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Explorations of Depression

Poetry and Narrative in Autoethnographic Qualitative Research

University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA, hgallard{at}email.uncc.edu

Rich Furman

University of Washington, USA, rcfurman{at}u.washington.edu

Shanti Kulkarni

University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA, skulkar4{at}uncc.edu

This article explores the uses of poetry in qualitative research. In this study of the first author’s lived experience with non-clinical depression and the second author’s experience of living with someone experiencing depression, poetry and responsive narrative are used as data, as means of data representation, and processes of inquiry. The authors explore the nature of poetry as a tool for investigating human phenomena and its congruence with post-modern methods of research. Autoethnographic poems are used as data and analyzed via narrative written by the original author of the poem on two separate occasions. A third researcher added an additional layer of narrative analysis for increased depth. This self-reflection provides reflexive analysis of our individual understanding of depression via narrative.

Key Words: autoethnography • depression • poetry as research • postmodern research

Qualitative Social Work, Vol. 8, No. 3, 287-304 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1473325009337837


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