Stories, new materialism and pluralism: Understanding, practising and pushing the boundaries of narrative analysis

Abstract This article introduces narrative analysis as a way of engaging with storied data. Some key assumptions are first unpacked, highlighting the philosophical underpinnings of narrative research. The approach to narrative described in this article derives from narrative constructionism. This assumes that stories do more than simply reflect or recount experience: they act in people's lives in ways that matter deeply. The paper then distinguishes between two broad standpoints for approaching analysis, those of ‘story analyst’ and ‘storyteller’, before going on to describe how to conduct a particular form of constructionist narrative analysis –dialogical narrative analysis. The paper goes on by introducing an emerging trend of thought that attempts to reach beyond the shortcomings of narrative constructionism. That is new materialism. Shifting the analytical focus from stories and narratives to assemblages, new materialism is interested in how narrative and materiality affect each other within networks of human and non-human actors. After discussing what this might mean for researchers, pluralism is presented as an opportunity to combine different analytical worlds in a single study. Finally, an uncommon articulation of pluralism termed diffractive reading is highlighted and exemplified though a study combining narrative dialogism and new materialism. The paper closes with thoughts on the future of narrative in companionship with alternative approaches.