Biographical Experiences Research Articles

‘In a village, everybody knows the stranger’: Constructing local belonging of refugees in rural areas in Germany

AbstractThis article explores the local belonging of refugees in rural areas in Germany from the perspectives of both migrants and local integration actors. It analyses the development of a personal sense of belonging and the construction of the politics of belonging, with the aim of understanding belonging as a socio‐spatial process. The analysis is based on 64 semi‐structured and semi‐narrative qualitative interviews conducted in eight rural communities and small towns in different regions across Germany. The findings indicate that the sense of belonging to rural localities among refugees is influenced not only by personal and biographical experiences but also by overarching policies and administrative practices. They also reflect the expectations of the receiving communities, which imply imaginaries of rural communities. In addition to convivial everyday experiences, the demarcation of boundaries in everyday life appears to be particularly powerful for a sense of belonging.

Osoba z głęboką wieloraką niepełnosprawnością jako uczestnik interakcji

The article attempts to describe the communication competences of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. It presents a person with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities in the context of his or her biographical experiences, including interactions and relationships. It shows communication as a process based on reciprocity, thus emphasizing the importance of actions taken by both parties of this interaction. This text contains a description of the complexity of communication methods available to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities and a proposal of qualitatively significant ways of acting on the part of interaction partners.

Exploring the lived experience of performance-related health and wellbeing among flautists.

The study has investigated the lived experience of flautists, focusing on their experiences and perceptions of performance-related physical discomfort, injury and related mental health challenges that they might have encountered in practice and performance. The aims of the research have been to provide flautists with an opportunity to reflect on any physical or psychological performance issues in their own words, and to understand the subjective meaning of these experiences. A basic qualitative approach was used for gathering data. All the fieldwork was undertaken during or immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic. Consequently, the participating flautists were deliberately selected using professional networks on the basis of their answers to a pre-interview initial questionnaire related to the characteristics of their personal backgrounds and their experiences, as well as being able to participate remotely. There have been two data collection phases. Phase 1 was a specially designed pre-interview questionnaire drawing on themes from appropriate literature. Phase 2 built on the pre-interview questionnaire responses and was designed as semi-structured interviews, undertaken on Zoom, and included a 'River of Flute-playing Experience' activity during the interview. The 'River of Experience' method is an autobiographical research tool in which participants were asked to annotate key biographical experiences and challenges at various points along their drawing of a meandering river. The combined data analyses drew on thematic analysis. The eight participants reported a personal history of performance-related health and wellbeing challenges that they had faced at some point in their lives. The findings reveal that flautists encounter health-related challenges associated with their practice and performances, and the data suggest that they each require an understanding of likely performance-related health challenges and supportive resources to assist them in managing these challenges. The participants' diverse experiences highlight the importance of managing health and the value of supportive social connections. They cope with health challenges by integrating passion, resilience, and adaptability into their lives, finding ways to grow and continue to thrive in their flute-playing journey. The study underscores the need for comprehensive health education and support resources for flautists, emphasising the significance of resilience and adaptability in fostering health, wellbeing, and success.

Navigating household food insecurity and environmental sustainability on a low income: An exploration of Sheffield mothers.

In 2023, 25% of adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland experienced food insecurity. The concentration of food insecurity in both socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and households containing children raises concerns about its uneven nutritional and health impacts across different groups. In parallel with rising food insecurity over the past decade, concerns about the environmental consequences of human diets are intensifying, where urgent changes are needed to people's diets to avoid irreversible environmental damage. It is generally assumed that cost has a significant impact on people's ability to adopt more environmentally sustainable food practices. This UK Research Council-funded project seeks to gain insights into the ways in which low-income mothers (are able to) engage with environmentally sustainable food practices. RQ1 will examine the day-to-day food practices that mothers undertake for their families to offer insights into everyday food insecurity and the relevance of environmentally sustainable food practices. RQ2 will explore biographical experiences to highlight how mothers' life histories influence their familial food practices, including their current household food security and engagement with environmentally sustainable food practices. Finally, RQ3 will explore mothers' upcoming prospects of food insecurity and environmentally sustainable food practices. These research questions will be explored through a qualitative longitudinal, feminist study of 15 low-income mothers in Sheffield, UK, combining in-depth interviews with ethnographic elements. Gaining improved knowledge of mothers' food practices on a low income will be valuable to influence realistic, effective and meaningful philosophies, policies and practical action that prioritises equity, good nutrition and environmentally sustainable food practices.

