Cover not available

Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 35:1 (2025) ► pp.162–179

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Abstraction in storytelling

ORCiD logo with link | Newman University Birmingham
Published online: 19 January 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22045.pih
Abstract
Discussions of storytelling and narrative have encompassed abstraction in different ways including master narratives (Bamberg, M. (1997). Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 335–342. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and storylines (Harré, R., & van Lagenhove, L. (1998). Positioning Theory: Moral Contexts of Intentional Action. Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). These discussions, however, have often viewed storytelling and abstraction as a binary distinction, rather than a spectrum where speakers move between different levels of abstraction when recounting experiences. This article argues for a nuanced approach to abstraction in storytelling that considers how specific details of stories – namely, actors, actions, contexts, and time – are excluded or abstracted in the recounting of experience, with a link between increased abstraction and implied moral judgement. The article first outlines the theoretical basis for this argument, and then shows specific examples of abstraction taken from stories about religious experience. Finally, the productive implications of a nuanced view of abstraction are outlined, including for narrative and discourse analysis, for understanding of storytelling and cognition, and for critical analysis of racist language.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Abstraction defined
  • Abstraction in storytelling
  • Abstraction in constructed examples
  • Abstraction in practice
  • Conclusion
  • References
References (27)
References
Ahmed, S. (2015). The Voices of Young British Muslims: Identity, Belonging and Citizenship. In M. K. Smith, N. Stanton, & T. Wylie (Eds.), Youth Work and Faith: Debates, Delights and Dilemmas (pp. 37–51). Russell House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., & McEnery, T. (2013). Discourse analysis and media attitudes: The representation of Islam in the British press. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. University of Austin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bamberg, M. (1997). Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 335–342. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Stories: Big or small: Why do we care? Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 139–147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bamberg, M., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377–396. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruce, T. (2018). New technologies, continuing ideologies: Online reader comments as a support for media perspectives of minority religions. Discourse, Context & Media, 241, 53–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Fina, A., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2011). Analyzing narrative: Discourse and sociolinguistic perspectives. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). The handbook of narrative analysis. John Wiley & Sons. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J., & Baker, C. (2010). A frames approach to semantic analysis. In The Oxford handbook of linguistic analysis (pp. 313–339). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1971). The orders of discourse. Social Science Information, 10(2), 7–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harré, R. (2000). The social construction of terrorism. In F. M. Moghaddam & A. J. Marsella (Eds.), Understanding terrorism. APA Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harré, R., & van Lagenhove, L. (1998). Positioning Theory: Moral Contexts of Intentional Action. Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jefferson, G. (1978). Sequential Aspects of Storytelling in Conversation. In J. Schenkein (Ed.), Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction (pp. 219–248). Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). Language in the inner city. University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. University of Chicago Press Chicago. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langacker, R. W. (2008). Cognitive grammar: A basic introduction. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Littlemore, J. (2015). Metonymy. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lueg, K., Bager, A. S., & Lundholt, M. W. (2020). What counter-narratives are: Dimensions and levels of a theory of middle range. In Routledge Handbook of Counter-Narratives (pp. 1–14). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lueg, K., & Lundholt, M. W. (Eds.). (2020). Routledge Handbook of Counter-Narratives. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2011). Living Narrative. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sloutsky, V. M., & Deng, W. S. (2019). Categories, concepts, and conceptual development. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 34(10), 1284–1297. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thompson, N., & Pihlaja, S. (2018). Temporary liberties and uncertain futures: Young female Muslim perceptions of life in England. Journal of Youth Studies, 21(10), 1326–1343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yee, E. (2019). Abstraction and concepts: When, how, where, what and why? Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 34(10), 1257–1265. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Pihlaja, Stephen
2024. Narrative and Religion in the Superdiverse City, DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue