Chronotopic diffraction: an analytical device for narrative production methodology applied to ‘adjustment to disability’

ABSTRACT This article advances an analytical device in the field of Narrative Production Methodology (NPM) called ‘Chronotopic Diffraction’ (CD) by presenting partial results of an ongoing research project with people who have recently become disabled. Firstly, the paper illustrates how the bakhtinian notion of ‘chronotope’ has different meanings that enrich the epistemological and ethico political principles of NPM. Secondly, I describe the process of constructing a Narrative through the optics of CD, which takes the form of a diary. Thirdly, I demonstrate how CD allows us to grasp that: (a) Disability and adjustment to it emerge as a liminal chronotope if we let changes in subjectivities appear in the Narrative. (b) Mal/adjusting to a disability is a process that unfolds in the site of Narrative construction itself. (c) Situating power relations between researcher and the participant allows us to be responsible for the phenomena that emerge in our inquiry.