Narrative and the discursive (re)construction of events

Abstract

The exchange of narratives or stories infuses social life at every level of interaction, from mundane conversation to mass media communication. In this paper, we explore what Campbell (1998) has termed the most important narrative or social document of its time-the BBC Panorama interview between Martin Bashir and the late Princess Diana. We adopt a discursive approach to the study of narrative, in which we treat it as constructive and performative, rather than as a neutral reflection of social life. In particular, we interrogate the use of narratives in the accomplishment of ‘facticity’, in the interactional distribution of blame and accountability, as a strategy of persuasion and, more generally, in the construction and positioning of self and others. By treating narrative as a discursive phenomenon and a routine accomplishment in everyday talk, we show how accounts are mobilised to perform rhetorical functions in the construction of social life.

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