The Economist As Storyteller

In this chapter we argue that reconceptualizing economic practice as storytelling may further feminist efforts to transform economic knowledge and practice and help open the doors to potential economists currently underrepresented in the profession ¹ . Our argument builds upon the idea that all human knowledge is situated; any account of the world is inevitably shaped by the experiences and human lives of its producers. The concept that all knowledge is situated is not original with us but has been developed and extensively defended by feminist and other critical interpretive thinkers ² . Of concern to us here is that economics accounts are in no sense exempt from this generalization, and are inextricably linked to the gender, social class, ethnic background and historical and personal circumstances of their producers.