Fall 2026

Introduction to Narrative Inquiry: What’s in a Story?

Dates: September 07, 2026 – December 14, 2026
Day/Time: Monday; Thursday 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM EDT
Level: 300-Level
Certificate: Civic Engagement
Civic Engagement certificate requirement: A community-engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) course.
Instructor: Cathy Raymond, American University of Afghanistan

This online qualitative research methodology course explores Narrative Inquiry through readings, discussion, and the design of collaborative narrative research projects. Research groups (2-4 students per group) will be formed Week 4. The central project in this qualitative methodology course is a collaborative digital narrative research portfolio. The portfolio project will also include group oral presentations at the end of the course. 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 collaborative cross-cultural narrative research projects which emphasize civic engagement with the storied experiences of a small number of participants within their local and/or international communities. Students will also have opportunities to deepen their intercultural competencies and strengthen cross-cultural collaborations by practicing interviews, data analysis, and other research strategies during class. The final e-portfolio project will also be completed as a group project. 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 cross-culturally with participants, for developing greater appreciation of a variety of local and global experiences, for working towards social justice and transformation, and for challenging stereotypes through counter-stories.

Credits: 3 US / 6 ECTS