Narrative Mapping Research Articles

A knowledge extraction and representation system for narrative analysis in the construction industry

Many researchers advocate that the real-world narratives shared by experts or knowledge workers are helpful in teaching and educating novices to learn new knowledge and skills. Narrative analysis is a useful method for experts to understand narratives. However, it does not produce any clear or explicit layouts. This is not easy for a new learner without prior knowledge to glean the right messages from narratives within a short time. In this paper, a narrative knowledge extraction and representation system (NKERS) is presented to extract and represent narrative knowledge in an effective manner. The NKERS is composed of a narrative knowledge element extraction algorithm, a narrative knowledge representation method and a narrative knowledge database. A prototype system has been built and trial implemented in the construction industry. The results show that the domain experts agree that the narrative maps generated by the NKERS can effectively represent narrative elements and flows. Three-quarters of respondents expressed that they will use the produced narrative maps in their training courses to facilitate students’ learning.

The Story Behind Any Story: Evolution, Historicity, and Narrative Mapping

narratives of the world are numberless; yet, all stories may be seen as chapters of a single story, the story of universal evolution as uncovered by contemporary science, with processes of human emergence and cultural development as a prominent backdrop to the understanding of any process. Evolutionary approaches to literary and cultural phenomena (as theorized by socio-biologists like E. O. Wilson and by evo-critics like Joseph Carroll in the literary field) have led to a growing awareness that these literary and cultural phenomena are best accounted for within a conciliant disciplinary framework. From this conciliant standpoint, human modes of communication must be contextualized as situated historical phenomena, and history as such is to be placed within the wider context of the evolution of human societies and of life generally (what is often called history, to use David Christian's term). Using the notions of narrative and narrative anchoring, this paper draws from the aforementioned theoretical outlook a series of conclusions relevant to narratology, in particular to the narratological conceptualization of time and temporal schemata, and to the understanding of evolutionary processes. The importance of evolutionary and historicist conceptual frames regarding the production and analysis of narratives is pointed out, and more specifically their significance for an adequate definition of mapping and anchoring. In a nutshell, anchoring is understood here as the intertextual relationship situating a given evolutionary or historical process within the frame of larger evolutionary processes, for instance an individual story as being typical of a given historical process or situation, or as being framed by it; while mapping is conceived as a wider cognitive process whereby a variety of strategies, themselves historically situated, allow subjects to shape or interpret narratives and to anchor them historically or place them with respect to other narratives. A variety of culture-dependent conceptions of big history underpin the production, the reception and the critical analysis of any specific narrative, as well as any narrativizing strategy, in the sense that these conceptions provide both a general ideational background to the experiences depicted in the narratives, and a mental framework in which to situate (e.g. historicize) the genres used in the depiction. Evolutionary theory is itself a major instance of mapping, and its emergent nature is focused in the paper's conclusion. In this light, Herbert Spencer's philosophical work is examined through the lens of its narratological significance, as a major step in the narrativization of science, and in the concomitant development of a scientific narratology.

Using narbs to create narrative maps from unstructured Big Data: a case study

There is an increasing availability of unstructured textual data in the depositories of big databases that are constantly produced and updated. Such unstructured data, such as status updates on social media, play the role of narrative bits – narbs – in creating specific stories about an individual, group or institution. A selection of narbs emanating from Egypt following the Arab Spring are analysed using the theoretical foundation of the narrative paradigm to demonstrate how analytic protocols adapted from latent semantic analysis and natural language programming can be used to extract narrative categories and maps showing the relationship between the categories which together tell a story based on the narbs scraped and harvested from databases.

