The Narrative Turn : 
 Interdisciplinary Methods and Perspectives

The narrative turn in the social sciences has affected a variety of disciplines and inspired interest in narrative analysis from a range of methodological perspectives. This article provides an overview of the narrative turn, summarizing historic narrative trends in the social sciences which led to the current interest in narrative analysis across a variety of disciplines. I discuss general concerns of narrative definition, data collection and the researcher's voice in presentation before outlining various frameworks for categorizing approaches to narrative analysis. Examples of a variety of narrative analysis perspectives and methods are provided to support this discussion. While the subjective emphasis of narrative analysis has particular relevance for anthropologists, the strength of the field lies in its ability to bring together perspectives and insights from a wide range of fields. Keywords: narrative analysis, qualitative methods, interdisciplinary, review The narrative turn in the social sciences represents an epistemological shift from a scientific perspective which values abstract experimentation and generality toward a narrative paradigm which gives primacy to human experience and subjectivity (De Fina and Georgakopoulou 2011). This turn has affected numerous disciplines from psychology to medical anthropology as researchers are beginning to focus more on analyzing narratives and the function of narratives in social contexts. As a result, methods of narrative analysis have developed based on the theoretical perspectives and research interests of those who use them. These methods continue to include quantitative and experimental approaches as well as qualitative ones and range from technical linguistic analysis of documents to ethnographic investigations of the social functions of storytelling. Given the proliferation of approaches, the lack of cohesion among perspectives can leave a somewhat justified impression of narrative analysis as a disparate collection of methodological approaches. However, this same diversity demonstrates the far reaching potential of narrative analysis and provides a fertile ground for innovation to those willing to consider a range of perspectives.
 ! Narrative Research in Historical Perspective
 The use of narratives in social science research has a long history, such that the