Table Of Content

NARRATIVE PORTRAITS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Narrative Portraits in Qualitative Research offers an analytical approach to qualitative data. Through narrative portraiture, research findings can be contextualised in broader social narratives without losing sight of the unique personal qualities of the research encounter. Drawing a parallel between the artistic work of a portrait maker in depicting a subject – sometimes an object – and the work of the researcher in exploring people’s experiences, narrative portraiture invites a close-up into a person’s narrated and embodied experience and argues that one of the main research findings in qualitative research is the person themselves; their circumstances, and their life story. The book proposes four approaches to narrative portraiture: (1) a systematic approach to narrative analysis, (2) the use of phronesis in narrative portraiture, (3) the concept of ‘imagined portraits’ as a collaborative approach between visual arts and social sciences, and (4) the use of ‘performative portraits’ both as an analytic tool and product for research communication. This book will help qualitative researchers create first-person narratives that will give a glimpse into the participants’ lives in a way that is simultaneously deep, concise, and evocative. This book will be suitable for those interested in narrative methods and qualitative research in health care, education, and the social sciences. Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans is a qualitative researcher and mental health practitioner. He studies identities, sexualities, the everyday lives of LGBTQIA+ people, and the use of performing arts in research. He completed a PhD in Counselling Studies at the University of Edinburgh and is a Lecturer in Counselling & Psychotherapy at the University of Salford. NARRATIVE PORTRAITS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans Cover image: Cameron Gouache and pencil colour on cardboard, 60X84 cm Edinburgh, 2019 Imagined Portrait by Eleonora Scalise First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans The right of Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-85587-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-85592-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-01378-5 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003013785 Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC In loving memory of Joule CONTENTS A foreword for Narrative Portraits in Qualitative Research x Introduction 1 A narrative portrait of my best friend’s death 1 What is a narrative portrait? – an overview of this book 7 A note on the role of ‘the body’ in qualitative research 10 A note on linguistic capital 10 The complexity of life experience and the limits of discursive representation 11 A narrative portrait is a depiction of an absence 13 Narrative portraits and their relationship with research into disadvantaged populations 15 A note on decoloniality 17 References 18 1 A systematic approach to narrative portraiture 21 1.1 A nalytic proceedings – transforming Maurice’s story into a narrative portrait 22 1.2 C haracters – he was treating me well 23 1.3 O rientation in time, space, and circumstances – the boy who travelled 300 miles 25 1.4 C omplicating actions (and crisis of the Self) – ‘he was kissing someone else’ 28 1.5 R esult and evaluation – ‘I was too young’ 28 viii Contents 1.6 S mall stories within the life story – ‘you aren’t going to care about me anymore’ 31 1.7 I dentifying themes in narrative portraits – special narrative features 31 1.8 T he intertwinement of phenomena in research projects – ‘I still have feelings for him’ 36 1.9 T he abstract – ‘he is home’ 40 1.10 A rranging a narrative portrait 42 1.11 F irst narrative portrait – Maurice 43 1.12 Devising exercise 45 References 47 2 The use of phronesis in narrative portraiture 49 2.1 S econd narrative portrait – Cameron 52 2.2 R everberations of the participant’s voice – ‘what did I do in all those 40 years?’ 55 2.3 P owerful phrases – ‘it was a bit like the expression “Hobson’s choice”; you didn’t have any choice’ 58 2.4 U nspoken – important nonverbal moments 61 2.5 C rucial moments; on the verge of an insight, confusion, uncertainty, suspicion while researching into participants’ lives – ‘in three occasions in life I’ve been infatuated with people’ 62 2.6 R ecognising transpersonal experiences and narrating them evocatively – ‘is that uncommon?’ 63 2.7 W hat can phronesis do for narrative portraiture? 66 2.8 Devising exercise 67 References 69 3 Imagined portraits 71 3.1 ‘ The absent presence’ in research – the young body, the attractive body, the disabled body, the eroticised body, the ageing body, the muscular body, the white body, the dark- skinned body . . . tall, short, thin, natural, fully fleshed bodies 71 3.2 T he ethical and political challenges of bringing the bodies into research – ‘You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder side’ 76 3.3 A collaboration between visual arts and social sciences – ‘we also asked for love’ 79 3.4 A ffect theory in imagined portraits – Nick, the man who sang an anthem in Hampstead Heath 81 Contents ix 3.5 Q ueer spaces – cars, roads, bridges, woods, secluded areas 85 3.6 T hird narrative portrait – Nick 86 3.7 Devising exercise 88 References 89 4 Performative portraits 92 4.1 F ourth narrative portrait – Luca 92 4.2 W hat are performative portraits? 94 4.3 P erformative portraits as a medium for analysis – some actions need to be seen and experienced 99 4.4 P erformative portraits as research communication 101 4.5 P erformance as a way to engage in the ethics and aesthetics of qualitative research – the boy who was very hungry for being loved 103 4.6 S patiality in narrative data analysis – ‘loving outdoors because you can’t bring your boyfriend home’ 106 4.7 M ateriality in narrative data analysis – the red jumper and the black ribbon 110 4.8 C onjuring life through body movement – their feminine masculinity 111 4.9 Devising exercise 114 References 115 Conclusion 118 Fifth portrait – Malone 120 Conflicting narratives – the boy who prayed for God to make him straight 123 A narrative portrait of an individual and his community 126 A double portrait – when the researcher makes themselves visible in the text 128 Staying with the complexity – two narratives 133 A ubiquitous narrative – sex 134 A narrative of resistance – love 135 Limitations of narrative portraiture 136 Suggestions for future research 136 A sense of an ending 139 References 140 Index 142