Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

Whether alone with ourselves, or in close relationships with important people in our lives, dominant narratives shape our encounters by bringing certain aspects of our experience to the fore and marginalizing others. Narrative Therapy is a school of thought developed by Michael White, the Australian psychotherapist and social activist. Influenced by Social Constructionism and the writings of Michel Foucault (among others), White sought to understand the ways in which systems of power and control on the societal level shape our most intimate experiences. There is a price we pay for the hegemony of dominant narratives (as Foucault would say) as other aspects of our experience become marginalized and pushed out of awareness in this process. But by analyzing the dynamics by which certain narratives come to hold sway over us, and by considering what goes missing from our experience, Narrative Therapy seeks to undo this price by re-evaluating the stories we live by so that they can be more expansive and less limiting.

In this course we will look at the basic concepts and theoretical underpinnings of Narrative Therapy, and then begin to understand the essential techniques and areas of application of this important therapeutic school. This course does not train students to practice therapy. Our emphasis instead will be on developing ideas for ways in which the concepts and techniques introduced by Narrative Therapy can inform the practice of Narrative Medicine.

Questions we will address include:
● What can we learn from Narrative Therapy about the ways people structure stories about themselves, and how does this affect their relationship with their bodies, with illness and their conceptions of healing?
● What are the mechanisms by which dominant narratives from the social sphere are integrated into an individual’s self concept, and how does this then influence power relations in the clinical encounter?
● Theorists within Narrative Therapy strive to foster a non-hierarchical, non-expert stance in the clinical encounter. What are the possibilities and the challenges inherent in maintaining this?

Instructor: Michael E Davidovits
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3 points

Details

NMED PS5240

QUALITATIVE METHODS & RESEARCH

Instructor: Carlos Decena
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4 points

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NMED PS5300

NARRATIVE ETHICS (CERT)

Instructor: Lauren A Mitchell
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3 points

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NMED PS5305

Disability and Illness Narratives (CERT)

Disability Illness Narrat

This course examines questions such as: What does the telling and reading of narratives do for the ill or disabled individual? How can clinicians effectively elicit, interpret, and act upon such narratives? Who owns a story, and what is the role of co-authorship, power and witnessing in story-telling and story-listening? Whose voice do we hear? What are the roles of power and hierarchy in story-telling and listening? What is the impact of familial, cultural, social, institutional, political contexts on the individual story? And finally, how can personal stories be translated to political advocacy and action? Texts assigned weekly will be broadly interdisciplinary – drawing from memoir, poetry, essays, fiction, feature and documentary films, narrative theory, and disability studies, exploring the relationship between disability/illness experience and narrative. This elective course is open to all students in the Narrative Medicine CPA program. Students should be prepared to engage with each other and with the instructor and to offer their questions, comments, insights, and analysis.

This is an essential, practically applied element of narrative medicine study and it is exemplary as a way to illustrate the impact of narrative study in shaping experience, opening awareness, and highlighting the need for change and new stories. A narrative medicine course focused on disability and illness narratives is an important aspect of narrative medicine study. Exploring narratives presented in a variety of formats by using narrative medicine methods can encourage deeper perspective-taking and promote activism for underrepresented voices.

Disability and Illness Narratives: Storytelling For Awareness and Activism
is an elective course in the Narrative Medicine CPA program. In addition, this course is open to cross-registrants in other programs who demonstrate some understanding of narrative medicine and/or participate in the online asynchronous narrative medicine orientation course before the semester begins. Narrative Medicine CPA students are required to have completed, or be simultaneously enrolled in the course,
Narrative Medicine Methods: Close Reading and Writing
, course number K5120, and have completed the required program online asynchronous orientation course. CPA courses are all 10 weeks/modules long, and they are online and asynchronous, which means there are no meeting times. Each module represents one week of the course. All modules begin on a Tuesday and end on Monday of th