Avoiding the pitfalls of ‘conventional’ narrative research: using poststructural theory to guide the creation of narratives of children with HIV

The purposes of this article are to acknowledge challenges to traditional narrative inquiry raised by poststructural theory, and to demonstrate how poststructural thought can guide narrative research. After placing narrative inquiry within the broad historical context of educational research, and offering a poststructural critique of ‘traditional’ narratives, the author uses this critique to guide the development of narratives of children with HIV. Excerpts of a narrative of a nine-year-old HIV-positive boy, and excerpts from the author’s own construction of the research and ‘stance’, are provided.