Climbing Tales and Gendered Stories of Strength.
Possibilities and Limitations of a Narrative Approach
Rachel Dilley
In this paper, I will consider some of the possibilities that taking a narrative approach to
qualitative research on the body can create, as well as reflecting on some of its
limitations in the context of in-depth interviews with 19 women climbers. The sociology of
the body is largely characterized by an abundance of theorizing and textual analysis.
Whilst the inclusion of the body as a significant area of social theorizing is an important
development, on it’s own it is a limited approach to studying the body. I will argue that a
narrative approach can be particularly useful for empirical researchers exploring the
lived experience of embodiment, as it makes it possible to consider both personal
experience and the socially constructed gendered body. Using examples from my own
research I will show how women’s individual stories are framed by broader gender
narratives, and consider the importance of remaining sensitive to both. The structuring
and retelling of experience can thus be analysed alongside personal meanings and
motives.
Yet using a narrative approach also has it’s limitations. I found that eliciting stories from
the interviewees was not always the most suitable way of talking about bodies. As a
social construct, stories are susceptible to cultural conventions of language and
dominant forms of expression. Articulating how we experience ourselves physicality is
not something that comes easily and is sometimes left out of the stories we tell.
Therefore, I needed to entwine direct ‘how’, ‘why’ and ‘what’ questions with the narrative
approach, in order to more fully explore the women’s experiences of physicality in
climbing subculture, in the time I had available. By discussing some of these difficulties,
and the process of doing ‘messy’ fieldwork, I hope to highlight the practical utility of using
a narrative approach in creative and dynamic ways.