Narrative Displacement: A Chronotopic Analysis of the Refugee Journey Story

• In Event: Qualitative Inquiry and the Technologies of Today

Abstract

Drawing from online educational videos about refugees, this study explores how the journey story is constructed and communicated in educational discourse. A novel approach to chronotopic analysis explored the spatial and temporal narrative patterns employed, asking 1) how chronotopes constrain or enable aspects of refugee identity and agency, and 2) how chronotopic configurations constrain or enable learners’ contextual understanding of human displacement and the refugee experience. Across the sample, plot structures were consistent; yet, within that overarching structure, distinct space-time relationships facilitated important differences in how the story cohered, with important consequences for how learners are asked to be in relationship with refugees’ stories, and the potential for building understanding of global culpability and responsibility in addressing displacement.

Author

• Lindsay Jarratt, University of Iowa