The focus of our paper will be on the ethnographic and the narrative turn in the humanities and social sciences in general and educational research in particular. Narrative travelled from literature to many other disciplines as for example to anthropology and education. An ethnographic perspective makes us realise how discourses are constructed in specific social interactions, disciplines and institutions. Narratives give us such an ethnographic perspective on education since "like an ethnographer, the narrator assumes that something (…) seemingly neutral (…) is not a neutral event but is itself a meaningful social drama (Soliday 1994: 514)". In films and novels students are confronted with various "ways with words" (Heath 1983) or in Gee's terms, different "ways of being in the world" (Gee 1996:viii). What are the codes that count in a particular setting and what is the reason why neophytes often feel clueless about these codes? In this paper we will look at how this happens in educational settings (focus on academia). Our selection of fiction will be based on the fact that some novels are described as 'ethnographical' or 'anthropological' (for example 'On Beauty' by Zadie Smith, 'The Corrections' by Jonathan Franzen, 'Gaming Instinct by Judith Zeh, etc).In our paper we will analyse how ideas from narratology/literature and ethnography/antropology can overlap and be different: "the ethnographer shares with the novelist (…) one of narratives most traditional uses, (…) making the common event uncommon and hence defamiliarizing quotidian reality (Soliday 1994: 514)."We will present a research and educational project in which we introduced narratives and ethnography inspired by the concept of the teacher-as-researcher or the teacher-as-anthropologist.1. An analysis of some major "literacy narratives" (focus will be on campus novels and films).Methodology: representation (Cultural Studies), binary oppositions (rhetoric and narratology).2. An analysis of how students discuss certain topics in confrontation with these narratives.Methodology: discourse analysis (interpretative repertoires) on on-line discussions.3. A research project in which students discussed the stories. They practice a kind of auto-ethnography that "people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them (Pratt 1991: 35)".Methodology: discourse analysis (see above).In this paper we will present the major results of the research and educational project: the confrontation of our students' stories with selected stories, the interaction with these stories and the re-storying in their auto-ethnographic reactions.In our conclusions we will further elaborate on the confrontation between narrative, ethnography and education. - Franzen, Jonathan (2001), The Corrections.- Gee, J. P. (1996). Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. London: Taylor & Francis. - Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.- Pratt, M.L. (1991), 'Arts of the Contact Zone'. In: Profession 91. New York: MLA, p. 33-40. - Papert, S. (1980), Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. New York: Basic Books. - Soliday, M. (1994). Translating Self and Differerence through Literacy Narratives. College English, 56 (5), 511-526. - Smith, Z. (2005). On Beauty. - Zeh, Judith (2006), Gaming Instinct.