Closing Reflections: Confronting contradictions in biographies of nations and persons

Abstract

The biography of a nation is not the same as the biography of a person. That much is simple. One is about a single person's life history and the other is about the formation of a community of persons. On the other hand, analytically describing how a biographical method can be used for both persons and nations is not straightforward. The central crossover occurs in the concept of 'the social'. An individual identity, like the projection of a national identity, is a social identity. Thus, biographies, whether of persons or of nations, are specific social genealogies, social histories, social mappings - call them what you like - graphic narratives of the bios or 'ways of life' of a person or community of persons. In this understanding, 'the social' is thus not just a background context, nor is it just another dimension to be considered among others. The social does not act as the stage on which characters walk around. The social is us - as persons and communities. In this sense, the 'social context' is a complex metaphor that describes our interrelations with others and with nature, including particular spatial configurations, specific organisational contexts and distinctive self-andother understood histories, whether they be personal or national. The notion of a 'social context' can thus be a useful metaphor, but it is too often abused.