Course Syllabi

Narrative and Times of Troubles
Anthropology 297 Section 4
Winter 2002
Wednesday 9-12 Haines 314
Instructors:
Linda Garro (lgarro@anthro.ucla.edu) Haines Hall 316a; 206-6249;
Office Hours: Thursday 10am -noon
Elinor Ochs (eochs@anthro.ucla.edu) Haines Hall 318a; 825-0984;
Office Hours: Tuesday 2-4pm

Texts

• Barker, Pat. Regeneration. Plume Books, 1991.

• Capps, Lisa & Ochs, Elinor. Constructing Panic. Harvard University Press, 1995.

• Mattingly, Cheryl. Healing Dramas and Clinical Plots. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

• Mattingly, Cheryl & Garro, Linda, eds. Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing. University of California Press, 2000.

• Mitchell, W.J.T., ed. On Narrative. University of Chicago Press, 1980.

• Murphy, Robert. The Body Silent. Henry Holt, 1987.

• Ochs, Elinor & Capps, Lisa. Living Narrative. Harvard University Press, 2001.

(The books are available at bookstore and through Graduate Reserve)

• Packet of Readings (available at Westwood Copies, 1001 Gayley Ave., Suite 104; Phone: (310) 208 3233)

Supplies

Transparencies

Schedule

January 9 Introduction

How can linguistic and medical anthropology inform each other in relation to narrative and times of trouble? What are the tensions that inhere in attempting to bridge these analytic perspectives?

January 16 The Sufferer’s Perspective in Times of Trouble:

Autoethnography

• Murphy, Robert. The Body Silent. Henry Holt, 1987.

Assignment:

Everyone in Class:

Formulate an issue or question arising from an assertion in the reading that will generate an interesting discussion. Send the question and corresponding relevant passages from the readings to the instructors as text in the body of an e-mail message and also as an attachment by Monday, January 14, 4PM.

January 23 The Sufferer’s Perspective in Times of Trouble:

Narrative Activity

• Capps, Lisa & Ochs, Elinor. Constructing Panic. Harvard University Press, 1995.

Assignment:

Group A:

Each team (of 2) in this group formulates an issue or question arising from an assertion in the reading that will generate an interesting discussion. Reproduce the question and corresponding relevant passages from the readings on an overhead transparency to show in class.

Group B:

Responsible for addressing the issues/questions raised by Group A Teams.

January 30 Narrative Sense-Making

• Garro, Linda & Mattingly, Cheryl. "Narrative as Construct and Construction" in C. Mattingly & L. Garro, eds. Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing. University of California Press, 2000. Pp. 1-49.

• Ochs, Elinor & Capps, Lisa. Chapter 1 "A Dimensional Approach to Narrative," Living Narrative. Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. 1-58.

• Amsterdam, Anthony G. & Bruner, Jerome. Chapter 4 "On Narrative," Minding the Law. Harvard University Press, 2000. Pp. 110-142.

• (recommended) Turner, Victor. "Social Dramas and Stories about Them" in W.J.T. Mitchell, ed. On Narrative. University of Chicago Press, 1981. Pp. 137-164.

Assignment:

Group B:

Each team (of 2) in this group:

1) Discuss a passage from the readings. (Reproduce passage on an overhead transparency to show in class.)

2) Illustrate, amplify, and/or critique the passage with narrative data from outside the readings for this week.

Group A:

Responsible for addressing the issues/questions and data analyses presented by Group B Teams.

February 6 The Phenomenology of Time in Narrative

• Ricoeur, P. "Narrative Time" in W.J.T. Mitchell, ed. On Narrative. University of Chicago Press, 1981. Pp. 165-186.

• Ochs, Elinor & Capps, Lisa. Chapters 4 & 5 "The Unexpected Turn" & "Experiential Logic," Living Narrative. Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. 130-200.

• Morson, G. S. "Prelude," Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time. Yale University Press, 1994. Pp. 17-41.

Assignment:

Group A:

Each team (of 2) in this group:

1) Discuss a passage from the readings. (Reproduce passage on an overhead transparency to show in class.)

2) Illustrate, amplify, and/or critique the passage with narrative data from outside the readings for this week.

Group B:

Responsible for addressing the issues/questions and data analyses presented by Group A Teams.

February 13 Remembering through Narrative

• Good, Byron & Good, Mary-Jo Del Vecchio. "'Fiction' and 'Historicity' in Doctors’ Stories." in C. Mattingly & L. Garro, eds. Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing. University of California Press, 2000. Pp. 50-69.

