Mike Baynham ~ University of Leeds 
Alexandra Georgakopoulou ~ Kings College, London
“Big” stories and “small” stories: reflections on methodological/theoretical issues in narrative research
For us methodological issues are very closely interrelated with theoretical issues: a given theoretical stance opens up particular methodological possibilities and choices, while foreclosing others. We are specifically interested in the theory of how narrative constructs identity, agency and social space/positioning in both transitory and enduring ways and in a variety of contexts. Our starting point is that narrative and identity theory needs to move beyond constraining models of conventional generically based narrative analysis towards more distributed, dynamic and nuanced accounts. We will build our presentation around the notion of small and big stories: small stories typically though not exclusively occurring in ordinary conversational exchanges (Georgakopoulou 2006a, 2006b, fthc; Georgakopoulou & Bamberg, 2005) and big stories (lifestories, autobiographical accounts) again typically but not exclusively elicited in interview contexts (Baynham 2004,2005 and forthcoming). Neither of these fit the canonical Labovian, short range narrative of past personal experience of landmark events which, in retrospect, now seems strangely decontextualized. At the same time small narratives tend to be researched within the terms set by post-Labovian narrative analysis, at best remaining on the fringes of inquiry into narrative and identity, while at worst being treated as not narrative at all. 
What happens when narrative analysis decisively shifts focus away from highly bounded and canonical narrative genres and begins to see narrative as multiple genres embedded in a wide range of social practices and distributed through discourse? Ethnographic interview data where big stories are typically elicited for a range of purposes such as the study of self-identity and spatialization practices have come to be viewed as a methodology of choice across a wide spectrum of the social sciences. Small stories on the other hand tend to be identified in everyday talk partly on the basis of being defined (& looked out for) as "a format of telling"/talk-in-interaction (i.e. raising interesting issues of misalignment, co-construction, and identity-at-work). 
Given the relative lack of cross-fertilization between  narrative and identity analysis of big and small stories, we will ask how a linguistic ethnography perspective can facilitate dialogue and theory construction, perhaps indeed cutting across and problematizing the distinction between big and small stories? How can small stories, understood as momentary and fleeting shifts into narrativity, be seen as a characteristic feature of the ethnographic interview, exhibiting and occasioning conversational features of alignment and identity work, while casual conversation itself can be the occasion for “the big story”.  Our practical issues for discussion are: a) how do you identify and analyze such fleeting and transitory  small stories in both interviews and conversation b) what analytical categories work with big stories told over time that seem to blend and shift into other kinds of talk?
References
Baynham,M. (2004) "Narrative in Time and Space: beyond 'backdrop' accounts of narrative orientation". Narrative Enquiry, 13/2, 347-366.
Baynham, M. (2005) “Network and Agency in the Migration Stories of Moroccan Women”.  In Baynham, M.& De Fina, A .(eds.) Dislocations/Relocations: Narratives of Displacement, Manchester: St Jerome.
Baynham, M. (2006 forthcoming) “Performing self, family and community in Moroccan narratives of migration and settlement.” To be published in De Fina,A., D. Schiffrin &M. Bamberg (eds.) Discourse and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Georgakopoulou, A. (2006a, forthcoming) “Small and large identities in narrative (inter)-action”. To be published in De Fina,A., D. Schiffrin &M. Bamberg (eds.) Discourse and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Georgakopoulou, A. (2006b, forthcoming) “The other side of the story: Towards a narrative analysis of narratives-in-interaction” Discourse and Society 8(2). 
Georgakopoulou, A. & Bamberg, M. (2005) “Small is beautiful: small stories as a new perspective in narrative analysis”. Paper presented to the 9th International Pragmatics Association Conference, Riva del Garda, 10-15 July 2005.