Narratives in East Asia and Beyond

This volume contributes to the discussion of narratives as a research method by bringing together studies that illuminate the connection between narratives and social and political practices. The scholars from diverse fields and backgrounds offer their perspectives on the theoretical and empirical approaches to using narratives as research method.

In this book, the contributors from diverse fields jointly argue for the interdisciplinary appeal of using narratives as a research method. Contributors from the fields of philosophy of narrative, ethnographic research, linguistics, political sciences, international relations, and area studies reflect on how to approach, understand, and utilize narratives to comprehend social structures and interactions. The volume attempts to reflect on a range of questions, including: How can narrative studies broaden and deepen the scope of research in other fields? What connections exist between narratives and identities (individual and collective)? How does analyzing narratives help us better understand the dynamics of the policy change and the perceptions of self and other? The essays range from reflections on the role of narrativity in cognitive processes, interview settings, and in constructing historical memories to the analysis of narrator and audience perspectives on the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, evaluations of roles and legitimation strategies, as well as interpretations of documentary films. The authors show the flexibility and fruitfulness of incorporating narratology in research agendas in a wide range of disciplines and highlight the theoretical and empirical research benefits that narrative studies open up.

Part I. Interdisciplinary Reflections on Narrative Analysis

Chapter 1: Narration as a Platform for Interdisciplinarity: The Inter- and Cross-Disciplinarity of the Narrative Approach

Grigorii L. Tulchinskii

Chapter 2: On Semantic Tools of Constructing of Historical Memory (in Movses Khorenatsi’s History of Armenia)

Suren Zolyan

Chapter 3: Narratives in Interviews as Research Methods: A Linguistic Anthropological Perspective

Sabina M. Perrino

Part II. Narratives as a Research Method in China Studies

Chapter 4: Negotiating Sense of Belonging in Documentary Narrative: A Discourse Analysis of a Chinese Gourmet Program

Yunfeng Ge and Hong Wang

Chapter 5: Analyzing Legitimation Strategies: BRI in Covid-19 Crisis

Shubham Karmakar

Chapter 6: Narrating the BRI in Europe: Examining Agency and Positioning in the German Logistics Sector

Connor Malloy and Theo Westphal

Chapter 7: Rationalization, Polarization, and Moral Tales: Legitimation of China’s Leadership in the CCTV Documentary “Daguo Waijiao”

Elizaveta Priupolina, Tanja Eckstein, and Nele Noesselt