Narrative inquiry using interpreters in two cross-cultural studies

Two recent interview-based studies of migrants from Burma living in Thailand highlight some important issues of narrative methodology and analysis. While narrative inquiry foregrounds the 'personal stories' that reside within political structures that shape the parameters of participants' lives, narrative ethnography is challenged to find the true voice of oppressed people in exploited populations when interpreters are needed to bridge the language divide. In addition, although ethnography traditionally involves long-term immersion in cross-cultural humanitarian research, often researchers of exploited populations cannot remain at the research site for long owing to control of them by foreign governments. In this paper we explore ways of validating the narratives of oppressed participants through interpreter training and review of interpreter translations. Interviews with multiple stakeholders offered different perspectives, but also tended to show up familiar themes; and triangulation of data from multiple participants ensured greater data reliability. Through these interview-based cross-cultural studies, we learned to understand the complexity of narrative methodology and analysis in exploited populations; appreciate that a 'life story' is determined and shaped by socioeconomic and political forces; and identify ways of validating qualitative data when interpreters are used.