The British and Irish Association for Narrative Studies brings together scholars and practitioners of narrative in the UK and Ireland to facilitate intellectual exchange and mutual support across this diverse interest group. The Association organises periodic events, typically symposia, at which participating members can share their current research, report on projects or try out work in progress; these occasions also foster new collaborations, contacts and networks. The membership is a sub-group of a much larger international community with interests in narrative studies, and the Association shares interests with a number of other organisations within this global network (see Links); its particular brief, though, is to consolidate a (relatively) local network of members, both in the interest of opportunities to meet and participate in events on a more sustainable scale, and to make common cause in working with the challenges and possibilities of a more specific educational and cultural context.

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Governance

The Association is constituted to be as non-bureaucratic and non-hierarchical as possible. There is no governing body, and it is open to any member to propose an initiative or raise a concern about how the Association works. There are no subscription fees, and no financial responsibilities held by the Association. The default process by which Association’s activities are sustained is that the member or members responsible for previous events collaborate with members who have engaged to organise future events. This arrangement helps to encourage new initiatives while pooling experience and sustaining practices appropriate to the membership’s interests and opportunities.