In the 25 years since narrative inquiry emerged as a social science research methodology, it has been rapidly taken up in the social sciences. In what is sometimes called a "narrative revolution," researchers with diverse understandings have co-opted the concept of narrative inquiry and used narrative inquiry or narrative research to name their methodology. In this paper, we lay out more clearly the ontological and epistemological commitments that underlay the methodological commitments of narrative inquiry. Within narrative inquiry, experience is viewed narratively and necessitates considerations of relational knowing and being, attention to the artistry of and within experience, and sensitivity to the overlapping stories that bring people together in research relationships. Working within the relational three-dimensional narrative inquiry space with dimensions of temporality, sociality, and place, we attend to the living, telling, retelling, and reliving of stories of experience.

No abstract

In Canada, diabetes is 3 to 5 times more common among Aboriginal people than in the general population. Women with a diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus have an increased risk of developing glucose intolerance later in life, with almost half developing type II diabetes within 15 years. A participatory action research study using a Two-Eyed Seeing approach was conducted. Conversational interviews with 9 Mi'kmaq women who experienced gestational diabetes mellitus and talking circles were held. Hermeneutic phenomenology was used for data analysis. Themes included life-altering experience; barriers limiting access to health care; social support during pregnancy; and feeling compelled to take action.

Medical anthropology has existed since the early 1960s, and the encounters of ethnography in health research are recent. We will trace key historical markers and highlight several ethnographic studies in health research in this article. In particular, we are interested how aspects of classic ethnographic work have been taken up, and how the use has changed over time, as ethnographies, such as focused ethnographies and other forms of ethnography, have developed in health research. Understandings of culture have shifted and led to redefinitions of culture, and some key elements of ethnographic research have been lost. Ethnographies conducted in health research often do not focus on culture from a broader perspective; instead, the focus is on single health-related issues. Health researchers appear to spend less time in the field, time spent in the field is regarded as less important, and the importance of the context of field notes is underestimated.