Article published in:
Methodology of Narrative Study: What the first thirty years of Narrative Inquiry have revealed
Edited by Allyssa McCabe and Dorien Van De Mieroop
[Narrative Inquiry 31:1] 2021
► pp. 126–146

Tales from the South

Doing narrative analysis in a “post-truth” Brazil

| Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
| Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
| Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

This article presents some of the theoretical-epistemological assumptions and methods which underpin Narrative Analysis in Brazil. In the niche we have carved out for ourselves, we combine (auto)ethnographic techniques with analytical tools which draw on both narrative analysis and sociolinguistics, as well as discourse analysis more widely speaking. In this paper, we especially seek to address what we consider the symbiotic relationship between the aforementioned field of study and contemporary transdisciplinary social research. This is done by showcasing examples of narrative research carried out in Brazil, particularly those motivated by sociopolitical concerns. Moreover, we aim to contribute to the debate ignited in post-truth times by the performative view we take of language, and so to speak narrative, by contemplating the practical repercussions of innovations stemming from the current state of affairs within the context of our own investigations.

Keywords: epistemology, methodology, (auto)ethnography, master narratives, interactional sociolinguistics, post-truth
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Micro social settings and issues which drive research in Brazil
  • Fieldwork, ethnographic inspiration and an end to the subject/object binary
  • Generating narrative data: Research interviews as a sociological site
  • Our layers of analysis
  • First layer: Analysis of narrative structure
  • Second layer: Analysis of interaction
  • Third layer: Discursive struggles
  • “Stories we tell”: Research dissemination as meta-narrative?
  • Tales from the South
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 February 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.20120.bia
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