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Pre-conference courses- Narrative ways of knowing Narrative ways of knowingPostgraduate course in Tampere, Finland 24. -25.6.2003 Course Coordinator: Jaana Vuori, Ph.D Organizers: Teachers: Professor Liz Stanley (University of Manchester, UK), Professor Mark Freeman (College of the Holy Cross, Mass., USA), Docent Anni Vilkko (University of Helsinki), Jaana Vuori, Ph.D (University of Tampere). The connecting thought throughout the work of Professor Liz Stanley (sociology and feminist theory) is the epistemological questions about knowing, and the position of the researcher as a producer of knowledge. She discusses the significance of auto/biographic knowledge and intellectual autobiography. Her central works include: The Auto/biographical I (Manchester University Press, 1992), Breaking Out Again. Feminist Ontology and Epistemology (in collaboration with Sue Wise, 1993); Knowing Feminisms: On Academic Borders, Territories and Tribes (Sage, 1997) and Olive Schreiner: Feminism, Theory and the Method of Life (Sage, 2000). The central works of Professor Mark Freeman include Rewriting the Self: History, Memory, Narrative (Routledge, 1993) and Finding the Muse: A Sociopsychological Inquiry into the Conditions of Artistic Creativity (Cambridge, 1993). Mark Freeman is a professor of psychology. In his works he studies how people interpret their pasts in the creative process of narrating the self. He has also written about the psychology of art and the philosophy of psychology. Docent Anni Vilkko has become a central figure in the field of Finnish biography research through her work, Autobiography as a Meeting Point (Omaelämäkerta kohtaamispaikkana, SKS 1997), and as one of the editors of Mobile Differences: Gender in Biographical Research (Liikkuvat erot: Sukupuoli elämäkertatutkimuksessa, 1998). Her next book Gender and Qualitative Methods (in collaboration with Helmi Järviluoma and Pirkko Moisala) discusses for example gendered life narratives and ways of research reporting (Sage, forthcoming). The central themes in Vilkko's work are the relationship between the researcher and the narrator as well as "a narrative that is aware of its own composition". Dr. Jaana Vuori is specialized in discourse analysis and research on rhetoric. She is a lecturer in women's studies and qualitative methods at the University of Tampere and has organized several courses connected to knowing and research methods. Objective: The course focuses on epistemological questions regarding the researcher as a producer of knowledge in narrative approach. How is the researcher intertwined with the research process all the way from the formulation of research questions to the writing stage? How can the researcher recognize the socially constructed nature of his/her own self and his/her own interpretation and, at the same time, be the agent of research? The course participants are guided to find their own answers and solutions to how the research process and the researcher's own self can be dealt with during the entire research process. In recent years, narratives have become an increasingly central part of research data and, on the other hand, an analytical viewpoint regardless of the nature of the data. Discourses on both the concept and theories of narrative have united researchers and postgraduate students across disciplinary borders, in Finland as well. For instance, in the Finnish network of narrative research there are already over 300 researchers involved. The course is organized in connection with an international conference: The Second Tampere Conference on Narrative - Narrative, Ideology and Myth (26-28.6.2003 in the Tampere Hall). The course lecturers are the keynote speakers of the conference. The course participants may participate in the conference without presenting a separate paper. Participants: The course is intended for postgraduate students whose research is connected to narratives as either data or approach, or the theory of narratives, and who are interested in the process of empirical, qualitative research. The participants may be in different stages of their research. In other words, they may already in the midst of the writing process or just recently become interested in how the narrative approach could potentially be used in their own work. Working methods: The course lecturers (Freeman, Stanley and Vilkko) will each give a lecture. The rest of the time will be spent in intense group work, during which the participants' own works are discussed. The course teachers will participate in the working groups. Applications: Applications must be submitted by the 11th of April, 2003. The application should include an abstract of 400 words maximum, which explains the idea, the possible data and current stage of the research. Please let us also know which kind of a working group you would prefer to participate in, and whether a certain course teacher is of special interest to you or of importance to your own work. Seminar papers: Those accepted to the course must submit
a 3-5-page paper not later than the 1st of June 2003. The course is 2 credits (4 ECTS) Contact persons: Jaana Vuori, Ph.D Varpu Löyttyniemi, M.D. Preliminary timetable: Tuesday 24.6.2003 10.15 Opening of the seminar 10.45 Liz Stanley: Lecture on "Letters, Lives and Narratives: Epistolary Strategies and Genre Conventions" 12.15 Lunch 13.15 Anni Vilkko: Lecture on "Autobiographical narration and the researchers' knowledge" 14.45 Coffee break 15.15 Presentations by participants (in two working groups) -18.00 19.00 Informal gathering in the evening with the course "Political theory, political judgement and narrative". Sauna, refreshments and light meal available.
9.15 Mark Freeman: lecture on "The Narrative Imagination" 10.45 Presentations by participants 12.30 Lunch 13.30 Presentations by participants 15.15 Concluding discussion -16.15
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