Narrative Mapping: A Topography of Listening as Healing

Across multiple and diverse populations, exigent inquiries, and in and out of the classroom, an ethic for listening as a way of being has been central to the methodological and pedagogical practices that undergird narrative mapping. Additionally, the author suggests that in situating the practice of listening as crucial to both communication and healing, we are equally bound to an ethic of creating space. As listeners for the other, we commit to holding space for those silences where participants meet themselves in stillness, a place where they might listen deeply to the self, first. Where narrative mapping creates space for respite in contemplation, participants speak of gaining greater clarity and keener insights about health, healing, and being. The process of listening promotes healing across diverse entities, underscoring the multifaceted nature of narrative mapping, which serves as a research practice, pedagogy, and intervention.