DRAFT: Prepared by Suzanne England for discussion only July 7, 2011 Center for Narrative Inquiry and Practice

Silver School of Social Work Requested: Startup Funding for Planning and Implementation $100,000 per year for three years Principal Investigator: Suzanne England, Professor, Silver School of Social Work New York University Co-Principal Investigator: Martha Rust, Professor, Department of English New York University Possible SSSW faculty associates or Co-PIs: Susan Gerbino, Judith Siegel A central area of narrative study is human interaction in relationships the daily stuff of social work. (Riessman and Quinney p. 392)1 Narrative inquiry is a kind of social research...that seeks not to prove or disprove but rather to create movement, to displace, to pull apart and allow for resettlement. (Rolling p. 99)2 Overview: The purpose of the proposed project is to demonstrate the applicability of the theories and methods of the humanities and narrative modes of inquiry to theory and practice in social work and related professions. The project will lay the groundwork for the establishment of a multidisciplinary Center for Narrative Inquiry and Practice (CNIP) at New York University that will bring together scholars from the humanities, social sciences and the professions to critically examine the way knowledge for practice in the helping professions is narrated and constructed in society, and the implications of those constructions for theory, practice, and social policy. Rationale: As both a subject, a method of inquiry, and a practice narrative has become critical to advancing conceptualization, theory, and practice in the professions, especially those addressing illness and disability. As noted by Riessman and Mattingly3 One can now speak of the illness narrative
1 Riessman, C. K. and Quinney, L. (2005). Narrative in social work: A critical review. Qualitative Social Work 4 (4), 391-412. http://www2.bc.edu/~riessman/pdf/narrative-in-social-work.pdf 2 Rolling, Jr, J.H. (2011). Circumventing the imposed ceiling: Art Education as resistance narrative. Qualitative Inquiry. 17: 99. DOI: 10.1177/1077800410389759 3 Riessman, C. K. and Mattingly, C. (2005). Introduction: Toward a context-based ethics for social research in health. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social

literature a multidisciplinary and ever-growing corpus that spans the social sciences, humanities, clinical professions and popular culture. (p. 429). Narrative is central to social work theory and practice and arguably one of the most promising avenues for influencing practice and policy. And although narrative inquiry has provided a rich vein of new insights for medicine, law, education, nursing and other professions in the U.S. there is no prominent locus of activity for narrative inquiry and social work practice in the US. And other than the occasional appearance of electives in narrative therapy, teaching about narrative inquiry and change strategies is absent or marginalized in the social work curricula in the U.S. In contrast there are multidisciplinary centers for narrative inquiry and practice in other countries4 that are doing influential and vitally important work. This project will create a U.S. based node for that growing network. Catherine Kohler Riessman, a leading figure in narrative methods of inquiry, and her colleague Lee Quinney, a social worker from Wales, have ably analyzed the possible reasons for the paucity of quality [narrative] research in social work in the U.S. compared to European countries.5 They speculate that some of the reasons have to do with the barriers to engaging in (and being rewarded for) cross-disciplinary work in universities in the U.S.; a social work education accreditation system that discourages curricular innovation, and makes it more difficult to hire faculty who are from fields other than social work, e.g., from the humanities; the predominance of quantitative, statistically driven research in the curriculum, and the bias of social work journals in favor of such research. Narrative inquiry is particularly promising for illuminating the social and political construction of personal experience and organizational and professional practice in such areas as trauma, immigration, illness, aging, and disability. Such studies, because they foreground the complex cultural and relational aspects of human experience also have great potential for curriculum and teaching in social work. This proposed project will create a hub of social work-relevant narrative inquiry and practice at NYU that will generate practice-informed research and provide support for the advancement and dissemination of that research. Building on narrative work in nursing, education, law, and other practice fields this project draws on scholarly work on narrative from the professions, social sciences and the humanities in particular. Rather than focusing on traits, behaviors, and psychological measures our planned narrative approach will attend to professional and organizational practices in the helping professions, and to the social context and formation of social policies and programs. Drawing from the humanities, and attending to materials such as
Study of Health, Illness and Medicine. 9 (4), 427-429. 4 A partial list of current centers and activities is included in the end notes. 5Riessman, C. K. and Quinney, L. (2005). Narrative in social work: A critical review. Qualitative Social Work 4 (4), 391-412. http://www2.bc.edu/~riessman/pdf/narrative-in-social-work.pdf

