Narrative Inquiry: Toward Understanding Life’s Artistry

Abstract

As we entered into Eisner and Powell’s exploration of the artistic and aesthetic qualities of the work of researchers, we were drawn toward deeper questions of our own lives as narrative inquirers. In particular, we thought about a metaphorical three-dimensional narrative inquiry space as a way to explore the aesthetic and artistic dimensions of experience. By returning to field texts of our recent work alongside Darlene, a mother we met on the landscape of an inner-city school context, we show how she was engaged in an artistic and aesthetic composition of her life experience. Our account also reveals how, as narrative inquirers engaged with Darlene, we, too, were composing artistic and aesthetic stories to live by.