Inside Ricoeur’s narrative processes it is possible to identify two main dimensions: a) A methodology approach which defines narration as a didactic device aimed to understanding the production and interpretation of texts of particular subjects’ reality within a socio-political community.
(b) A social-anthropological approach, where the production of texts and the mobilization of discourses about reality are defined by the uses of language and the particular culture of the institutions where individuals develop their life.
Through narrative processes individuals not only learn how to tell and interpret their own stories but to understand part of the experiences of others as members of a political community, and finally to an overall comprehension of reality by sharing stories with others, knowing the fragility and the potentiality of the human condition.
Generally, Institutions transform, soften, and sediment the stories individuals build about reality through symbols, rites and myths, and these institutions integrate and crystallize hegemonic ideologies within a particular historical period.
The methodological and socio-anthropological dimensions constitute the basis of Ricoeur’s pedagogical turn within narrative processes by showing the difficulties particular individuals have to achieve a narrative identity and autonomy of action within democratic and just institutions.
Therefore, institutions must be oriented by ethical actions and under the sign of a true and mutual social recognition in order to be considered as just and democratic ones.
This ongoing research analyses how Ricoeurs’ pedagogical turn operates on the interpretation of sense and meaning of scholars when facing the contemporary discourse of public policies in higher education in Mexico.
The research uses a qualitative approach, with two components: a) A documentary analysis regarding the institutional rhetoric of actual educational policies in higher education in Mexico; and (b) A hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis regarding scholars’ experiences in facing the policies of public higher education in Mexico. These policies control the scholars’ educational itineraries and practices, as well as the sediments of the memory of the entire educational community.