COVID futures: Social imaginaries of post-pandemic lives in Australia

Many expert commentaries predicting what life will be like in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic have been published. The views of the public on post-COVID futures have received less attention. To explore these issues, this article draws on qualitative interviews conducted with Australian adults, conducted in three stages in each of the first pandemic years of 2020, 2021 and 2022. The final questions asked were: ‘What do you think your way of life will be like once the COVID crisis has passed? Will it go back to the way it was before – or be different in important ways?’. This article analyses participants’ responses to these future-facing questions across the three annual interview sets. Continuities and differences in the imaginaries of pandemic futures expressed in each of these years are identified. Findings demonstrate the value of documenting public understandings, practices and feelings concerning imaginaries of the future of crises such as the pandemic across an extended timescale. The study identified the complexity of how quotidian life, emotions and biographical experiences are entangled with broader socioeconomic, policy, infrastructural, cultural and political dimensions in people’s predictions of what a post-COVID world might be like at different stages of the pandemic.

(Un)known dimensions of remote education. Childhood in the shadow of the pandemic

The academic discourse concerning the child and childhood has evolved over the years from treating children as “little adults” to approaching the child as a being who needs to be cared for and protected from the hardships of life—to a perception of the child as a “person at the stage of formation”: one requiring care and favourable conditions for proper development. The pandemic and the need to move pupils' school functioning to the online mode turned out to be a truly special and (so far) unknown situation. Protecting childhood during the pandemic has not only become a necessity of the moment but still remains an important challenge for teachers/parents—mainly in terms of its effects on the emotional and social functioning of children and adolescents. Drawing on my teaching experience and selected research findings, I would like to examine the problems of remote education more closely. The long-term social and even economic effects of school closings will surely be felt for years to come. Therefore, the question is legitimate: How do we face the reality of new challenges and threats? Above all, how can we protect childhood in such difficult circumstances?How can we minimise these actual and anticipated adverse effects – first and foremost concerning children – but also their parents and teachers? The conclusions – constituting the analyses' results – shed light on the complex problems associated with remote education.However, the primary task is to protect the child from the negative challenges of the modern world and treat childhood as an important biographical experience—a foundation on which they can safely grow their own lives.

Od zapominania do (u)pamięt(ni)ania? Wrocławskie elity o niemieckim dziedzictwie stolicy Dolnego Śląska

The status of German heritage in Wrocław is rather specific, and has been changing over the past seven decades under the influence of not only state and local politics, but also the biographical experiences of successive generations of residents. Calling German heritage troublesome is a frequently used rhetorical figure as well as — or perhaps primarily as — an epithet describing a social fact. This article aims to provide answers concerning the troublesome nature of German heritage for contemporary Wrocław elites. The empirical material comprises unstructured interviews conducted in 2011 and 2022, on the basis of which the relationship between the German heritage and persons occupying specific privileged positions in the social structure of the capital of Lower Silesia was determined. As the study proceeded, three types of approach to this relationship emerged. The first considers the relationship with German heritage unproblematic — either due to it being made “ours,” or because of it being treated superficially. The second approach recognizes the troublesome nature of this relationship, resulting from the tensions between local and national memory policy, including the state’s historical policy offering an antagonistic vision of Polish-German relations. The third type points to the relationship being troublesome due to the attitude to German heritage during the communist era; the memory of this difficult relationship with the heritage back then, and contemporary efforts to restore memory of Wrocław’s pre-1945 history. The approaches thus identified are present in the stories, regardless of the time — they can be found both when the city’s multicultural identity and local memory were intensively discussed a decade ago, and today, when the city is addressing new urban challenges.

