1 Antenarratives, Narratives and Anaemic Stories David M. Boje, Grace Ann Rosile, & Carolyn L. Gardner Boje & Rosile, New Mexico State University; Gardner, Radford University, VA. Contact: dboje@nmsu.edu Paper for the All Academy Symposium “Actionable Knowledge as the Power to Narrate” Monday August 9 2004, New Orleans meeting of the Academy of Management Copy on this paper on line at http://peaceaware.com/McD/ Enron, Nike, Disney articles on line at http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje Submit Antenarrative and Theatric pieces to http://TamaraJournal.com Join 16 th annual meeting sc’MOI pronounced “C’est Moi” http://scmoi.org Abstract What is antenarrative theory? An antenarrative is a gambler’s bet that a before-story (pre-story) can take flight and disrupt and transform narrative practice. Antenarrative derives its organizing force in emergent storytelling where plots are not possible, or at least contested, and speculative, rich in polyphony and polysemy. Stories are antenarrative when told without proper plot sequence and mediated coherence preferred by narrative theorists. Antenarratives lack the cohesive accomplishment of narratives, and do not as yet possess their closure of beginning, middle, and ending. Antenarrative dynamics include the plurivocal (many voiced), polysemous (rich in multiple interpretations), and dispersed pre- narrations that interpenetrate wider social contexts. Antenarrative theory makes a contribution to inquiry by exploring gaps and excesses excluded in traditional narratology. The Ante - Antenarrative is part of storytelling, but does not appear to meet Czarniawska or Gabriel’s criteria for what constitutes a proper story or proper narrative. In the spirit of dialogic imagination, this essay is a juxtaposition of our competing points of view. We each theorize the power to narrate differently. Our thesis is that actionable knowledge is a worked out in the “story space” of competing narratives and antenarratives, where sometimes a terse story can change the world. When Two Antenarratives Meet: If we say to you “9/11” then I think you know the story of the planes crashing like missiles into the two towers and the Pentagon. And if we say to you “Fahrenheit 911” you recall a different storyline. What about just the words “Enron” or “Enrongate,” does these each word conjure up an organizational story in you? And how do these storylines weave and diverge over time?