Culture, Cognition, Narrative

Although it is well known that narrative impacts our modes of assessing and interpreting the world as well as the creation of cultural identities and cultural communities, there is little research on the way in which cognition, culture, and narratives intersect. Cultural narratology usually focuses on the relation between culture and narrative, while cognitive narratology explores the relation between cognition and narrative. However, the three concepts reciprocally influence each other: narratives shape cognition just as cognitive frames and processes shape narratives. Similarly, the culture we belong to informs our cognitive processes and the way we perceive, interpret and react to our environment. Culture and narrative also impact each other in myriad ways. Narratives are therefore at the centre of this volume, and each chapter deals with narrative (either as a cognitive or performative tool), relating it to either cognition, or culture, or to both. The volume also explores social practices of real-world storytelling (for instance in discourses on migration), and the cognitive dimension of cultures that narratives provide access to. The latter includes shared (self-)concepts, schemata, and cultural models. This interdisciplinary volume builds conceptual bridges between cultural studies, cognitive theory, and narrative theory.

Vera Nünning, Heidelberg University, Germany; Ansgar Nünning, University of Giessen, Germany.