New Forms of Interaction in the Digital Age: The Use of the Telephone

The objective of this article is to analyze how the digital space has become a ground for encounters, comparisons, and sometimes even clashes among individuals who increasingly inhabit the Internet, not just as a gateway to consume products, but as a context in which to weave relationships that, in the era of the Metaverse, are no longer to be understood as opposed to face-to-face encounters but rather as a continuation that transcends space–time boundaries. The Internet has become a place where relationships can be formed in various ways, influencing daily life and individual as well as collective existence. This influence now extends across various realms, from recreational encounters to cultural exchanges, and from politics to social interactions. The focus of this article is to analyze relational transformations and consequently how each individual relates to the Internet, both within and outside digital circuits. A state-of-the-art review of digital studies primarily interested in issues related to identity, increasingly showcased on social media, aims to understand how relationships and interactions can be interpreted today. These interactions occur within the screens of devices, disrupting certain stages of each individual’s biographical experience. Knowledge often begins in digital contexts and does not necessarily translate into the “tangible” everyday life, to the extent that the term “Digital Society” no longer surprises but is part of routine language. The synergy between digital and physical spaces calls on the social sciences to carefully analyze the types of relationships we build and how we nurture them amid applications and platforms. Thus, this article explores what friendships and romantic relationships have become in this digital era. It delves into the role of individuals faced with this rapid influx of technology into contemporary society. What is the role of the person in navigating this technological excess? The article aims to shed light on these questions, emphasizing notions such as relationships, identity, complexity, and the individual.

Generations at the crossroads: biographical experience and working-class politics in China

ABSTRACT The study calls for greater scholarly engagement with the generational experiences of the socialist working class in China. Through an analysis of collective actions in response to the reform of state-owned enterprises at the turn of the century, the paper divides the Chinese socialist working class into the Revolution Generation and the Transition Generation. Amid the restructuring of the state sector, workers from the Revolution Generation exhibited a proclivity for civic activism and petitions, while the Transition Generation, though grappling with unemployment, largely refrained from public dissent, instead expressing sentiments of bewilderment and resignation. The study illustrates how the differing lived experiences of two working-class generations played a pivotal role in shaping their interpretation of grievances and contention repertoire. The article underscores the significance of generational perspectives in gaining insight into the destiny of the Chinese working class, advocating for the integration of such perspectives into the broader fields of deindustrialization and labor studies.

“Snowwards”… On the Way Towards the Personal Myth?

The statement according to which “snow” is one of the prevalent motifs in Celan’s poetry should be more than the mere object of statistical verification; one should rather place it in the right exegetical context. While in a first period, prior to the publication of the volume Atemwende (1966), “snow” was mainly a sign of topographic uncertainty or a “non-lieu” of horrific unpunished crimes of the past for which Celan’s poetry is struggling to testify—cf. the frequent references to the Siberian site of Ossip Mandelstamm’s execution (with snow being, in Celan’s symbolical language, also a silent witness of the Holocaust) — beginning with the second period, in Celan’s work “snow” refers to the timid hope of reunion with the dead by means of an abstruse alchemy of dream, the breath crystal (“Atemkristall”) being its strongest symbol. Celan’s various biographic experiences of snow and readings about snow continuously enriched the term’s wide semantics. However, the following article argues that the lead image of a “breath crystal” and other symbols related to it were inspired by intense readings of H. C. Andersen’s Snow Queen, Thomas Mann’s Magical Mountain, and Wolfram’s Parzival. In the light of these newly considered sources of inspiration, some key poems are being reinterpreted, whereas for the last work period, especially along with the posthumous volume Schneepart, one can acknowledge Celan’s preoccupation to open new perspectives on “snow” as a sign of hope for social Parousia, i.e., the return of the Holocaust’s victims in guise of nowadays living sufferer, thus formulating an implicit lyrical manifesto, which could also provide an answer to Adorno’s refutation of poetry after Auschwitz as being barbaric.

“Since I’ve Been Ill, I Live Better”: The Emergence of Latent Spirituality in the Biographical Pathways of Illness

Spirituality can be a crucial resource to draw on to make sense of critical situations that mark a turning point in individual and collective biographies. In these cases, a ritual and symbolic response to the trauma may occur, bringing to the surface a «latent spirituality», that is, a tacit propensity towards the sacred that manifests itself in unexpected ways, even in those who do not normally believe or practice, in extraordinary situations that engender fear, anomie or disorientation and that have profound existential repercussions. This article aims to investigate the latent spirituality in the face of the critical event represented by the onset of severe disease, based on the analysis of spiritual illness narratives collected in Italy through qualitative interviews with oncological patients. The narratives show how the condition of suffering can bring to light an unexpressed spirituality, consisting of the revitalization of previous traditional faith or the elaboration of an innovative lay spirituality. Data confirm how pathology constitutes a biographical fracture, accompanied by questions and needs of a religious and spiritual nature. In contrast to the prevailing approach in the medical humanities where spirituality is interpreted as a starting resource to which sufferers resort to cope toward the disease, these results indicate that the spiritual dimension is an emerging aspect along the therapeutic pathway and that it is transformed by reflecting the temporality of the biographical experience of illness.

