Arthur P. Bochner is distinguished university professor of communication at the University of South Florida and a distinguished scholar of the National Communication Association. He has established an international and interdisciplinary reputation for his theoretical, critical, and empirical contributions to the study of narrative and autoethnographic inquiry including narrative identity, narrative truth, illness narratives, and memory work.
An originator and developer of reflexive social science methodologies that bring emotions, subjectivity, and storytelling into research in the social sciences, his highly influential monographs and books have introduced new concepts such as institutional (organizational) depression, vulnerable medicine, relational dialectics, and genre bending forms of representing lived experiences that have helped shape the work of three generations of communication researchers. Currently, he teaches the only course with love in its title offered at the University of South Florida.
Dr. Bochner has published more than 100 monographs, articles, and book chapters as well as three books, two edited volumes and four special issues of academic journals. Co-editor of three book series, he has presented keynote lectures and workshops across the globe. His 2014 book, Coming to Narrative: A Personal History of Paradigm Change in the Human Sciences, received the best book award from The International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry and the Ethnography Division of the National Communication Association.
Among his other numerous awards are the Charles H. Woolbert Research Award from NCA’s Ethnography Division, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Center for Qualitative Inquiry, Ohio University’s Elizabeth Andersch Award for career contributions, and two NCA awards, Bernard J. Brommel Award for distinguished contributions to family communication and the Samuel L. Becker Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Bochner’s most recent book is Evocative Autoethnography: Writing Lives and Telling Stories (Routledge, 2016) with Carolyn Ellis.
