Coming to Narrative: A Personal History of Paradigm Change in the Human Sciences (Writing Lives: Ethnographic Narratives) (Volume 14)

"Reflecting on a 50 year university career, Distinguished Professor Arthur Bochner, former President of the National Communication Association, discloses a lived history, both academic and personal, that has paralleled many of the paradigm shifts in the human sciences inspired by the turn toward narrative. He shows how the human sciences--especially in his own areas of interpersonal, 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 Bateson, Laing, Goffman, 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 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Preface: On the Road to Meaning 12 Chapter One. Drifting Toward an Academic Life: Narrative Legacies 26 Chapter Two. Graduate Student Socialization: On Becoming a Divided Self 54 Chapter Three. Staging a Dissertation: Entry into a Professor’s Way of Life 80 Chapter Four. Raising Consciousness and Teaching Things that Matter 102 Chapter Five. Double Bind: Selling Out or Risking Ruin 129 Chapter Six. Paradigms Shift: Dark Side of the Moon 150 Chapter Seven. Taking Chances 172 Chapter Eight. Between Obligation and Inspiration 192 Chapter Nine. Seeking a Home in Academia 207 Chapter Ten. Life’s Forward Momentum 232 Chapter Eleven. A Twist of Fate 252 Chapter Twelve. Healing a Divided Self: Narrative Means to Academic Ends 277 Chapter Thirteen. Finishing Touches: A Sense of an Ending 296 Epilogue. Story-Truth 307 References 319 Index 334 About the Author 351 Weaving autoethnography, theoretical exposition, and a close examination of social trends, distinguished scholar Arthur P. Bochner shows how the theoretical paradigms in the human sciences have developed and changed over the past four decades.