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This pioneering approach, developed by Michael White and
David Epston contends that the meaning persons make of their lives is selective
and formed into storylines. These storylines "link the events of their
lives in sequences that unfold through time according to a theme or plot"
(White, 2007). We are compelled, based on a given struggle to highlight
particular events from the past, those that align with our present mood. We are
drawn to an imagined future, but it is not just any future, rather one that
offers a sense of completeness to the story under development and can imbue the
imaginiation with dread and the implicit sense of life as fated. One can
be left with a feeling of no longer living life, but merely living out an
already plotted life (Morson, 1994). Certain storylines are privileged over others. Epston and White drew from such disciplines as post-structuralism, feminist theory, anthropology and sociology. Their studies led them to an examination of power/oppression and an understanding that certain ways of living - those that are reflective of dominant cultural values - are afforded "truth status". Consequently, "normalilzing judgment" (Foucault, 1976) may bear down on those who do not fit within its (the dominant culture's) bounds. Persons and communities who, in one way or another, stand apart can be seen as 'different,' and are at risk for evaluation and degradation (Garfinkel, 1956) To study narrative therapy is to enter into an unfamiliar space, one that critiques such taken for granted notions as normalcy and expert knowledge. It situates human experience in broader social/political contexts, taking into account internalized privilege/oppression along lines of race, class, sexual identity, gender, etc. Along the way it actively makes room for "insider knowledges" (White, 2004; Epston 2009). |