Fotografie i „efekt swojskości” (miejsca). O jednym szkicu krajoznawczym Elizy Orzeszkowej

The purpose of this article is to determine the influence of photographic practice on the construction of space that occurs in Eliza Orzeszkowa’s sketch entitled Niemen. Zdjęcia migawkowe. The main methodological premise is to apply to the analysis and interpretation of the literary text the findings that the history of 19th-century photography has made. It distinguished the basic functions of this medium, which, in a suitably modified version, are also present in Orzeszkowa’s text. The article thus analyzes what consists in: (1) archiving, (2) organizing, (3) modernizing knowledge and informing, and (4) illustrating. These functions actively shape the meanings of Orzeszkowa’s work, and when summed up, lead to the so-called homely effect. It consists in a three-level harmony between the subject and the place, which creates resonance in the area of cultural, intellectual and biographical experience.

Educational Problems and Their Importance in the Context of Young Poles Experiencing Precariousness

The article focuses on exploring the relationship between experiencing educational problems in the course of life and precariousness in further professional career of young Poles. My primary interests are concentrated around the biographical experience in the spheres of education (especially in the context of young Polish workers undertaking studies) and work. I examine how the educational problems that were present at different educational levels may affect life stories and how they could be linked with the struggling on the labor market, and how they eventually led to increasing exposure toward precarious conditions as well as, finally, the potential of trajectory of suffering.
 In the analysis, I am using biographical narrative interview conducted with Julian, a young precarious worker who failed to obtain a university degree. My main argumentation is that educational problems he had faced during his studies are in complex loop with his precarious situation on the labor market and led him to experience subsequent phases of the trajectory of suffering. On the other hand, I examine the role of the myth of university degree as a generational driver of upward class mobility.

Parental perception of inclusive education: mothers’ narrative construct of the school space

ABSTRACT For many decades the emphasis of inclusive education policies in England and Western countries has been on schools and educational professionals. Recent research on the concepts of family and parents’ involvement in their children’s education emphasises reciprocity and shared responsibility between family and school programmes and recognises that schools play an important role in supporting families and encouraging them to become actively involved in schools. This approach requires further empirical knowledge about parents’ experience of school space, the cultural and linguistic resources in families, parental aspirations and expectations and, significantly, their own biographical experience of education. This article focuses on perceptions of school space as described by mothers of primary and pre-primary school children who participated in the EC H2020 Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society (ISOTIS) project qualitative study (2017–2019) in England. The variety of local and personal contexts within these cases allowed for comparative analyses that reveal the impact of mothers’ experiences on their perception of school space. The article addresses a wide range of ways for parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling, such as individual, social and cultural.

On love

In this paper, I will explore love as a universe of meaning constituted at the crossroads of cultural patterns and actors’ biographical experiences. Universes of meaning provide a structure of cognitive pre-selections. While the social in general is composed of a multitude of universes of meaning, they belong to the public. Romantic relationships are private and enable privacy. I will (1) propose a definition of love and a framework that serves to ensure its theoretical validity. I will then (2) analytically deconstruct the unity of communication, interaction, eroticism, and emotionality as love’s different media of experience and explore their self-referential functionality.

Chronic tinnitus: An interplay between somatic and psychological factors

Chronic tinnitus is acommon, sometimes highly distressing phenomenon that can be triggered and maintained by an interplay of physical and psychological factors. Partnering with clinical psychology and psychosomatic medicine, modern otolaryngology integrates both medical (e.g., hearing loss) and psychological influences (e.g., interactions between biographical experiences, personality traits, subjective evaluation of intrapsychic and interpersonal stimuli, emotional states, and intrapsychic or interpersonal emotion regulation strategies). Both groups of variables can influence the intensity and course of chronic tinnitus symptomatology both directly and indirectly, whereby the quality and relative degrees of psychological and physical components in aperson's self-experience can fluctuate. With this in mind, the present article distinguishes between chronic tinnitus symptomatology with or without hearing loss-and strongly advocates for an integrated understanding of the symptomatology within aholistic psychological frame of reference. After abrief introduction to the principles of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, the article discusses psychological case conceptualization using avulnerability-stress-coping (VSC) model as an example, outlines clinical aspects and diagnostics of chronic tinnitus symptomatology, and concludes with aconceptualization of chronic tinnitus-related distress as afunction of person-centered VSC interactions.

