Welcome to the 3rd International Irish Narrative Inquiry Conference hosted at the National University of Ireland, Galway 10-11 March 2016, co-organised and supported by Institute of Technology, Sligo, National University of Ireland Galway and Maynooth University. This unique gathering of scholars, practitioners, artists and creative inquirers pays attention to the use of narrative inquiry in research and practice.
Our focus this year is to ask how do we DO narrative inquiry in the arts, humanities and social sciences? When we do narrative inquiry we are engaged in a host of complex and interconnected activities. As well as conducting forms of inquiry that have narratives of lived reality and experience as their object of study, we also write narratives, and we collate and curate the ‘stuff’ of narrative - maps, diaries, letters, objects, recordings, films, images. When we DO narrative inquiry, we DO all of these things. But we also do narrative inquiry in particular places with particular people, at particular times of a person’s life, with a focus on events of some significance. In this context, what does it mean ‘to do’ narrative inquiry? This is the question that will guide our explorations, discussions, reflections and exchanges and we warmly welcome you to join us in the conversation.
Call for Papers
In this conference we seek to explore the doing of narrative inquiry in its many forms, and to take seriously the time, place and significance of its doing. The conference is organised around a number of strands:
- Narrating place - where is narrative inquiry conducted and does it matter; how do we narrate spaces and places; what is the role of visual texts (maps, images) in narrating space, place and relationship?
- Narrating the self - how does the person, individual and self feature in the narratives we write; how do we conduct narrative inquiries into self; how is self composed/constructed in the unfolding of the narrative? What is the relationship between narrative inquiry and auto-ethnography? What does a focus on narrative as an emancipatory, transformatory or therapuetic force bring to our work?
- Narrating visually and digitally - how do we do visual narrative? How do we construct digital stories; does the digital offer new capabilities for narrating lived reality?
- Narrating the ‘Nation’ – as we celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Rising in Ireland this strand considers how the stories of nations are commemorated; what narratives are prioritised and by extension omitted, and to what extent do these narratives shape the formulation of contemporary and future understandings of Irish identity?
We invite papers and posters on these themes. We also welcome papers that pay attention to the theoretical, methodological and creative challenges faced by narrative inquiry researchers. We ask that you consider creative ways of presenting that do not necessarily rely upon the usual conference presentation. We would like to encourage postgraduate students to participate. If you are in the final stages of your PhD or have recently completed a Doctorate inspired by narrative inquiry, we would like you to consider submitting a paper. Those in the earlier stages of narrative doctoral work and or who have completed a Masters programme might consider presenting work-in-progress in the form of a poster.
* In 2016 Ireland is commemorating its birth as a Republic through a range of events related to the 1916 Rising in Dublin and its consequences.
Abstract Guidelines
Please submit a 500 word abstract as a pdf file with references via the website by the 18th of December 2015. Please indicate whether the abstract is for a paper or poster presentation.
The Conference Programme will be available by Februray 1st 2016. Contact the conference organisers for any queries or questions about the conference and we look forward to welcoming you to the City of Lakes, Rivers, Canals and the Atlantic Ocean in the West of Ireland.
Submit your Abstract here
Click on the following link to find out more about the Centre for Transformative Narrative Inquiry. What is the Centre for Transformative Narrative Inquiry?