What Is Narrative Tense in Academic Writing?

When writing in English, you have two main tenses you can use: present tense and past tense.

The present tense in academic writing

Some scholars have argued against the use of the present tense when citing other scholars, suggesting it implies all the different voices could have a conversation outside of time, when in fact all their observations and opinions should be placed in a relevant historical and social context.

So instead of:

"Judith Butler claims ..."

They would argue for:

"Judith Butler claimed ..."

I believe this is too prescriptive. Using the present tense has become commonplace, so it's certainly not something I would change in an edit. There are other ways of making a position on historicity clear through the narration. It is important to be consistent, however.

The present tense in ethnography

Now, in ethnography, using the present tense for real-world description creates a sense of timelessness. This can be problematic if you're writing about cultures and traditions as the observations aren't placed inside a historical context or moment.

Recommendation: For this reason, when writing ethnography, I usually recommend using the past tense as a narrative tense, following Fabian's argument in Time and the Other. If you want to use the present tense for immediacy, then make sure you use other narrative devices or exposition to ensure your description doesn't come across as timeless. As above, you can use other narrative strategies to emphasize the historicity of your ethnography or arguments.

You can retain the present tense for descriptions that really are timeless, or enduring, such as a building description. "The Empire State Building is very tall and rectangular."

What to watch out for with narrative tense

Many academic writers often briefly slip from one tense to the other when drafting and revising. Whichever tense you decide on, it's important to be consistent across the manuscript. The occasionally slip will probably pass unnoticed, but it can disorient the reader or look cluttered if you constantly switch between present and past tense.