ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors suggest a reconceptualization of the cross-cultural complexities of narrative-based research in early childhood education. They discuss Kristeva's philosophical conceptions of otherness and her related notion of the foreigner. The authors draw on indigenous cultural influences in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia gaining inspiration from the metaphor focused on braided rivers, and the narrative method of yarning. These two approaches help us to carve out spaces and provide lessons to reconsider ourselves, in encounters with diverse cultural knowledges, within the complexities of early year’s research. The art of narrative lies in its ability to condense the action down to an exemplary period of time, to take it out of the continuous flux, and to reveal. Narrative research is recognized as an emerging field that pursues multiple directions, including life narrative, narrative theory, narrative inquiry, narrative identity and many others.
