Comments on Coulter and Smith: Narrative Researchers as Witnesses of Injustice and Agents of Social Change?

Abstract

In commenting on Coulter and Smith (2009), the author explores issues related to the place of the political in education research and in literature, but especially in forms of narrative research that possess both scientific and literary dimensions. More specifically, the author examines four sets of issues related to the researching and writing of forms of narrative composition that exhibit an overtly progressivist orientation. These issues involve (a) the fundamental purposes for which the research is undertaken, (b) the role of opposing tropisms operating through textual design elements that tend to promote or discourage multiple perspectives, (c) ethical issues related to assumed privileges of authorship by the researcher, and (d) the political prerogatives and responsibilities of readers of literary forms of narrative research in education.