After attending Jo F’s talk, i came back with a quote that is suitable for my thesis, from Geertz (1973):

“man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spur, i take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of a law but an interpretation of one in search of meaning” (5)

In my data collection phase, i interviewed immigrant  therapists who share with me their stories. It seems that the narrative inquiry approach to research is relevant to my research and thought it is good to inform my thinking with reading a bit of up-to-date literature about it. I found this excellent book:

Webster, L. and Mertova P. (2007) Using Narrative Inquiry as a research method: an introduction to using critical event narrative analysis in research on teaching and learning. London: Routledge

I am recording some quotes below that i could use in my Thesis: … Read more »

Modernism and postmodernism might be characterised as the two major forces of philosophical thought that have influenced and continue to influence the changes in thinking in research methods. Modernism is associated with the scientific understanding of truth and knowledge, claiming that there is one ultimate, objective truth; and postmodernism relates to the human-centred holistic perspective, maintaining that there are subjective, multiple truths (Webster & Mertova, 2007: 11)

I found this quote from Paul Carter in his book ‘Living in the World’ that seems to be summarising some interesting dimension of the polemic around the issue of mobility and its effects that is central in my PhD (as cited in Rapport, N. & Dawson, A. (eds) (1998) Migrants of Identity: Perceptions of Home in a World of Movement. Oxford: Berg). Here it is (p.v): … Read more »

Something that seems to emerge in my PhD research is that many British (or Anglo-Saxon) people i dialogue with in research interveiws and elsewhere appear to have a difficulty in holding into awareness issues related to cultural identity etc. I compare that with my own case where, coming from Greece, a culture thathas been masively invaded and as a result our cultural identity has been repetitively attached and under threat, issues of cultural identity maybe (just maybe) come out more easily and accesible in our process (althouh, still, many of my Greek fellows appear also to be ’sleepy’ or ignoranmt about this whole area, vaccilating from extreme nationalistic views to total dismiss of heritage or anything relevant in the name of being ‘european’ = good enough). This is a very controversial issue. … Read more »