Critical Ethnographic Narrative Analysis: The Case for the E in CENA

• In Event: 31.092 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Three - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 31.092-7 - Critical Qualitative Methods and Narrative Ways of Inquiring

Abstract

This paper highlights important contributions of Critical Narrative Analysis (CNA) in expanding upon connections between Narrative Inquiry (NI) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Concurrently, it pushes for more explicit focus on the ways in which ethnographic methodologies play a key role in CNA, thus proposing the use of Critical Ethnographic Narrative Analysis (CENA) as a new methodological approach. CENA is an offshoot of CNA as it critically analyzes individual narratives while also exploring how these narratives are inevitably linked to broader histories of political and social power. However, CENA furthers CNA by asserting that ethnographic methods are an essential part of the creation and analyses of narratives. Drawing from CENA, examples of research with South African domestic workers are utilized.

Author

• Anna Kaiper, The Pennsylvania State University