3DF: Quest Narrative

I’m currently taking notes from Carolyn Ellis’ guide to autoethnography. I’ve read it a few times before. I have never sought a neutral reading, since I don’t believe such a thing is possible, nor do I believe such a reading is in keeping with the spirit of autoethnography. However, my previous readings have been less partial, and personal more steeped in self-deception. I read from it what I wanted, rather than reading it for a purpose — the former being an approach the involves very little in the way of genuine learning.

Ellis asserts a narrative form that is typical of the traditional novel (exposition, development, climax, resolution). I never planned to write according to this form. When I started with the Tasneem Project Scrapbook (3DF’s previous incarnation), it seemed to make more sense to adopt a narrative style that was closer to ‘quest’, although quests may include traditional mini-stories of the form outlined above. The idea of quest somehow felt important, but for some reason, there was one question I never posed in respect of the use of this narrative form — a quest for what?

In an attempt to answer this question, I want to take some examples of quest narratives, and consider where they end up:

 Briefly, these narratives centre around the e.g. following end-points

• Muhammad – to deliver the Qur’an and manifest the (re)birth of Islam
• Neverending Story – individuation
• Gawain – to keep his promise to the Green Knight
• Star Trek Voyager & Wizard of Oz - to get home
• Jane Eyre – to discover a life of personal fulfillment

And 3DF? My destination is little more pedestrian, but includes a personal element, too. My quest aims to investigate what Muslims mean when they use terms such as ”religion” and “spiritual” in 3-D virtual realities. The autoethnographic angle is that, in making sense of what other Muslims mean by these terms, I will have to decide what they mean to me, and assuming that I don’t know, develop a more coherent understanding of them.