Engaging in educational narrative inquiry: making visible alternative knowledge

Abstract

This Special Issue on Narrative Inquiry has its origins in a series of conferences convened by Dr Grace O’ Grady, Maynooth University, Dr Jacqueline O’ Toole, Institute of Technology, Sligo, and Dr Anne Byrne, National University of Ireland, Galway. All three had been engaged with narrative ideas in their respective research. Indeed many conversational spaces on narrative were already in place in Ireland i.e. the Centre for Transformative Narrative Inquiry, Maynooth University, and the Narrative Cluster, NUI, Galway, among others. We recognized, however, that a wider forum was needed to discuss, debate and disseminate narrative studies in a broader context, hence was born the Irish International Narrative Inquiry Conferences. The first conference took place in IT Sligo in 2014 and in subsequent years moved to Maynooth University and NUI Galway. What was immediately in evidence was the thirst for these conferences. In addition to the huge output of narrative inquiry studies across the island of Ireland, internationally renowned scholars including Professors Maria Tamboukou, Ann Phoenix and one of the editors of this Special Issue, D. Jean Clandinin, delivered keynote addresses at the conferences. The conference series continues to offer an incredible learning space to share and learn about narrative inquiry.