Weaving Stories: Personal Auto/Biographies in Feminist Research

Abstract

Feminist epistemology suggests the need for a reconceptualisation of autobiography and biography. The article is autobiographical in that it draws upon the experiences of the writers. It is specifically concerned with their personal biographies regarding their academic development and their experience of feminist qualitative research within sociology. It is concerned to show how doing feminist research involves weaving the stories of both the researcher and the researched, and also how the lives of `significant others' are part of any completed piece. Each experience of research is different. This means that the researcher's autobiography has a different place among the biographies of the researched, depending on the individuals involved and the nature of the research topic. Consideration is given to the problems of including the researcher's autobiography in the fieldwork and publication stages. The research experience prompts not only a re-evaluation of the past, but also alters the personal biographies of the future for all those involved. Attention to these issues clearly shows that autobiography and biography are relevant to a wide variety of work and should be central to a sociological approach.