This article examines the impact of conducting narrative research focusing on trauma and healing. It is told through three voices: the study participants who experienced the trauma, the researcher who shared her personal experiences conducting this research, and an academic colleague who acted as a reflective echo making sense of and normalizing the researcher's experience. Issues explored in the article include: harmonic resonance between the story of the participant and the life experiences of the researcher, emotional reflexivity, complex researcher roles and identities, acts of reciprocity that redress the balance of power in the research relationship, the need for compassion for the participants, and self-care for the researcher when researching trauma. The authors conclude that when researching trauma, the researcher is a member of a scholarly community and a human community, and that maintaining the stance as a member of the human community is an essential element of conducting trauma research.
Angrasino, M., & Mays de Perez, K. (2000). Rethinking observation: From method to context. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 673-702). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
2.
Behar, R. (1996). The vulnerable self: Anthropology that breaks your heart. Boston: Beacon.
3.
Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: John Wiley.
4.
Bochner, A. (1997). It's about time: Narrative and the divided self . Qualitative Inquiry, 3, 418-438.
5.
Brison, S. (1997). Outliving oneself: Trauma, memory, and personal identity. In D. T. Meyers (Ed.), Feminists rethink the self (pp. 12-39). Boulder, CO: Westview.
6.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments of nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
7.
Campesino, M. (2004, May). Voces de las madres: Traumatic bereavement after gang-related homicide. Paper presented at the Narratives Matters Conference, St. Thomas University , Fredericton, Canada.
8.
Chase, S.E. (2005). Narrative inquiry: Multiple lenses, approaches, voices. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitatiove research (3rd ed., pp. 651-679). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
9.
Connolly, K. (2002/2003). Do women's leadership approaches support the development of social capital?: Relationship building in a voluntary neighbourhood initiative. Leisure/Loisir , 27, 239-263.
10.
Connolly, K. (2004). Maternal activism on the neighbourhood level: The ethic of care as motivation to act. Journal of the Association of Research on Mothering, 6(2), 48-57.
11.
Cox, F. ( 1987). Communities: Alternative conceptions of community: Implications for community organization practice. In F. Cox, J. Erlich, J. Rothman, & J. Tropinan (Eds.), Strategies of community organization: Macro practice (pp. 232-243). Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock.
12.
Devault, M. (1990). Talking and listening from women's standpoint: Feminist strategies for interviewing and analysis. Social Problems, 37(1), 96-116.
13.
Downe, P. (2004, May). Narratives of transnational movement and sex trade. Paper presented at the Narratives Matters Conference, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, Canada.
14.
Figley, C. (1989). Helping traumatized families. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
15.
Figley, C. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary trauma stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
16.
Frazer, E., & Lacey, N. (1993). The politics of community: A feminist critique of the liberalcommunitarian debate. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
17.
Geertz, C. (1975). “From the native's point of view”: On the nature of anthropological understanding. American Scientist , 63, 47-53.
18.
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
19.
Gouldner, A. (1960). The norm of reciprocity. American Sociological Review, 25, 161-178.
20.
Guillemin, M., & Gillam, L. (2004). Ethics, reflexivity, and “ethically important moments” in research. Qualitative Inquiry , 10, 261-280.
21.
Hesse, A. (2002). Secondary trauma: How working with trauma survivors affects therapists. Clinical Social Work Journal, 30, 293-309.
22.
Kelly, K., & Totten, M. (2003, May). Vicarious trauma suffered by researchers studying youth who kill. Paper presented at the Qualitative Analysis Conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
23.
Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
24.
Maynard, M., & Purvis, J. (1994). Doing feminist research. In M. Maynard & J. Purvis (Eds.), Researching women's lives from a feminist perspective (pp. 1-9). Bristol, PA: Taylor & Francis.
25.
McKnight, J., & Kretzmann, J. (1997). Mapping community capacity. In M. Minkler (Ed.), Community organizing and community building for health (pp. 157-172). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
26.
Oakley, A. (1981). Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms. In H. Roberts (Ed.), Doing feminist research (pp. 30-61). Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
27.
Reilly, R., & D'Amico, M. (1998, August). Personal agency in the career choice of women abuse survivors. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, San Francisco.
28.
Reilly, R.C., & D'Amico, M. (1999, Spring). Article in review: The role of mentoring in the career choice of women survivors of violence. CGCA FeministNetwork Newsletter, (2), 3.
29.
Reilly, R.C., & D'Amico, M. (2002). The impact of sexual and physical violence on womens' learning processes: Implications for child and youth care workers in educational settings. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 17, 166-186.
30.
Richardson, L. (2000). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 923-948). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
31.
Schwandt, T. (2001). Dictionary of qualitative inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
32.
Shehan, C., & Kammeyer, K. (1997). Marriage & families: Reflections of a gendered society. Boston: Allyn & Bacon .
33.
Tedlock, B. (1991). From participant observation to the observation of participation: The emergence of narrative ethnography. Journal of Anthropological Research, 41, 69-94.
34.
Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales of the field: On writing ethnography. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press .
35.
Vygotsky, L. (1987). Thought and language (A. Kozulin, Ed.)Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
36.
Young, I.M. (1995). The ideal of community and the politics of difference . In P. Weiss & M. Friedman (Eds.), Feminism and community (pp. 232-257). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
