Coming to Narrative: A Personal History of Paradigm Change in the Human Sciences

351 Pages·2014·1.58 MB·English

by  Arthur P. Bochner

Coming to Narrative
Writing Lives
Ethnographic Narratives
Series Editors
Arthur P. Bochner & Carolyn Ellis
University of South Florida
Writing Lives: Ethnographic Narratives publishes narrative representations of qualitative
research projects. Te series editors seek manuscripts that blur the boundaries between hu-
manities and social sciences. We encourage novel and evocative forms of expressing concrete
lived experience, including autoethnographic, literary, poetic, artistic, visual, performative,
critical, multivoiced, conversational, and coconstructed representations. We are interested
in ethnographic narratives that depict local stories; employ literary modes of scene seting,
dialogue, character development, and unfolding action; and include the author’s critical
refections on the research and writing process, such as research ethics, alternative modes of
inquiry and representation, refexivity, and evocative storytelling. Proposals and manuscripts
should be directed to
Coming to
Narrative
A Personal History of Paradigm Change
in the Human Sciences
Arthur P. Bochner
Walnut Creek, California
Lef Coast Press, Inc.
1630 North Main Street, #400
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
htp://www.LCoastPress.com
Copyright © 2014 by Lef Coast Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmited in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-59874-037-0 hardcover
ISBN 978-1-59874-038-7 paperback
ISBN 978-1-61132-775-5 institutional eBook
ISBN 978-1-61132-767-0 consumer eBook
Cover Designed by Karen Scot-Hoy
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Bochner, Arthur P.
Coming to narrative : A personal history of paradigm change in the human sciences / Arthur P. Bochner.
pages cm.—(Writing lives ; 14)
Summary: “Refecting on a 50 year university career, Distinguished Professor Arthur Bochner, for-
mer President of the National Communication Association, discloses a lived history, both academic
and personal, that has paralleled many of the paradigm shifs in the human sciences inspired by the
turn toward narrative. He shows how the human sciences—especially in his own areas of interper-
sonal, family, and communication theory—have evolved from sciences directed toward prediction
and control to interpretive ones focused on the search for meaning through qualitative, narrative, and
ethnographic modes of inquiry. He outlines the theoretical contributions of such luminaries as Bate-
son, Laing, Gofman, Henry, Gergen, and Richardson in this transformation. Using diverse forms of
narration, Bochner seamlessly layers theory and story, interweaving his professional and personal life
with the social and historical contexts in which they developed”—Provided by publisher. Includes
bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59874-037-0 (hardback)—ISBN 978-1-59874-038-7 (paperback)—
ISBN 978-1-61132-775-5 (institutional ebook) —ISBN 978-1-61132-767-0 (consumer ebook)
1. Bochner, Arthur P. 2. Social sciences—Study and teaching (Higher)—United States—
History. 3. College teachers—United States—Biography. I. Title.
H62.5.U5B63 2014
300.92—dc23
[B]
2014000363
Printed in the United States of America
Te paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992.
Contents
Acknowledgments 7
Preface: On the Road to Meaning 11
Chapter One Drifing Toward an Academic Life: Narrative Legacies 25
Chapter Two Graduate Student Socialization:
On Becoming a Divided Self 53
Chapter Tree Staging a Dissertation:
Entry into a Professor’s Way of Life 79
Chapter Four Raising Consciousness and Teaching Tings that Mater 101
Chapter Five Double Bind: Selling Out or Risking Ruin 128
Chapter Six Paradigms Shif: Dark Side of the Moon 149
Chapter Seven Taking Chances 171
Chapter Eight Between Obligation and Inspiration 191
Chapter Nine Seeking a Home in Academia 206
Chapter Ten Life’s Forward Momentum 231
Chapter Eleven A Twist of Fate 251
Chapter Twelve Healing a Divided Self:
Narrative Means to Academic Ends 276
Chapter Tirteen Finishing Touches: A Sense of an Ending 295
Epilogue Story-Truth 306
References 318
Index 3
About the Author 350
For Carolyn Ellis,
rose of my heart
Acknowledgments
Living a university life for the past ffy-one years brought me into contact with
many creative and resourceful professors, colleagues, and students who supported,
encouraged, and shaped my teaching, research, and writing. My rhetoric professor
at Syracuse University, Dan Smith, showed me the pleasure that could be realized
from close readings of texts and taught me the importance of editing. “Tere is
no such thing as good writing,” he insisted, “only good re-writing.” David Ketler,
my ofce mate at Syracuse, introduced me to Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, and
Rollo May and expressed steadfast confdence in my potential as a scholar and
teacher. My mentor at Bowling Green, Raymond Tucker, was an inspirational
teacher and unpretentious scholar who taught me to cherish life as a professor.
