Personal experience narratives among professional sailors : generic keys to the study of an occupation

Scott, John Roper (1985) Personal experience narratives among professional sailors : generic keys to the study of an occupation. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which personal experience narratives function within a specific occupational group, the individuals who work on modern, ocean-racing sailboats. The examination employs the methods and materials of folklore to arrive at conclusions about those functions. The basic thesis is that members of a folk group use their narrative traditions in communication among themselves and in performance situations, and that an understanding of these uses contributes to the interpretation of the evidence given in the narratives about the occupation. -- The methods of research have included the study of modern folkloric analysis of personal experience narratives, personal involvement in the group and the collection and examination of tape recordings, written notes and recollections about the occupation. These include recordings of narrative events in context as well as directed interviews. -- The study begins with descriptions of the group and its normal activities and of the author's participation within that group. It then describes the genre and the forms in which it manifests itself among the group members. Next, it describes the ways in which the members of the group use the narrative tradition when communicating among themselves, and finally, it demonstrates the ways in which the performance of the narratives is used to portray images of individuals to other individuals and images of the group to other groups. -- The work concludes that there are many means by which an ethnographer can evaluate the evidence given by specific individuals about an occupation through scrutinizing their narrative traditions. Form, content and total repertoire are keys to the storyteller's place within the occupation, as is his treatment by other performers and performance teams of the occupation.

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