990). They can frame the way we relate to friends and enemies (Schon and Rein 1994). According to Boje et al. (2006) a story becomes a framework for everything we think and do.
Among the major resources for surveying narrative research are work by Ted Sarbin and his colleagues and several others (i.e. Duarte and Lightfoot 2004; Josselson and Lieblich 1996; Lieblich 1993; Lieblich and Josselson 1997; Josselson et al. 2003; Rosenwald and Ochberg 1992; Sarbin 1986, Sarbin and Kitsuse 1993, Sarbin and Schiebe 1983).
A secondary topic of some prominence is the relationship of humans to their gods, who are often made in the image of the human. Examples include Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian traditions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aizenstadt S (1995) Jungian psychology and the world unconscious. In: Roszak T, Gomes ME, Kanner AD (Eds) Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, CA, pp 92–100
Boje DM, Fedor DB, Rowland KM (2006) (1982) “Myth Making: A Qualitative Step in OD Interventions,” J Appl Behav Sci 18:17–28. Retrieved October 9 from http://web.nmsu.edu/~dboje/TDmythmaking.htmlBoje_Fedow_Rowland.
Brown LR (1995) Ecopsychology and the environmental revolution: an environmental foreword. In: Roszak T, Gomes ME, Kanner AD (Eds) Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco CA, pp xiii–xvi
Callicott JB (1995) Traditional American Indian and Western European attitudes toward nature: an overview. In: Oelschlaeger M (Ed) Postmodern environmental ethics. SUNY Press, Albany NY, pp 193–219
Conn S (1995) When the earth hurts, who responds? In: Roszak T, Gomes ME, Kanner AD (Eds) Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco CA, pp 156–171
Duarte C, Lightfoot C (Eds.) (2004) Narrative analysis: studying the development of individuals in society. Sage, Thousand Oaks CA
Engstrom Y, Blackler F (2005) On the life of the object. Organization, 12, 307–330
Gergen KJ, Gergen M (2004) Social construction: Entering the dialogue. Chagrin Falls, OH: Taos Institute Publications
Gergen M (2001) Feminist reconstructions in psychology: Narrative, gender and performance. Thousand Oaks, CA, London: Sage
Gergen M (2005) Statistics, stories and fantasies. A reconciliation of the stories of the tsunami trauma in the Indian Ocean. (Trans. Yvonne Bonner,) Statistiche, raccontii e sopravvivenz. Una conciliatoria metabolizzazione psichica del trauma dello tsunamim nell’Oceano Indiano. Revista Sperimentale di Freniatria, 2005, 129, 101–114
Greenwood R (1995) The wilderness effect and ecopsychology. In: Roszak T, Gomes ME, Kanner AD (Eds) Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco CA, pp 122–135
Haraway D (1988) Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14, pp 575–599
Haraway D (1991) Simians, cyborgs, and women. Routledge, New York
Haraway D (1997) Modest witness @ second millenium: Female Man meets OncoMouse. Routledge, New York
Hardin G (1968) The tragedy of the commons. Science 168:1243–1248
Hardin S (1991) Whose science, whose knowledge? Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press
Harper S (1996) The way of wilderness. In: Glotfelty C, Fromm H (Eds) The ecocriticism reader: landmarks in literary ecology. University of GA Press, Athens
Hillman J (1995) A psyche the size of the Earth: a psychological foreword. In: Roszak T, Gomes ME, Kanner AD (Eds) Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco CA, p. xvii
Josselson R, Lieblich A (Eds) (1993) The narrative study of lives, vol. 1. Sage, Thousand Oaks CA
Josselson R, Lieblich A (1996) Making meaning of narratives, vol. 6. Sage, Thousand Oaks CA
Josselson R, Lieblich A, McAdams D (Eds) (2003) Up close and personal: the teaching and learning of narrative research. APA Publications, Washington, DC
Keller EF (1985) Reflections on gender and science. Yale University Press, New Haven CT
Le Guin U (1996) The carrier bag theory of fiction. In: Glotfelty C, Fromm H (Eds) The ecocriticism reader: landmarks in literary ecology. Universityof GA Press, Athen, pp 149–154
Lieblich A, Josselson R (1997) The narrative study of lives, vol. 5. Sage, Thousand Oaks CA
Mazel D (2000) American literary environmentalism. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press
Rosenwald G, Ochberg R (Eds) (1992). Yale University Press, New Haven CT
Roszak T (1993) The voice of the earth: an exploration of Ecopsychology. Touchstone, New York
Roszak T (1995) Where Psyche meets Gaia. In: Roszak T, Gomes ME, Kanner AD (Eds) Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco CA, pp 1–20
Said E (1978) Orientalism. Pantheon, New York
Sarbin T (Ed) (1986) Narrative psychology: the storied nature of human conduct. Praeger, New York
Sarbin T, Kitsuse J (Eds) (1993) Constructing the social. Sage, London
Sarbin T, Schiebe K (Eds) (1983) Studies in social identity. Praeger, New York
Schachtel E (1959) The metamorphosis. Basic Books, New York
Schon DA, Rein M (1994) Frame reflection: toward the resolution of intractable policy. Basic Books, New York
Shepard P (1995) Nature and madness. In: Roszak T, Gomes ME, Kanner AD (Eds) Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco CA, pp 21–40
Suzuki D, Knudtson P (1992) Wisdom of the Elders: Honoring sacred native visions of nature. Bantam, New York
White M, Epston D (1990) Narrative means to therapeutic ends. W.W. Norton, New York
Wilson EO (1984) Biophila. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Wilson EO, Kellert SR (Eds) (1993) The Biophilia hypothesis. Island Press/Shearwater Books, Washington, DC
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gergen, M. (2008). Human/Nature Narratives and Popular Films: Big, Bad, Bold, Beneficent, Bountiful, Beautiful and Bereft. In: Sugiman, T., Gergen, K.J., Wagner, W., Yamada, Y. (eds) Meaning in Action. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-74680-5_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-74680-5_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-74679-9
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-74680-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)