NOVELLA (Narratives of Varied Everyday Lives and Linked Approaches) is an ESRC-funded, National Centre for Research Methods Phase III node concerned with the new everyday, and frequently taken for granted, habitual practices of families.

NOVELLA aims to look at new ways of analysing narrative and combining narrative analysis with other qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse 'disconnects' between narratives of family lives and everyday practice. The NOVELLA node is based at the Institute of Education and is directed by Professor Ann Phoenix.

Dr Janet Boddy leads one of the node's three studies: Family Lives and the Environment: Cross-national perspectives on habitual practices. This project examines the positioning and understanding of environment and environmental concerns within family members' individual and collectively negotiated narratives of everyday lives and practices. Research involves collaboration with the Young Lives study [www.younglives.org.uk] to re-analyse Young Lives qualitative data from interviews with families in Andhra Pradesh, followed by multi-method fieldwork with a new sample of families in Andhra Pradesh and England. In encompassing India (Andhra Pradesh) and England, the research sets out to identify potential for mutual learning between countries which differ markedly in demography and societal resources. This three year project is due for completion in autumn 2014.

To find out more, contact Dr Janet Boddy:
E j.m.boddy@sussex.ac.uk