Published : 2021-12-08

Biographies and Biographical Research: Their Concepts, Substance and Functions

Why Are Recollections Worth Gathering?

Abstract

The considerations in this article start from the reconstruction of the key concepts for biographical writing in order to look at the relationships between them and answer the question of what a biography is substance of and what roles truth and fiction play in it. Then the processes taking place in the biographical study are analysed. They include storytelling and collecting research material. Moreover, a narrative interview and a biographical conversation serve causative and therapeutic functions. The reconstruction of events by finding breakthrough moments and naming crucial experiences in one`s biography supports the process of constructing an identity. It also helps to ask existentially important questions and enables the ‘biographisation’ process in some cases. Finally, some space is devoted to autoethnography and its relationships with autobiography, also suggesting the answer to the question posed in the title.

Keywords:

biography, biographical research, material, story, psychotherapy



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Karkowska, M. (2021). Biographies and Biographical Research: Their Concepts, Substance and Functions: Why Are Recollections Worth Gathering?. Biografistyka Pedagogiczna, 6(1), 263–277. https://doi.org/10.36578/BP.2021.06.04

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"Biografistyka Pedagogiczna" received funding for the years 2022-2024 from the funds of the Minister of Education and Science under the programme „Rozwój Czasopism Naukowych”.

Project duration: 2023-2024.

The amount of co-financing is 65 992,00 PLN

Contract number: RCN/SP/0434/2021/1