Introduction

In this chapter I present my own investigator's story, my version of the stories gifted to me as part of a research study into lesbian experiences of social exclusion and mental well-being, and my interpretation of narrative analysis and the use of turning points in narrative. It is a story that, through the process of development, has been presented to different audiences in different formats, received and interpreted differently by each new audience and consequently reinterpreted. The aim here is two-fold: to demonstrate how turning points provide a useful focus of analysis in research that seeks to explore the interaction between public and private discourses and identity, and to raise questions about narrative theory more broadly and the use of turning points in particular.

This chapter is essentially a discussion of the process of narrative analysis set within a framework of one example of narrative research. The research focused on exploring the lives of lesbians with three main aims: to question whether or not social exclusion was a concept that had relevance to the lives of lesbians, to explore how social exclusion had an impact on the experience of lesbians, with particular emphasis on mental health and well-being, and finally, to consider what types of discrimination contributed to these exclusionary processes. In so doing the research was concerned with the intersections between notions of gender, sexuality and mental well-being.

Research methodology

Riessman suggests that narrative is varied because of the range of narrative investigators who ‘rely on diverse theories and epistemologies’ (2008, p 17). The ontological and epistemological drivers of this research were essentially two-fold: adopting a material discursive theoretical framework (Ussher, 1997) and approaching the research from a feminist epistemological standpoint.

A material discursive framework is one that seeks to combine what are sometimes seen as competing theoretical perspectives: social constructionism and realism. Both gender and sexuality have been discussed with regard to essentialist and social constructionist theories; however, adopting a purely constructivist or a purely essentialist approach may be problematic as both have resonance to a study of lesbian experiences. Similarly, in relation to mental health, both social constructionist and social causation theories have value.