Different cultures have very different practices in the way they share personal experiences.
Storysharing® is grounded in a Western, Anglo-European style, with a lot of emphasis on animated, quite lengthy stories about the self (oneself or others). Other cultures may not share as much personal information outside the family, may value brevity, and more of a focus on the moral message of an experience for the whole community.
We are learning more and more about these styles, but as yet there is very little research from the UK to inform us. We often use a succinct, quiet “low arousal” approach (thought to be characteristic of Eastern cultures) in particular contexts and with individuals who seem to prefer this style of narration.
We will be developing this strand of our work as a priority.
Carmiol A. & Sparks, A. (2014) Narrative development across cultural contexts: finding the pragmatic in parent child reminisence. In D. Matthews Ed. Pragmatic development in first language acquisition. Pp. 279-293. John Benjamin.
McCabe, A. & Bliss, L. (2003) Patterns of narrative discourse: a multicultural lifespan approach. Boston: Pearson Education
