In search of thick narratives: issues around narrative realities, subjectivity and social agency

Abstract

Having as background the fieldwork
experience in the neighborhood of Peixinhos in
Olinda, the present article discusses the importance
of considering in anthropological analyses narratives
of daily-life events, identity and the past, as well as
the realities created by them. The article discusses
psychologist Jerome Bruner’s approach on “narrative
realities” and his dialogue with anthropology, in par-
ticular with the geertzian concept of culture and with
the current discussion around the importance of in-
cluding in anthropological writings reflections about
subjectivity processes. The aim here is to reflect criti-
cally upon the range and limitations of Geertz’s cul-
ture theory and, as an alternative, to point out some
of Homi Bhabha’s ideas on social agency, subjectivity
and cultural belonging, from a perspective that takes
into account the social and political dynamics that
influence and define groups as such.