The Potential of Narrative and Experiential Approaches in Multicultural Inquiries

Abstract

In Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education we explore the untapped potential that narrative and experiential approaches provide in understanding multicultural issues in education. We feature scholars whose work focuses on the lives of students, teachers, parents, and communities, while highlighting experiences seldom discussed in the literature. We believe that the experiential quality of this work is central to developing in-depth understanding of multicultural issues in education and in life.As you read through this book, you will see that the authors bring personal experience to bear on their inquiries. You will see inquiry embedded in life and life embedded in constant change in relation to social, cultural, and political contexts. You will also be exposed to the ideas of self, others, and inquiry interrelated in complex and dialogical relationships over time and place. These scholars have developed their research questions, perspectives, and inquiry methods by drawing on what they care about passionately in life. Building upon their passion, these scholars engage themselves and others in a deeply reflective practice that has the possibility to transform everyday experience into insights with cultural, social, and educational significance. As demonstrated in each chapter, these scholars are not detached observers of, but active participants in, the lives of the people with whom they work. As they become immersed in the lives of their participants, they come to care deeply about their concerns and continuously search for effective ways to act on those concerns.

In search of my hidden preconceptions as a researcher

“…To develop an in-depth understanding of immigrant youths' experiences of everyday life in school, the narrative approach is chosen because of the potential the approach provides in understanding multicultural issues in education (Phillion, He, & Connelly, 2005). Narrare (lat.)…”

Narrative Inquiry as Pedagogy in Education

“…Her notions of dispositioning to un know and not know open up understandings of the importance of seeing teachers as in processes of continual growth and change. Phillion, He, and Connelly (2005) further engaged with teachers from diverse backgrounds to bring less often heard narratives to the fore. 5 So, too, did hooks (1994) as she inquires into experiences in her life, experiences both as she was growing up and as she teaches adult students.…”

Inquiry Into Lived Experience: A Cross‐Cultural, In‐Between, and Exiled Perspective

“…Ming Fang He's cross‐cultural narrative work is further developed in an edited book, Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education (Phillion, He, & Connelly, 2005) which explores the potential of narrative and experiential approaches for the study of language, culture, identity, and power in various multicultural settings in education. The editors summarize the intent of their volume in the following statement:…”

“…Personal∼Passionate∼Participatory Inquiry Into Social Justice in Education , an edited work with JoAnn Phillion (He & Phillion, 2008b), is the first book in this series. This book further explores lived experience through cross‐cultural narrative inquiry developed in A River Forever Flowing (He, 2003) and Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education (Phillion, He, & Connelly, 2005). It features 14 studies of social justice research on life in schools, families, and communities.…”

“…To conceptualize exile pedagogy, He draws on her autobiographical roots, much like the researchers do in Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education (Phillion, He, & Connelly, 2005) and Personal∼Passionate∼Participatory Inquiry (He & Phillion, 2008b). She illuminates how “exile pedagogy and its implications are deeply embedded in [her] experience as a Chinese woman and a faculty member moving back and forth between constantly changing Eastern and Western theoretical traditions, languages, and cultures” (He, 2010, p. 472).…”