His enthusiasm and passion in the classroom was contagious, and he displayed a
humble spirit and intellectual humility that is all too rare in the academic world.
As an assistant professor, I was fortunate to strike up friendships with Gerald
R. Miller and Mark Knapp, pioneers in the feld of interpersonal communication.
Later on, in the frst handbook in communication and rhetorical studies, John
Waite Bowers, Sam Becker, and Carroll Arnold gave me wide latitude to synthesize
and integrate signifcant ideas on interpersonal relations across the human sciences.
I began a series of intense dialogues with Dwight Conquergood shortly afer arriv-
ing at USF in 1984. Dwight inspired my turn toward ethnography and exemplifed
the good that could come from the ethical, political, and dialogic commitments
of performative and critical ethnography. I hope my experimentation with genre-
bending modes of expressing lived experience can serve to perpetuate the memory
of his enduring contributions to communication and performance studies.
At Bowling Green, Vince DiSalvo and Ed Mabry provided companionship
and spirited conversation about social science research. Another of my cohorts
in graduate school, Janet Yerby, became my coauthor and good friend. She was
a constant source of empathy, love, and emotional support during the darkest
days of Brenda’s illness.
At Temple University, Herb Simons mentored me through the faculty ranks,
treating me like a loving brother and showing unwavering support and respect
for my ideas and work ethic. I deeply value the memories of our many evenings
of long and loving intellectual banter in which we played at work and worked at
play, sharpening our aptitude for irony, paradox, and dialectic. I prize our lifelong
friendship. I met Eric Eisenberg at Michigan State and recruited him to Temple,
where we became friends and colleagues. Te quickest study I know, Eric is an
unremiting jammer who combines good humor with unparalleled administrative
skill. He and Lorie Roscoe are part of our extended family. During the golden
days at Temple, I was blessed with great students. I want to acknowledge the
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acknowledgments
stimulation and validation provided by my doctoral students at Temple—Linda
Eagle, Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, Carol Giford, George Gum, Dorothy Krueger,Ken
Leibowitz, Dory Segal, and Teri Tompson; and especially Bill Rawlins, one of
the great storytellers and teachers in my feld. Bill taught me the meanings (and
dialectics) of friendship in and out of the classroom. You rock, Bill.
I wrote the majority of this book over seven summers at our cabin in Franklin,
North Carolina. Our neighbors, Doug and Ardie Stanley, took a special interest
in my project (as well as my fower garden). Doug passed away two summers ago.
I miss him immensely. At USF, my chair over most of the last years, Ken Cissna,
provided institutional and moral support for my project as well as companionship
at USF basketball games. Charles Guignon, Daryl Fasching, and Jim Paul became
interdisciplinary narrative colleagues who greatly enhanced my understanding of
narrative identity, narrative ethics, and narrative methodologies. Charles read early
drafs of several chapters and expressed appreciation for my experimentation with
genre-bending forms of expression. Tank you, Charles, for keeping our conversa-
tion going. I also benefted from conversations and correspondence with Michael
Bamberg, Rita Charon, Douglas Flemons, Mark Freeman, Ken Gergen, Ruthellen
Josselson, Michal Krumer-Nevo, Maya Lavie-Ajayi, Amia Lieblich, and Richard
Zaner at diferent stages in the formation of this project. I also want to express my
gratitude to colleagues at the annual Qualitative Congress for their companionship
and support of my work as well as for promoting and embodying the life of storytell-
ing. In particular, I thank Tony Adams, Keith Berry, Shirley Drew, Stacy Holman
Jones, Ron Pelias, Chris Poulos, Judith Preissle, Pat Sikes, and Sophie Tomas for
taking risks and championing the cause of personal narrative and autoethnography.