clinical interviews, personal writings, autobiographies, and even fiction and drama the interactions among the layers of social understandings and processes are illuminated, and new space for discipline-challenging dialogues and theorizing about social work practice is created. Integration of Narrative Approaches: Although the advancement of narrative inquiry will at the core of the Centers work, we incorporate narrative practice/therapy, narrative socio-cultural and policy analysis, and narrative approaches to teaching and learning as well. Our goal is to create a new space for conceptual and theory development where these approaches will intersect and inform each other. As a place for cross fertilization of ideas from what are currently somewhat separate strains of narrative work the Center will be the first of its kind. The inclusion of narrative therapy and professional practices, e.g., narrative medicine, will anchor the work in the ways that narrative approaches are being applied in the helping professions and in teaching and learning. Narrative socio-cultural and policy analysis and the social constructionist work being done in literature, sociology, sociology and other fields will provide a lens of social criticism and the macro concerns of justice and power relations. Informed by theory and practice, new approaches to narrative inquiry will be developed. History of the Project: Several years ago, Suzanne England and her colleagues began to explore how small p political rhetoric--op-ed pieces, mission statements and arguments by advocacy organizations, and stories in the news mediawere attempting to shape debates about then-emergent family and medical leave (FML) policies. At the time they were studying paid family caregiving for frail elders, and as a part of that study they were interested in employee elder care and how the FML debates addressed the issue. This research6 on FML yielded unexpected results, enabling a more holistic and critical examination of the evolution and implications of FML policies. These first attempts revealed the power of rhetorical and textual analysis for better understanding how policy arguments are framed and debated.7 Soon after the FML research, England and her colleagues began a narrative study group with the purpose of developing alternative conceptualizations of family caregiving and Alzheimers Disease (AD), hoping to shed light on the fact that so few family caregivers availed themselves of supportive services in spite of the strains they were experiencing. With grant support from the Alzheimers Association they were interested in finding conceptualizations that would take into account the nuanced and complex relationships of carer and cared-for. At the time, the predominant concepts in studies of Alzheimers care and the use of formal services focused on the behavior and capabilities of the persons with AD and the burden and stress of carers. The

64 England S.E. and Naulleau B.T. (1991). Women, work, and elder care: The Family
and Medical Leave debate. Women & Politics. 11 2: 91-107. 7 England S.E. (1990). Family leave policies and gender justice. Affilia: Journal of Women in Social Work, 5 2: 8-24

policy research relevant to AD and caregiving was mainly descriptive and divided roughly along the lines of pro- versus anti-provision of service and support. On the pro side the research documented the extent, cost, and societal burden of caregiving, especially to women and to employers. The anti-side used cost-benefit calculating economic man (actually more likely a woman) assumptions. And although research did not support its claims, the anti-side argued that if supports were provided caregivers would withdraw care in favor of government provided care (the substitution effect), and the demand for support would grow exponentially (the woodwork effect). The combined experience and intuition of the study group suggested one possible avenue for research might be moral reasoning. What part does it play in decisions about caregiving and use of services? And if it does, does that not offer an alternative to economic woman? From there we embarked on a fruitful study of literature, autobiography, film and other narrative sources, finding along the way not only moral reasoning at play but also indications that caregiving and receiving are mutualthe supposedly dependent person often has ways of taking care of the carerand along with that, the supposedly dependent person has self-agency. Central Themes: The work of the center will initially focus on two substantive areas: Aging, illness, and disability and related policies and practices Palliative and End-of-Life Care. In addition, the Center will focus on two process areas: Narrative approaches to teaching and learning in social work Research on narrative practice methods Specific aims of the Startup of CNIP: In addition to the building on an online community of practice and the publication and dissemination of papers and presentations, the startup phase of the project will: Provide support for visiting scholars to NYU from across the globe who are leaders in narrative inquiry and/or practice. Develop a web-enabled global network of scholars and practitioners interested in and/or working with narrative inquiry, narrative practices, and/or research on narrative therapy. This will include a web site for the project, including blogs, wikis, and e-publications and publishing via the Academic Commons. Build a library of resources such as articles, videos, syllabi, and other materials relevant to narrative inquiry and practice. Develop two courses on narrative inquiry at NYU co-taught by the PIs and cross listed in Social Work and the Department of English. One course will be for undergraduates and one for graduate students. Materials for the courses will be developed in digital form and made available for others

