Narrative inversion as a tactical framing device

Abstract

This paper will draw from recent work in the study of counter-narratives and will apply a sociologically informed perspective to the empirical analysis of discourse. By focusing on the Black Nationalist group The Nation of Islam (NOI) this article will introduce the counter-narrative strategy of "narrative inversion. " Based on discursive analysis of textual materials from early NOI speeches, recordings, and writings, we hope to show how the NOI employed a specific framing tactic of inverting American and Judeo-Christian master narratives to create a powerful ideological schema for attracting potential members. Our analysis demonstrates that early organizers of the NOI created counter-narratives by positioning themselves in direct opposition to the pervasive master narrative of white superiority. We will compare the NOI's countering strategy to that of Martin Luther King's moderate civil rights movement and show how the NOI was also able to capitalize on the more restrained messages of racial integration, non-violent protest, and racial reconciliation emanating from the moderate civil rights movement. The discursive process of inverting more moderate messages explains, to a great extent, the movement's early success as a radical alternative to the mainstream civil rights movement.

“Grandpa was fatally administered by the Bulgarians1”: Family narratives, national identity, and state history

“…On the third level of positioning analysis, the focus falls on how tellers use stories to convey a sense of who they are by relying on external discourses, or master narratives. These can be defined as “all‐encompassing and authoritative account[s] of some aspect[s] of social reality that [are] widely accepted and endorsed by the larger society” (Acevedo et al., 2010, p. 125), but also as “pre‐existent sociocultural forms of interpretation that circulate in a particular society at a particular time, as such linking the social context to storytelling” (Bamberg, 2005, p. 287).…”

Taking spoofs seriously: Spoofs as counter-narratives in volunteer discourse

“…As explained by Acevedo, Ordner, and Th ompson (2010), the term master narrative has been used by postmodern and critical race theorists "to denote an all-encompassing and authoritative account of some aspect of social reality that is widely accepted and endorsed by the larger society" (p. 125). Explorations of counter-narratives include how they infl uence understandings of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity (Bamberg & Andrews, 2004), class and education (Piekut, 2017), and organizations (Frandsen, Lundholt, & Kuhn, 2017).…”