My academic work explores how people come to answer the question “what ought I to do?” in relation to the more-than-human world. According to Socrates, this question is at the heart of ethics. According to narrative counsellors, a person’s self-story is developed through the process of answering this question. This places ethics at the centre of identity.
My PhD dissertation drew on the literature of narrative counselling to engage dialogically with ecological memoirs, memoirs in which the writer wrote about his or her self in relation to place and in relation to the organisms who also dwelt in that place. I read over 100 book- and essay-length memoirs keeping my own self-story open to being changed through the process. The aim of my dissertation was to open up possibilities for being and acting in the world through thinking with stories.
My current research continues to involve narratives. I am writing up my research into how people talk about themselves and their relationships with the more-than-human world in book groups. I have also published on the use of stories in adventure therapy and in academic practice itself. In the future I plan to explore the use of story in knowledge exchange projects between the university and various groups within the broader community.
