Narrative representations require that we as researchers-turned-creative-writers engage in processes of meaning making as we story memories relayed to us in conversations with participants. Our efforts to story participants’ lives, however, often result in questions: Can there be a true narrative? And whose story is this, anyway? Using re-created storied dialogue, this article contributes to the larger debate within narrative research methodology around issues of “truth,” representation, and ownership of knowledge. Through the ontological perspectives communicated in an Afro-indigenous Anancy folktale, I offer an indigenous response to these questions. I argue that to decolonize our research paradigms, researchers in the academy must wear a different set of analytical spectacles for understanding the lived experiences of African peoples.
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