Open AccessLife Challenge Memory Work: Using Collaborative Autobiography to Understand Ourselves
Author(s) -
Judith C. Lapadat,
Nancy E. Black,
Phillip G. Clark,
Richard M. Gremm,
Lucy Karanja,
Miss Lucy W. Mieke,
Loriann Quinlan
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of qualitative methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.414
H-Index - 29
ISSN - 1609-4069
DOI - 10.1177/160940691000900108
Subject(s) - biography , inscribed figure , memory work , collective memory , identity (music) , negotiation , agency (philosophy) , autobiographical memory , sociology , value (mathematics) , point (geometry) , work (physics) , psychology , social psychology , aesthetics , computer science , history , cognitive psychology , epistemology , engineering , art , social science , political science , philosophy , recall , mathematics , law , geometry , machine learning , art history , mechanical engineering
Using memory work, a group of eight adults in a university setting wrote, shared, and theorized memories of life challenges we experienced. In this study, we have adapted and refined memory work as a method, and we model this by presenting and examining a comprehensive case example of memory work. Our memories were of four main types: stories of dangerous events, the unruly body/self, leaving home/returning home, and negotiating social relationships. Processes of writing, performing, witnessing, and theorizing led us to identify ruptures and turning points that revealed ways in which we have been culturally inscribed as well as our agency in integrating social discourses into our identity. Our results point to the value of collaborative autobiography as a route to insight, a way to build community, and a means to democratize research