Media, Mimesis, and the Figure of the Orphan in William Carlos Williams’s Life Along the Passaic River

finest short stories are those that raise, in short, one particular man or woman, from that Gehenna, newspapers, where at last all men are equal, to distinction of being an individual. To be responsive not to ordinances of herd (Russia-like) but to extraordinary responsibility of being person.-William Carlos Williams, A Beginning on Short Story (Notes)He judges not as judge judges but as sun falling round helpless thing.-Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of GrassThe world's an orphan's home.-Marianne Moore, Distrust of MeritsIn his 1938 short-story collection Life Along Passaic River, Wil- liams emphasizes discrepancy between realist verisimilitude and modernist self-reflexivity to dramatize plight of poor due to general economic conditions, particularly through metaphor of orphan. In addition, figurations of family, both positive and negative, offer an imaginative survey of possibilities and pitfalls for remedying orphan's predica- ment. The signs of personal dignity and creativity that permeate Williams's collec- tion of stories testify to capacity and culture of marginalized people. Such accomplishments are all more admirable for existing in face of being cut off, or orphaned, from beneficial resources that ought to be available. Williams's narrative map of Passaic reveals how such achievements help people cope with losses symbolized by orphanhood. In what follows, several stories will be singled out as figuring orphan (the first date of publication follows each title in parentheses): title story (1934), Girl with Pimply (1934), Use of Force (1933), Jean Beicke (1933), A Face of Stone (1935), Under Greenwood Tree (1938), and World's End (1938).In title story, which also opens volume, Williams draws reader into his fictive world by following contours of Passaic River and variety of human activities in relation to it.1 The syntax of opening sentence pays hom- age to landscape by imitating river's drift, but also carefully establishes urban setting of collection by calling attention to factory on river as well as children playing along river's banks. The visual appeal of first sentence has cinematic intensity, zooming in on a spot of canoe filled by small boy who no doubt made it (FD 109). Williams also includes soundtrack to his midstream portrait when he alludes to a sound of work going on there from Manhattan Rubber Co. By carefully situating his reader in this richly elaborated world, Williams sets stage for participant-observer ethos of much of his collection and conjures vivid reality.2 In Robert Gish's words, the narrator [ . . . ] is so moved to empathy that he passes beyond voyeur to partici- pant through telling and retelling of their lives (66).At same time, in very next paragraph Williams reminds his readers of mediated quality of his portrait by focusing on children's cry of Paper! (FD 109). In doing so, Williams unites his commitment to local, historicized realism with self-reflexive form of representation common in modernist writing. He makes readers notice variety of material modes or media (visual as well as linguistic) available for depicting Passaic. And he draws attention to his own man- ner of representation, formal techniques for rendering that world. By uniting what Stephen Halliwell calls mimesis as referential imitation to mimesis as per- spectival world-making in opening scenes of this first story in collection, Williams invites his readers both to experience world of Passaic, New Jersey, first-hand through an absorbingly realistic verisimilitude and to notice his artis- tic creation of that world through modernist self-consciousness about form (5).3 In other words, realist mimesis is generally content-based, while modernist mimesis is more oriented toward process of creation necessary for representa- tion. …

The Holocaust is a Foreign Country: Comparing Representations of Place in Lithuanian Jewish Testimony

This article explores discourse on the Holocaust as a ‘placeless’ event. Analyzing survivor testimony delivered in different cultural contexts, I ask whether or not the idea of strange or vanished places is culturally specific or universal to memories of Holocaust victimhood. As a case study, I analyze the testimony of Lithuanian Jewish Holocaust survivors. I compare the more commonly heard testimonies of survivors living in North America and Israel to the lesser known voices of survivors who have remained in Lithuania—witnesses who live and testify ‘on the scene of the crime.’ I demonstrate how important the idea of estranged geography figures in the testimony of émigré witnesses. By contrast, the survivors who have remained in Lithuania draw a different narrative map of the country, one in which past and present interact on the same sites. Their home landscape, however, also has black holes, dark places that they consider untouchable in everyday life. The article thus points to a tension between contextual particularities and universal challenges in depicting Holocaust places.

The relevance of pedagogical narrative maps: The Confession of Belhar as a practical theological narrative searching for a pedagogic-therapeutic methodology.