• Garro, Linda. "Cultural Knowledge as Resource in Illness Narratives" in C. Mattingly & L. Garro, eds. Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing. University of California Press, 2000. Pp. 70-87.

• Kramer, Jane. "The Politics of Memory," The New Yorker, 1995, Aug. 14, pp48-65. (reprinted in The Politics of Memory: Looking for Germany in the New Germany, Random House. Pp.257-293.)

• White, H. "The Value of Narrativity and the Representation of Reality" in W.J.T. Mitchell, ed. On Narrative. University of Chicago Press, 1981. Pp. 1-23.

Assignment:

Group B:

Each team (of 2) in this group:

1) Discuss a passage from the readings. (Reproduce passage on an overhead transparency to show in class.)

2) Illustrate, amplify, and/or critique the passage with narrative data from outside the readings for this week.

Group A:

Responsible for addressing the issues/questions and data analyses presented by Group B Teams.

February 20 Narrative Fragmentation

• Barker, Pat. Regeneration. Plume Books, 1991.

• O’Brien, Tim. "How To Tell a True War Story," The Things They Carried. Penguin Books,1990. Pp. 75-91.

Assignment:

Everyone in Class:

Formulate an issue or question arising from an assertion in the reading that will generate an interesting discussion. Send the question and any relevant passages from the readings to the instructors as text in the body of an e-mail message and also as an attachment no later than Tuesday, February 19, noon.

February 27 Narrative, Healing, and Experience

• Mattingly, Cheryl. Healing Dramas and Clinical Plots. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Class Guest: Cheryl Mattingly, USC.

Assignment:

Everyone in Class:

Formulate an issue or a question arising from an assertion in the reading and send it via as a text in the body of an e-mail message and as an attachment to mattingl@usc.edu and to instructors for class discussion. This should be done by Monday, February 25, 4PM.

March 6 Selves in Motion I

• Ochs, Elinor & Capps, Lisa. Chapter 6 "Beyond Face Value," Living Narrative. Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. 201-224.

• Garro, Linda. "Narrative Representations of Chronic Illness Experience: Cultural Models of Illness, Mind, and Body in Stories Concerning the Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ)," Social Science and Medicine, 1994, 38:775-788.

• Garro, Linda. "Cultural, Social and Self Processes in Narrating Troubling Experiences," Forthcoming in C. Mattingly & J. Uffe, eds. Narrative and Society. University of Aarhus Press, In Press.

•Wikan, Unni. "With Life in One’s Lap: The Story of an Eye/I (or Two)" in C. Mattingly & L. Garro, eds. Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing. University of California Press, 2000. Pp. 212-236.

Assignment:

Group A:

Each team (of 2) in this group:

1) Discuss a passage from the readings. (Reproduce passage on an overhead transparency to show in class.)

2) Illustrate, amplify, and/or critique the passage with narrative data from outside the readings for this week.

Group B:

Responsible for addressing the issues/questions and data analyses presented by Group A Teams.

March 13 Selves in Motion II

• Broyard, Anatole. "Intoxicated by my Illness," "Toward a Literature of Illness," "The Patient Examines the Doctor," "Journal Notes May-September 1990," "A Style for Death," Intoxicated by My Illness: And Other Writings on Life and Death. Potter, 1992. Pp. 3-68, 85-88.

• Gates, Henry L. "White like Me," The New Yorker, 1996, 17 June, pp. 66-81. (reprinted as "The Passing of Anatole Broyard" in H.L. Gates, Jr. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man. Random House, 1997. Pp. 180-214.)

Assignment:

Group B:

Each team (of 2) in this group:

1) Discuss a passage from the readings. (Reproduce passage on an overhead transparency to show in class.)

2) Illustrate, amplify, and/or critique the passage with narrative data from outside the readings for this week.

Group A:

Responsible for addressing the issues/questions and data analyses presented by Group B Teams.

Class Requirements

1. Whole Class and Team Presentations of issues, questions and/or data analyses relevant to weekly readings.

2. Write a 10-12 page (double spaced) proposal that lays out how narrative analysis might illuminate a research topic of interest to you. (The 10-12 pages does not include the bibliography.)

1. Pose a problem that can be addressed through narrative analysis
2. Situate the problem in relation to a population or a site and motivate your selection.
3. Situate the problem within current debates/issues on this topic in your field.
4. Indicate more specific questions related to the general problem that narrative analysis can address.
5. Provide a methodology for addressing these questions and link to the broader problem under study.
6. Include a bibliography, which can include readings from this class.