POSTCARDS TO THE BELOVED: AN INQUIRY INTO OUR SHARED WORLDLINESS THROUGH THE PRACTICE OF A STORY MENTOR by PATRICIA ANNE FRASER B.A. (H), University of British Columbia, 1983 M.A., University of British Columbia, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Curriculum and Instruction) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) July, 2012 © Patricia Anne Fraser, 2012 Abstract Narrative understandings into the nature of our shared worldliness and its import can emerge through the practice of writing stories about our lived experiences. This dissertation argues, as have many others, that in order to engage critically in politcal acts and social acts in the world with others we have to restore and reinvigorate the eye of the imagination. We need to restore and to develop abilities to question and form narrative understandings. Developing our capacity to pay attention to how narrative understandings reveal our relationship to our shared worldliness allows for the possibility to think through other practices that lie outside predominating conceptual frames and perspectives. It challenges our shared human condition of remoteness, our worldly alienation, as theorized by Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition. This narrative inquiry focuses on the practice of being a story mentor and the writing of stories. These stories are drawn from my own experience as an artist, documentary filmmaker, and writer with a practice of story mentoring in community engaged settings spanning over twenty years. The inquiry is initiated by questions that emerge in a specific digital storytelling research project with a community of seniors. Plagued by a sense of unease and dissatisfaction with the narrative voice of these stories I begin to see them as stories preoccupied with the domestic and the known. I make the decision to form an inquiry based on writing as a path into seeking the unfamiliar and unknown, the undomesticated. The inquiry centers itself around Arendt’s theme of worldly alienation and stories of uncertainty and death. I give up and replace the predetermined narrative voice with an evolving narrative. Each gesture, in Maxine Greene’s words, creates new structures of knowledge as the learner attempts to orient herself in the unfamiliar. ii The inquiry proposes that the revelatory presence of the world can be made manifest through this kind of storied awareness, born from narrative understandings. I forward the proposition that by fostering and mentoring stories that seek out the condition of worldly alienation and remoteness we can foster deeper levels of awareness of our shared worldliness. iii Preface A version of chapter three has been published. Fraser, P. (2012) “ Oil Spills and Vampires” in Anthology of Heart of Wisdom; Life Writing as Empathetic Inquiry, Ed. Carl Leggo, Erika Hasebe-Ludt, Anita Sinner, & Cynthia Chambers in series Complicated Conversations. Peter Lang Publishers, forthcoming. iv Table of Contents Abstract ...............................................................................................................................ii Preface ................................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................v List of Figures....................................................................................................................vii Dedication...........................................................................................................................ix INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1 FIELDNOTE: APRIL 27, 2005 ~ “I MISS THE DARK.” ............................................................1 THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NARRATIVE................................................................................2 THESIS STRUCTURE ..........................................................................................................15 SECTION I: HOME ........................................................................................................24 CHAPTER ONE: HOUSE ARREST .......................................................................................24 At the Intersection – An Introduction ............................................................................24 The Story of House Arrest.............................................................................................26 CHAPTER TWO: WHOSE THERE? .......................................................................................41 An Introduction.............................................................................................................41 The Story of Whose There? ...........................................................................................44 CHAPTER THREE: VAMPIRES AND OIL SPILLS ....................................................................55 An Introduction.............................................................................................................55 The Story of Vampires and Oil Spills ............................................................................58 SECTION II: LEAVING HOME....................................................................................74 CHAPTER FOUR: ISLANDS ................................................................................................74 An Introduction.............................................................................................................74 The Story of Islands ......................................................................................................77 CHAPTER FIVE: THE RIVER ...............................................................................................86 Fieldnote: Living Inquiry into a Father’s Death............................................................86 An Introduction.............................................................................................................88 v The Story of The River ..................................................................................................90 CHAPTER SIX: POSTCARDS...............................................................................................96 Postcards – An Introduction .........................................................................................96 Postcard to the Beloved ................................................................................................98 Postcard #2 – Remembrance Day ...............................................................................103 Postcard # 3 – The Wake ............................................................................................107 The First Digital Postcard ..........................................................................................111 Returning to Silver Harbour and the Creation of the Digital Shrine............................113 Fieldnotes: A Dangerous Idea ....................................................................................116 SECTION III: UNDER HER GAZE.............................................................................121 CHAPTER SEVEN: GALILEO’S TELESCOPE .......................................................................121 An Introduction...........................................................................................................121 The Story of Galileo’s Telescope.................................................................................125 Fieldnotes: On the Curve of Time ...............................................................................134 Postscript ...................................................................................................................152 CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................154 THE CAVE ......................................................................................................................154 THE NARRATIVE UNDERSTANDING..................................................................................156 REFERENCES................................................................................................................161 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Memorial Handout………………………………………………………………. 97 vii Acknowledgements A narrative inquiry of a story mentor as she seeks to uncover the larger narrative of her shared worldliness could never be a singular undertaking. In the stories of this inquiry there are many characters I wish to acknowledge with gratitude. Although not all of them will be named there are some whose contribution to this work I am deeply indebted to including The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its generous support. Dr. Karen Meyer, my research supervisor, someone who is able to seek and see the invisible within the visible. Thank you for holding up the light so persistently and for so long. Dr. Julie Salverson, whose love of writing and scholarship was able to simultaneously challenge and support this project and offer much needed confidence to write in my own voice. I am indebted to her confidence in me. Dr. Carl Leggo, for his unfailing commitment to the language of poetry, of metaphor, and of story, and to his gentlemanly generosity. The Elders at