Te USF Communication Department has been my university home for the
past thirty years, providing a safe haven and fertile environment in which to teach
unorthodox courses and engage in unconventional writing. I am grateful for the
opportunities I was given at USF to live the dream of developing a genuinely
qualitative PhD program. My life has been enriched beyond words by the gifed
and caring students who have studied here. I want to express my gratitude to the
students in the twelve seminars on Narrative Inquiry that I have ofered since
1990 and, in particular, to Christine Kiesinger, Tim Simpson, Deborah Austin,
Lisa Tillmann, Zhong Wang, Mathew Brooks, Elissa Foster, Cara Mackey, Tony
Adams, Andrew Herrmann, Dionel Cotanda, and Rachel Binns Terrill. Te stories
you wrote in those courses deepened and expanded my understanding and ap-
preciation for narrative, as did your probing and evocative dissertations. I thank
Nathan Hodges and Toni Powell-Young for their diligent atention to the details
of bibliography, Tony Adams for his precise work on the index, and Nick Riggs
for keeping me up to date on the ever-expanding narrative literature.
As drafs of the chapters of this book began to take shape, I called on colleagues
across the feld for feedback and advice. Tom Frentz read a frst draf of two
chapters in 2007 and invited me to Arkansas to give a colloquium on the project.
Tank you, Tom, for your friendship, superb editing skills, and enthusiasm for
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aCKNOWLEDGMENTS
writing candidly about university life. Bill Rawlins, Joyce Hocker, Tony Adams,
and Chaim Noy made valuable comments on early chapters. In the last weeks
of his life, Bud Goodall insisted on reading as much of the manuscript as I was
willing to send. Bud identifed with the stories, reminiscing about the early days
of our academic lives and rekindling my motivation to complete the project.
Norman Denzin read a frst draf of the whole book and provided the emotional
afrmation I needed to press on. Tank you, Norman, for your critical intelligence,
kindness, relentless pursuit of social justice, and the high standard you set for a
democratic community of scholars.
Karen Scot-Hoy went through several chapters and came up with a clever idea
for the cover. Tank you, Karen, for the aesthetic touch you brought to this project.
Laurel Richardson provided wise counsel through the entire writing process
and especially when the project was nearing completion. I am grateful to Laurel
for urging me to keep writing about the hard stuf. Every writer needs a friend
and reader like Laurel.
Lisa Tillmann served as an editor par excellence, pointing out the redundan-
cies and exhorting me to keep the story moving. Tis is a beter book as a result
of Lisa’s care and resolve for unclutered writing.
David Epston graciously took time away from training for his bicycle tour
to help me polish the prose to “its utmost lustre.” Tank you, David, for your
caring and perceptive comments and for championing the cause of literary and
embodied writing in the human sciences.
Mitch Allen is my dream publisher. How did I get so lucky? Mitch took a
chance on Carolyn and me seventeen years ago, and I repaid him by taking seven
years to fnish this book. Troughout all the lulls in my writing, Mitch remained
fervent in his belief in me and in this project. When I fnally delivered a draf,
his response was so confrming that I asked for an additional three months to
improve the product. I love you, Mitch.
I also want to acknowledge the signifcant contribution of the team at Lef
Coast Press and Straight Creek Bookmakers, especially Jason Poter and Josephine
Mariea. I am grateful for their careful atention to detail, staunch support of the
project, and tenacious labor in bringing the book into its fnal form.
Carolyn Ellis lived through the entire seven years with me. Tere are survivors,
darling! You are my muse, my most ardent supporter, and loving critic. You
showed me how to bring together my heart and my head. Tank you, Carolyn,
for your tender, generous, and loving support of this project, for so willingly
accepting a place for this project in our life, for your conscientious feedback on
every draf, and for being such a great dog mommy. You catch every nuance in
my expressions and make me feel understood. It’s so much fun to grow older
with you. Now you can come out from under my desk, Zen, and of your bed,
Buddha, where you’ve waited patiently for me to fnish (with only an occasional
bark). It’s time to play and run in the woods.
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