DISCOURSES: CONVERSATIONS, NARRATIVES AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES AS TEXTS

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1 DISCOURSES: CONVERSATIONS, NARRATIVES AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES AS TEXTS
© LOUIS COHEN, LAWRENCE MANION AND KEITH MORRISON © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

2 STRUCTURE OF THE CHAPTER
Discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis Conversational analysis Narrative discourse Autobiography © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

3 WHAT IS A DISCOURSE? The meanings that are given to texts which create and shape knowledge and behaviour by the exercise of power through texts and conversations. A discourse is a way of thinking, culturally or institutionally conditioned, which is legitimated by communities, often those with power. Discourses shape, and are shaped by, different meanings. People are members of different discourse communities – those communities which hold similar values, views, ideas and ways of looking at the world. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

4 WHAT IS A DISCOURSE? Discourse is the ‘tactical dimension’ of the operation of power in individuals, groups and organizations. A text can be the bearer of several discourses. Discourse analysis reveals how power operates and is legitimated or challenged in and through discourses. Discourse analysis has to take account of the social contexts in which the texts are set. Discourses are often emic. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

5 WHAT IS A DISCOURSE? To be a discourse a text must have: Cohesion
Coherence Intentionality Acceptability Informativeness Situationality Intertextuality © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

6 FOUR METHODS OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Analysing words in context. Analysing interactions conducted through language. Analysing patterns of language use. Analysing the links between language and the constitution, structure and nature of society. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

7 WHAT TO LOOK AT IN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
The discourse in context, in the form of text, conversation, narrative, biography etc. How power, interests and influence operate through language. Whose perspective/version is being portrayed in the discourse, and what alternatives are possible. What is absent, silenced, neglected or suppressed in the discourse. What linguistic devices are present in the discourse. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

8 WHAT TO LOOK AT IN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Words in context (e.g. cultural, social, group) as ways in which people express themselves and in which context influences the language used, i.e. how context affects meaning and language. Interactions conducted through language. Patterns of language use. What is absent, silenced, neglected or suppressed in the discourse. Links between language and the constitution, structure and nature of society, often focusing on differentials of power and their reproduction. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

9 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
How power operates and is constituted, shaped, legitimated, maintained, regulated and challenged in and through language and discourses. Discourse can be both an instrument and an effect of power. Discourse is the ‘tactical dimension’ of the operation of power in individuals, groups and organizations. How power, operating through language, reproduces power differentials in society and the lifeworlds of its members. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

10 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS . . .
is linked to ideology critique of power and power relations, interests and their operations. has an explicit agenda of critiquing inequalities, discrimination and ideological domination. seeks to transform and emancipate society and its members, and redress illegitimate imbalances of power and influence within relationships. interrogates ideological, political, social and economic power and how this is created, achieved, perpetuated and reproduced through discourses. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

11 CONVERSATIONAL ANALYSIS
It is a rigorous investigation of features of a conversation, how it is generated and constructed, how it operates, what are its distinguishing features, and how participants construct their own meanings in the conversational situation. Conversations are multilayered/multilevelled. It examines different levels of meaning within a text. Looks at the contents, sequence, evolution and forms of the conversation. The more interpretive one becomes in the analysis, the more risk there is of researcher projection. Conversation analysis may include non-verbal and verbal aspects. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

12 A NARRATIVE DISCOURSE . . . reports personal experiences or observations and brings fresh insights to often familiar situations. tells a story. uses rich detail and carefully chosen words – for effect/power/vividness. is strongly interpretivist, with meanings constructed through observations and language. makes it difficult to separate facts from observations. Uses data selectively and reports them in non-neutral terms. Can let the researcher report a situation vividly from the perspective of the participants – their ‘definition of the situation’. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

13 NARRATIVE APPROACHES TO DATA ANALYSIS
Humans make meaning and think in terms of ‘storied text’, which guides their actions. Narrative analysis, together with biographical data, can give the added dimension of realism, authenticity, humanity, personality, emotions, views and values in a situation.

14 NARRATIVE APPROACHES TO DATA ANALYSIS
Narratives pass on information. Narratives bring information to life. Narratives meet people’s psychological needs in coping with life. Narratives help a group to crystallize or define an issue, view, value or perspective. Narratives can persuade or create a positive image. Narratives help researchers and readers to understand the experiences of participants and cultures. Narratives contribute to the structuring of identity.

15 NARRATIVES AND BIOGRAPHIES ARE SELECTIVE, BASED ON . . .
Key decision points in the story or narrative Key, critical (or meaningful to the participants) events Themes Behaviours Actions People Key experiences Key places

16 CONSTRUCTING THE FINAL NARRATIVE
By temporal sequence (a chronology) By a sequence of causal relations By key participants By key actions By emergent or key themes By key issues and clusters of issues By biographies of the participants © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

17 CONSTRUCTING THE FINAL NARRATIVE
By critical or key events By turning points in a life history or biography By different perspectives By key decision points By key behaviours By individual case studies or a collective analysis of the unfolding of events for many cases/participants over time © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

18 BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES TO DATA ANALYSIS
Biographies tend to follow a chronology. Biographies report critical or key events and moments. Biographies report key decisions and people. Biographies can establish causality. Biographies can restore broken identities or shattered futures.

19 NARRATIVE AND BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES TO DATA ANALYSIS
Narratives and biographies are selective, based on: Key decision points in the story or narrative Key, critical (or meaningful to the participants) events Themes Behaviours Actions People Key experiences Key places

20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY We regard ‘lived time’ as a narrative, a story that has meaning for us and which shapes our lives: ‘we become the autobiographical narratives by which we “tell about” our lives’ (Bruner, 2004); our own stories direct our future lives. Stories instruct, reveal and inform. An autobiography is ‘a privileged but troubled narrative because it is both subjective and objective, reflective and reflexive, and in which the narrator is also the central figure’ (Bruner, 2004). © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

21 AUTOBIOGRAPHY An autobiographical narrative is multilayered and selective, and can be deconstructed at many levels, e.g.: personal, cultural, interpersonal, ideological, linguistic. An autobiography contains facts, themes, actors, a sequence, agency, coherence, situatedness and a sense of audience. The narrative may employ a chronological sequence which is interrupted to break off into reflection or comment. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors

22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY What is excluded is as important as what is included.
Texts may be read and interpreted in many ways. © 2018 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison; individual chapters, the contributors