Introduction: Continuities, Shifts, and Narrative Temporalities

IntroductionContinuities, Shifts, and Narrative Temporalities Sheila Bock and Elo-Hanna Seljamaa In their introduction to the inaugural issue of this journal in the spring of 2014, the founding editors Ulrich Marzolph and Regina Bendix introduced "narrative culture" as a concept that both defines the scope of the journal and envisions an interdisciplinary, international field of study. Telling, consuming, interpreting, recognizing, and witnessing narratives constitute a key element of human existence, and the vernacular narratives shared within social worlds take a wide variety of forms that both include and extend well beyond the spoken or written word: While a narrative is primarily constituted by content, it may be rendered in writing or may exist as a two-dimensional illustration or painting or a three-dimensional statue or monument; narratives may be performed and enacted and often form the backbone of customs and rituals. The cultural universe of narrative underlies novels and films; allusions to it may be found in fashion trends as well as in architecture. There is, furthermore, the notion of a "grand narrative" foundational for a civilization, for progress, for globalization, or for a postcolonial state. Such a narrative may serve as a conceptual framework End Page 1 reigning in the background rather than constituting a specific text that can be listened to or read, but constituting all the same a highly influential component for the rise of specific cultural phenomena. ("Introduction" 1–2) Situating narrative culture in this way, Marzolph and Bendix articulated their vision for a journal that provided an opportunity where scholars from around the world could examine the complex dynamics of narrative, in both form and action, without being limited by thematic or disciplinary boundaries. Since its founding, and with the guidance of Francisco Vaz da Silva who later joined the editorial team, this vision has been realized as the journal has offered a venue for authors to engage deeply with the rich dynamics of narrative culture in different parts of the world and at different times in history. As we step into the role of coeditors now in 2024, we (Sheila Bock and Elo-Hanna Seljamaa) are both humbled by the opportunity and committed to the journal's vision initially articulated ten years ago. While some journals are accountable to a scholarly organization or a discipline, and others take as their focus a theory, method, or region, Narrative Culture's first responsibility is to the concept of narrative culture, and we look forward to continuing the work of supporting, serving, and inspiring colleagues who think in terms of this concept or are looking for ways to do so. One of the main lessons for us from our time as incoming editors, under the gracious and exemplary guidance of the outgoing editors, is that defining "narrative culture" is an ongoing process, with every submission the journal receives adding something to this category and prompting questions about its core and its limits. There is a productive tension between the journal's broad, inclusive interest in narration as it takes place everywhere where there are humans and other-than-humans (Middelhoff and Peselmann) as well as its exclusive dedication to scholarship that goes beyond narration in literature, and, in our role editors, we take seriously the work of attending to this grey zone. Of special value and support in this process is Narrative Culture's affiliation with the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR): ideated in the late 1950s and established in 1962, the ISFNR with its worldwide membership attests to the power of vernacular narratives as an organizing principle for scholarly networking across disciplinary, linguistic, and other boundaries. For the first issue in our tenure as coeditors of Narrative Culture, we present a topical issue on the theme of "Continuities, Shifts, and Narrative Temporalities." In identifying the set of papers curated here as a topical issue, our aim is to offer this collection as a thematic exploration engaging with a diverse range of narrative End Page 2 forms and disciplinary perspectives. The theme of narrative temporalities has also been heavily informed by recent world events ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, to geopolitical conflicts, and to the ever-worsening climate crisis, that have brought...