A tale of two narratives: Ontological and epistemological narratives

In this article it is argued that two forms of narratives need to be incorporated into narrative research. The first is ontological narratives, which are akin to life histories. The second is epistemological narratives. These latter ones are the stories the researcher is conveying to the reader about a particular social world. When used together, the reader is presented with a rich and compelling telling of a particular place and time. To illustrate this, this article draws on the narrative of Alf, a self-employed craftworker, and the epistemological narrative written by the author.