
Published 2014-03-01
Keywords
- EUROGEO 2013,
- narrative geography,
- geography education,
- Thirdspace
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2023 Romy HOFMANN

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Narratives are part of our daily practices; we attempt to understand our world based on
different “stories”. Referring to the concept of homo narrans (Fisher 1984), every human
being can tell stories and holds the ability of narrative rationality. In today’s world we cannot
know everything nor precisely quantify the world by mere numbers. Narratives thus play a
vital role in the production and transmission of plausible knowledge. As patterns of
explanation, narratives go far beyond told or written accounts. For geographical prospects,
conceiving spaces as narratives helps recognising one’s own bondage and making sense of
complex natural and social processes (Daniels & Lorimer 2012). Narrating spaces means
authenticating objective facts into subjectively experienced, multiply lived places (RhodeJüchtern 2012). Although narrative knowledge (vs. scientific knowledge) (Lyotard 1986
[1979]) does not need formal legitimation it does not lack reliability. The concept of narrative
geography is thus further delved into in order to appraise its application for geography
education.