This article explores the pedagogic value of the Confession of Belhar within a practical theology narrative framework as a potential therapeutic practice for racial (pre- and post-1994) traumatic experiences. Recurring and hidden occurrences of oppression, injustice, inferiority and disunity engender psycho-social dysfunctionality in church and society (De Beer & Van Niekerk 2009:50-52). The deconstruction of structuralist hegemonic paradigms will be undertaken. Secondly, a contextual analysis of liberating poststructuralist paradigm/s serves as foundation for the article. Thirdly, the appropriation of narrative pedagogical maps is explored. Fourthly, different narrative maps within a pedagogical framework are applied to illuminate two (Koopman 2008; Strauss 2005) opposing narratives. Finally, suggestions are provided of how narrative pedagogy could be applied to address pre- and post-1994 conditions of oppression, injustice and disunity. The Confession is proposed as a narrative pedagogical model in addressing ecclesial and psycho-social dysfunctionalities. The objective is to explore how racial trauma and hegemonic conditions can be addressed and transformed into alternative living possibilities, respectively.

Social comparison processes, narrative mapping and their shaping of the cancer experience: A case study of an elite athlete

Drawing on data generated by life history interviews and fieldwork observations we illuminate the ways in which a young elite athlete named David (a pseudonym) gave meaning to his experiences of cancer that eventually led to his death. Central to this process were the ways in which David utilized both social comparisons and a narrative map provided by the published autobiography of Lance Armstrong (2000). Our analysis reveals the selective manner in which social comparison processes operated around the following key dimensions: mental attitude to treatment; the sporting body; the ageing body; and physical appearance. The manner in which different comparison targets were chosen, the ways in which these were framed by Armstrong's autobiography, and the work that the restitution narrative as an actor did in this process are also examined. Some reflections are offered regarding the experiential consequences of the social comparison processes utilized by David when these are shaped by specific forms of embodiment and selective narrative maps of cancer survival.

Juvenile Travellers: Priscilla Wakefield's Excursions in Empire

While most discussions of juvenile imperial literature relate to the mid-nineteenth century onwards, this article draws attention to an earlier period by examining the children's books of Priscilla Wakefield. Between 1794 and 1817 Priscilla Wakefield wrote sixteen children's books that included moral tales, natural history books and a popular travel series. Her experience of the British Empire's territories was, in the main, derived from the work of others but her use of interesting characters, exciting travel scenarios, the epistolary form to enhance the narrative and fold-out maps added interest to the information she presented. Her strong personal beliefs are evident throughout her writing and an abhorrence of slavery is a recurring theme. She was also the grandmother and main caregiver of the young Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his immediate siblings. In contrast to his grandmother, Edward Gibbon Wakefield's experience of the empire was both theoretical and practical. He drew on, and departed from, the work of political economists to develop his theory of systematic colonisation and was active in both Canadian and New Zealand affairs. He began writing about colonisation in the late 1820s and his grandmother's influence can be seen in his wide use of existing sources and attractive writing style to communicate with his audience.

Patients' narrative accounts of open-heart surgery and recovery: Authorial voice of technology

In this narrative inquiry, we examined patients' experiential accounts of technology in open-heart surgery and recovery. A convenience sample of sixteen individuals was recruited from a preoperative clinic at a regional centre for cardiac services in Canada. Each participated in two interviews following transfer from cardiovascular intensive care and 4-6 weeks post discharge from the hospital. Participants also documented their experiences in journals during the first 3-4 weeks following discharge. The focal point of the study's theoretical foundations was narrative emplotment, which directs attention to the active processes of plot construction and shaping forces of stories. In our narrative analysis, we used narrative mapping to document the temporal flow of events. We found that technology acted as the authorial voice, or controlling influence, over how participants' narratives were shaped and unfolded. Key were the ways in which technology as the authorial voice was linked with participants becoming background characters and surrendering agency. Problematic and important to health care professionals is ensuring that authorial voice shifts back to patients so that they become active in shaping their own course of recovery. This study underscores the benefits of using literary techniques such as narrative analysis in health science research. Examining the narrative structures and forces that shape patients' stories sheds light on how health care professionals and their technologically-driven practices of care strongly affect the stories' content and how they unfold. By focusing on how stories unfolded, we revealed ways in which cardiac surgery practices and patients' course of recovery could be enhanced.

