Spring 2026
Introduction to Narrative Inquiry: What’s in a Story?
Dates: January 26, 2026 - May 07, 2026Day/Time: Monday; Thursday 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM EDT
Level: 300-Level
Certificate: Civic Engagement, Global Humanities
Instructor: Cathy Raymond, American University of Afghanistan
This qualitative research methodology course explores the theory and practice of Narrative Inquiry through readings, discussion, and the design of individualized narrative research projects. One of the central premises of Narrative Inquiry is that the story is central to human experience and that we seek to understand our lived experiences by creating storied narratives. Narrative researchers also understand that an individual’s life story does not emerge in a vacuum but is, rather, deeply connected to the social, familial, linguistic, institutional, cultural, and other systems within which individual experience is shaped and expressed. Because of this contextualized nature of lived experience, students will design individual narrative research projects which explore the storied experiences of a small number of participants within their local and/or international communities. The central project in this course is a digital narrative research portfolio which will include samples from each student’s individual narrative research project, including documentation of a data set, sample data analysis and description, reflective memoing, and re-presentation of new insights through creative re-storying practices, such as poetry, nonfiction, or fiction. Narrative inquiry offers a multidisciplinary approach to qualitative research which has had diverse applications across numerous areas of study, including psychology, the humanities, education, law, medicine, and more. Narrative inquiry offers a powerful research approach for collaborating closely with participants, for developing cross-cultural empathy through active listening and co-constructed interviews, for working towards social justice and transformation, and for challenging harmful stereotypes through counter-stories.
Credits: 3 US / 6 ECTS