LSC HOME PAGE

CONTENTS

• Issue 19-2006 new
• Issue 18-2006
• Issue 17-2006
• Issue 16-2006
• Issue 15-2005
• Issue 14, 2004
• Issue 13, 2003
• Issue 12, 2003
• Issue 11, 2002
• Issue 10, 2002
• Issue 9, 2001
• Issue 8, 2001
• Issue 7, 2000
• Issue 6, 2000
• Issue 5, 1999
• Issue 4, 1999
• Issue 3, 1998
• Issue 2, 1997
• Issue 1, 1997

Review of Other peoples' stories: Entitlement claims and the critique of empathy. by Amy Shuman 2005 Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press

Reviewed by Julie Porteus

University of Tasmania

This text contemplates the difficult issues related to telling and sharing the stories of others. Taking recent research that has used narrative approaches, Shuman examines deeply and confidently the dilemmas that lie within adopting such a process to reach new understanding about lived experience. The complex process regarding what happens to stories as they travel lie at the heart of this work, challenging researches and readers to adopt an empathic response to the new realities laid bare by narrative approaches.

Shuman strives to highlight the significance of storytelling as a way to communicate and in particular how ‘the personal narrative interrupts and subverts the dominant narrative’ p.26. She suggests that such narratives require us to respond at a personal level and by doing so, holds us accountable and therefore changed through this sharing process – a critique of empathy.

While the stories Shuman shares in her text do not relate specifically to the field of research in education the disclosure of the personal through these narratives opens up new possibilities for those who seek to better understand the world of teaching and learning.