Understanding Patterns of Human Interactions and Decision Making: An Initial Map of Podocarpus National Park, Ecuador

Successful conservation is as much about people and how they make decisions as it is about flora and fauna. Just as it is possible for a practitioner to systematically understand the biophysical patterns and processes of a natural resource issue, there are methods to systematically understand patterns of human interactions and the processes of decision making that affects these issues. Understanding these patterns and processes can unearth more effective interventions to improve management and policy. We use case material from a rapid assessment of Podocarpus National Park (PNP), Ecuador (March 10–19, 2005) to introduce a proven framework that is systematic yet flexible, designed to understand patterns of human interactions (arenas) and decision making. While outlining this framework, we begin to create a narrative map of how people interact and how the decision-making process occurs around PNP. We suggest that participants involved in the conservation of PNP use such a framework to better understand the situation in which they find themselves. In reference to our initial assessment of PNP, we suggest the concept of prototyping, particularly through community-based initiatives, as a tool to help improve arenas and decision making.

Beyond the Screen: Narrative Mapping as a Tool for Evaluating a Mixed-Reality Science Museum Exhibit

This article describes the authors' work as formative evaluators of a mixed-reality science museum installation, Journey with Sea Creatures. Looking beyond the focal point of the screen to the spatial and temporal surroundings of the exhibit, the authors employed a technique they call retrospective narrative mapping in conjunction with sustained on-site observations, follow-up interviews with museum visitors, and the development of personas to better understand the user experience in multimodal informal learning environments.

Children's lived spaces in the inner city: Historical and political aspects of the psychology of place.

Children's lives are tied to particular places, which are the stage where the psychological drama of the human community is played out. This biographical research study investigates and documents the experiences of children's lived spaces in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The Hill District is a traditionally immigrant and African American neighborhood, which has suffered through segregation, the turmoil of urban renewal, race riots, gang warfare, and drug-related crime. When we look at the history of a particular place, we often forget that its children are raised and participate in the same historical stream. What was childhood like for the children who grew up in The Hill over the past century? Adapting the ethnographic method of narrative mapping (Lutz, Behnken, & Zinnecker, 1997), 12 African American adults (24 to 84 years old), who spent their childhoods in the Hill District, were interviewed and asked about their childhood roaming spaces. The story about lived space that emerged through the choral voic...

Sporting bodies, ageing, narrative mapping and young team athletes: an analysis of possible selves

Drawing on life history data generated from interviews with young athletes at an English university, this paper explores the narrative maps provided to them by older team members and the ways in which these influence perceptions of self-ageing. Three possible selves associated with mid-life emerged from the analysis for detailed focus. These are the preferred self (Almost past it), the feared self (Hanging on) and the reluctant self (Stepping aside). The implications of each of these selves for the ageing experience are considered. Finally, some suggestions are made as to how the narrative resources of young athletes might be expanded.

Modern Mongolia: from Khans to commissars to capitalists

Preface List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Prominent Mongolians in the Narrative Map of Mongolia 1. Mongolia: A Peaceful Transition 2. From Russian to Western Influence 3. Pressure for a Market Economy, 1990-1997 4. Political and Economic Dislocations, 1997-2004 5. Herders and the New Economy 6. Poverty and Other Social Problems 7. Culture and the Market Economy 8. A New Mongolia in a New World 9. Sino-Mongolian Relations Afterword Notes Select Bibliography Index

Keeping it in the family: narrative maps of ageing and young athletes' perceptions of their futures

Drawing upon interviews with 22 young athletes aged on average 20 years, this article examines the ways in which they used observations of the ageing and old age of their family members to shape the ways in which they anticipated the ageing of their own bodies. The representations of the bodies, roles and lifestyles of their parents and grandparents provided ‘narrative maps’ that held pre-presentations of the young athletes' possible futures. They included both preferred and feared scenarios about middle age and old age, particularly the opportunities they would have for maintaining physical activity and the appearance of their bodies. The young men's and the young women's narrative maps differed: the women's accounts of old age gave more prominence to the loss of appearance, while the men's focused more on the loss of control and independence. The informants were highly sensitised to the biological dimensions of ageing which, for them, meant the inevitable decline of the material body, especially in performance terms, and both genders recognised social dimensions, particularly that responsibilities to jobs and family would constrain the time available for exercise. To understand more fully young athletes' experiences of self-ageing, and the family as a key arena for the embodied projection and inscription of ageing narratives, further research is required.

Young athletic bodies and narrative maps of aging

This paper draws on data generated by life history interviews with 22, university based, young athletes to explore their narrative maps of aging. Three key resources were seen to provide information that shaped individual stories of self-aging. These were as follows: family members, older team members, and the undergraduate curriculum. Each of these is considered in turn and the manner in which they are consequential in constructing a feared self that is associated with bodily decline in the future is highlighted. It is suggested that these young athletes constitute a vulnerable group in relation to the aging process. The issue of narrative foreclosure is then discussed prior to suggestions being made as to how these prevailing narrative maps might be challenged and changed.

Telling it in Time: Interpreting Consistency and Change in the Life Stories of Holocaust Survivors

In this article, I inquire into the life of a single Holocaust survivor in order to give a "thick description" of the dynamics of talking about the past over time. David K., born in 1928 in Gheorgheni Hungary, was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, where he spent one month before entering slave labor camps in Mühldorf and Mittergars. My reading of David's life is based upon two interviews, the first from 1982 (at age 54) and the second from 1995 (at age 67). I employ a method of structural interpretation, "narrative mapping," which is based upon the work of Labov and Waletzky (1967), in order to visualize the amount of overall consistency between the two interviews. I also carefully study individual narratives that are repeated over time. My reading of David's interviews suggests strong consistency along with significant changes. There is enormous consistency in the structure and content of narratives but differences in the point or evaluations of narratives. I also argue that David's later interview is more fully developed; David's later interview contains several new narratives and integrates historical insights into his account of the past. I discuss the merits of two explanations for this change, culture and time in development. Finally, I suggest possible strategies for researchers interested in working with the vast archives of survivor interviews.

Mid-life nuances and negotiations: narrative maps and the social construction of mid-life in sport and physical activity

This paper adopts a narrative perspective on the study of mid-life experiences in sport. Different types of stories about sporting mid-life are identified and discussed. Drawing upon the concept of narrative mapping, the potential of these stories to serve as narrative maps for those approaching mid-life is considered. Data from an interview study with 26 participants aged between 35 and 55 years of age, from badminton, distance running, outdoor activities and health clubs is provided. Paradigmatic and structural analyses were conducted on the data in order to identify story types and predominant narrative themes. The findings revealed a master narrative for mid-life in sport, which is that ‘age is a state of mind’. In addition two further narratives were apparent. One, ‘life begins at forty’ was a counter-narrative, which depicted mid-life as a time of rejuvenation and an opportunity to revisit the experiences of youth. The other was an antithesis narrative, which focused upon acceptance of the ageing process and the notion of ‘growing old gracefully’. Sportsmen and women linked their own stories to these idealised narrative types, but via a process of narrative slippage, created their own personal narratives of sporting mid-life. Analysis of these personal narratives indicated that there are three different maps for an individual negotiating sporting mid-life.

Around the Sacred Fire: Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era: A Narrative Map of the Indian Ecumenical Conference (review)