developing similar courses. Develop proposals for two practice and policy relevant narrative inquiry research projects8 to be submitted for funding. Hold an international conference on narrative inquiry and narrative practice that will allow for both face-to-face and virtual participation. Proceedings will be published via Academic Commons. Sampling of Narrative Centers: Evanston Family Therapy Center (US) http://www.narrativetherapychicago.com/index.htm Dulwich Centre (AU) http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/ Association for Family Therapy (UK) http://www.aft.org.uk/ Vancouver School for Narrative Therapy (CA) http://therapeuticconversations.com/ Institute of Narrative Therapy (UK) http://www.theinstituteofnarrativetherapy.com/Training%20subpage %20Crete.html Narrative Therapy Centre (CA) http://www.narrativetherapycentre.com/index_files/Page1201.htm Center for Narrative Inquiry (UK) http://www.uel.ac.uk/cnr/ Centre for Transformative Narrative Therapy (IR) http://adulteducation.nuim.ie/NarrativeInquiryWebPage.shtml The Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative (CA) http://www.narrativeinquiry.ca/links.html (This link has a number of centers listed). Sampling of related publications by Suzanne England: England S.E., Ganzer, C., and Tosone, C. (2008). Storying sadness: Figurative and prosaic representations of depression in the writings of Sylvia Plath, Louise Gluck, and Tracy Thompson. in Depression and Narrative: Telling the Dark edited by Hilary Clark, Albany: SUNY Press. England S.E., Ganzer C, Perez-Foster, R, and Tosone, C. (2006).The speech of the suffering soul: Four readings of William Styrons Darkness Visible. Psychoanalytic Social Work. 13 1: 1-19.

England S.E. and Ganzer C. (1994). The micropolitics of elder care in Memento Mori, Diary of a Good Neighbor, and A Taste for Death. International Journal of Health Services. 24 2: 355-369. Ganzer, C and England, S.E. (1994). Alzheimer's care and use of services: Generating Practice concepts from empirical findings and narratives. Health and Social Work. 19 3: 174-181. England S.E. and the UIC Collective for the Study of Narratives on Family Care. 1993. Moral reasoning and Alzheimer's Care: Exploring complex weavings through literature. Journal of Aging Studies. 7 4: 409-421. England S.E. (1993). Modeling theory from fiction and autobiography. In Catherine Kohler Riessman, Ed., pp. 190-213. Qualitative Studies in Social Work. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. England S.E. and Ganzer C. (1992). The many faces of loss: Autobiography and the Alzheimer's experience. Illness, Crises, and Loss: Multidisciplinary Linkages, 2 2: 13-21. England S.E. and Naulleau B.T. (1991). Women, work, and elder care: The Family and Medical Leave debate. Women & Politics. 11 2: 91-107. England S.E. (1990). Family leave policies and gender justice. Affilia: Journal of Women in Social Work, 5 2: 8-24 England S.E., Keigher S.M., Miller B, and Linsk N.L. (1987). Community care policies and gender justice. International Journal of Health Services. 17 22:217-232. References Riessman, C. K. and Mattingly, C. (2005). Introduction: Toward a contextbased ethics for social research in health. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine. 9 (4), 427-429. (Incomplete)