Studying the Embodied Nature of Children’s Narration

Abstract

Abstract

This chapter contributes to the methodological discussion in narrative research by bringing to the fore the embodied nature of children’s narration. The holistic and dynamic nature of children’s narration challenges the methodology when doing research with or about children in both childhood studies and narrative research in general. The chapter draws on various studies and projects in which we have investigated children’s narrating in informal and formal educational contexts for a period of 15 years. At the centre of the chapter is a verbally produced story spontaneously told by a seven-year-old boy. The story is written down by his mother at home and is mirrored through glimpses of children’s play situations in early childhood education settings and at home. These play situations are videotaped or written down by researchers during their ethnographic studies. Both verbally produced story and play situations are studied from the perspective of embodiment. Our study is inspired by Jerome Bruner and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who both seek to understand human life from a holistic perspective. The study challenges researchers to go beyond the contents of children’s narratives towards the process of their narration and shows how tightly verbal and nonverbal are intertwined in children’s narration.