Reviewed by: Around the Sacred Fire: Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era: A Narrative Map of the Indian Ecumenical Conference George E. Tinker (bio) Around the Sacred Fire: Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era: A Narrative Map of the Indian Ecumenical Conference by James TreatPalgrave Macmillan, 2003 his is a volume about a little-known part of the broader Indian activist movement of the 1970s called the Indian Ecumenical Conferences. In the foment generated by the American Indian Movement, National Indian Youth Council, Indians of All Tribes, and several less-remembered "Red Power" or movement organizations, the Indian Ecumenical Conferences gave voice to one smaller but distinct slice of the American Indian nationalism of the day. With deeper roots in Canada than in the United States, this part of the movement brought together traditional Indian religious adherents along with those Christian Indians who leaned more toward affirming traditional culture and values. It is, as the subtitle announces, a narrative history rather than a critically argued analysis. The book begins by tracing Treat's account of the beginnings [End Page 203] of what he calls the "red power movement" from the early twentieth century on, but with particular attention paid to the 1960s. Treat's rendition of this critical period in the development of Indian activism is seriously deficient in its near total disregard of the beginnings of the American Indian Movement but does nicely treat some of the other currents of foment and their intertwining relationships. Curiously enough, in his brief retelling of this history he fails to note the foundational work of Ward Churchill or the excellent analysis of Robert Warrior and Paul Chaat Smith and their discussions about this historical period.1 It becomes apparent through the end of the volume that his disregard of AIM in this first chapter is much more than an oversight; it is an intentional disavowal. The second chapter introduces the renowned Cherokee anthropologist, Robert Thomas, who was an important figure in the early development of the Indian Ecumenical Conferences, and gives a thumbnail sketch of his life and work. This is in some respects the best writing of the book, yet this chapter is wholly derivative, relying as it does on critical work that has already been published by others on Thomas's life and work. The third chapter shifts the focus of the book decidedly toward Canada and Canadian Native peoples' history, focusing on the history of Christian missionary outreach, the work of Edward Ahenakew, one of the early Native Anglican priests, and the ongoing tensions within that church over their missionary enterprises. The last part of the chapter is given over to contemporary church activism, focusing rather unfortunately on one extremely well-meaning non-Native priest—who is important to Treat's project because of the priest's closeness to Robert Thomas and their joint role as organizers in the Indian Ecumenical Conferences. The shift here to almost exclusive concern for the context of Canada signals what is to come in the rest of the volume. This book is essentially about Canada and Treat's strange contention, carried by the weight of anecdotal narrative rather than by argumentation, that the resurgence of Indian traditional religious traditions was initiated and significantly advanced by the Episcopal Church in Canada. This is an inference, of course, that would be greeted with certain surprise by most Episcopalians in Canada today, who only know that Native peoples continue to exist because of the intense public scandal surrounding reve-lations of the persistent history of white Episcopalian sexual abuse of Native children in mission boarding schools and the resultant law suits that have threatened the continued existence of their church. The fourth chapter continues this exploration of the Canadian context, focusing on the Canadian counterculture movement of the late 1960s and its expression in the alternative higher education experiment at the University of Toronto, and moving toward a discussion of Canadian Indian author and activist Harold Cardinal. The experimental [End Page 204] education unit, called Rochdale College, also housed the Institute of Indian Studies. Chapter 5 initiates descriptions of the ensuing conferences with a discussion of the organizing efforts during the few...

Athletic identity and self-ageing: the dilemma of exclusivity

Abstract Background and purpose: Given the dominance of negative cultural stereotypes focusing on the decline of the physical body in later life, growing old may be particularly significant for those who assign great importance to their able, functioning bodies. This study explored young athletes’ perceptions of growing old by examining the relationships among physical self-perceptions, strength of athletic identity, quality of intergenerational relationships, and general attitude towards self-ageing. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, 179 undergraduates enrolled on a Sport and Exercise Science degree programme completed the Physical Self-Perception Profile, Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, and the General Attitude towards Self-Ageing Scale. The sample included a range of individuals from both individual and team sports. The majority of participants competed with university teams, although county, regional and national levels were also represented. Results and conclusions: The analysis suggested that for this population, (a) a strong, exclusive athletic identity might act as an Achilles heel when imagining the future ageing body-self, (b) that this may be further reinforced by an absence of fulfilling relationships with older adults who are considered by the individual as positive role models for later life. Finally (c), that young athletes with a strong sense of physical self-worth displayed positive attitudes towards self-ageing. This may be because such individuals consider their physical selves to act as a protective mechanism in terms of maintaining functional ability in the future. The implications of these findings are considered in relation to narrative maps of ageing and for future research into athletes, bodies, identities and the process of growing up and growing old.