Narratives are a primary tool by which individuals recognise and affirm themselves as members of a collective, thereby often acting as a catalyst for the raising of political consciousness. In this workshop, viewing narratives as social acts, we will explore the function of narratives for (the) individual and/or collective storytellers, the conditions of possibility for narratives to be constituted and performed, the ways in which narratives constitute meaning linking the past, present and the future, and the relationality in narratives through which individuals shape the conditions of their lives.
The workshop will raise questions about how stories’ stylistic structures relate to social change: in particular, certain forms of metaphor and other rhetorical tropes that can work to support social change, the peculiar dynamics surrounding research that is on overtly political, the coalescence of place, time, subjectivity and the social in narratives and the ethical complexity of working with personal-political narratives.
The workshop leaders will use examples from political speeches, community stories of living with HIV, and other forms of political talks as well as examples from their own research on political narratives in various socio-political contexts.
Please see the full list of all pre-conference workshops on the 2nd of July below. The schedule for the day and further details can be viewed on this link. https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/narrativematters2018/program/#pre-conference-workshops