Between Symbolic Distancing and Following Desires

Abstract Over the past decades, Judaism and Jewishness have been subject to transformation and more fluid boundaries. This article looks at women’s conversions to Judaism in Germany. Analyzing differing biographical trajectories, the article shows how individuals negotiate their desire to become Jewish, which is often closely related to an experience in Israel and a Jewish partner. Arguing that the context makes the conversion, I show how desires and negotiations are deeply entangled with the socio-historical context of German society as well as with the erotic and sexuality. I demonstrate how becoming Jewish presents a way of symbolically distancing oneself from biographical experiences of difference, which are negotiated in and through the conversion. As these conversions are not uncontested, I also show how becoming part of Jewish socialities evokes a negotiation of one’s positionality at the intersection of gender and religion.

Change in Personal Culture over the Life Course

Prior literature finds stability in personal culture, such as attitudes and values, in individuals’ life courses using short-running panel data. This work has concluded that lasting change in personal culture is rare after formative early years. This conclusion conflicts with a growing body of evidence for changes in personal culture after significant life course transitions, drawing on long-running panel data. To integrate these conflicting findings, the current study develops and applies a life course adaption model of personal culture, accounting for early imprinting and the continued possibility for change. Drawing on rich data from six long-running panel studies from five countries (BHPS, HILDA, PSID, SHP, SOEP, UKHLS) and 428 measures of personal culture, I test the theoretical expectations using mixed-effects modeling and an individual participant data meta-analysis. Results support the life course adaption model. Although lasting, non-transitory, within-individual changes in personal culture are relatively small compared to stable between-individual differences, I find strong support for the proposition that individuals change persistently in their personal culture as they move through the life course. These changes are partly dependent on prior biographical experiences. Finally, personal culture fluctuates substantially from year to year. Change in personal culture is increasingly varied for younger birth cohorts.

SOURCES OF TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE & CROSS-CONTOUR MENTAL HEALTH RECOVERY TECHNOLOGY

The article highlights the sources of psycho-emotional patterns of traumatic experience and outlines a cross-contour technology for overcoming their prolonged impact on human mental health. The mechanisms of semantic coding and decoding of events in the world by a person are defined. Three hierarchical contours of human consciousness are objectified, each of which contains both principles of mental health protection and risks of its violation. Using methods of bodynamic, transpersonal and projective approaches it is proved that the person's reaction to traumatic events is determined by his pre-biographical and early biographical experience. The presented cross-contour technology allows to increase resilience to crisis events of war, to reduce uncertainty and to activate personal dimensions of freedom and responsibility. The corrective component of the technology focuses on the reorganization of the person's semantic system in response to the crisis events of the world. The purpose of the technology is to reduce uncertainty and hesitation and activate the dimensions of freedom and responsibility. The subjective specificity of the world creation by a human is revealed, that is, reflection, generation and understanding of reality

"This is where I belong:" a narrative study of professional commitment to a new criminal justice agency.

Scholars of penal change have established a rich theoretical understanding of the macro- and meso- level processes that explain the emergence, diffusion, and success of penal developments. Similarly enthusiastic examinations of the agentic aspects of professional commitment to criminal justice institutions are necessary to better understand the relationship between micro-level individual processes and the endurance and success of penal projects. The present study builds on existing analyses of cause lawyering and indigent criminal defense to examine the personal narratives of penitentiary defenders, lawyers working for the Unit of Penitentiary Defense, a novel Chilean public agency that offers legal assistance and enables convicted prisoners to file grievances and report rights violations before criminal courts. By drawing on 45 in-depth semi-structured interviews, I analyze the ways in which these attorneys incorporate biographical experiences and life events into coherent stories that both support and construct their professional identity as legal aid lawyers despite adverse working conditions. Four narratives are prevalent in their accounts: identification, privilege, calling, and admiration. These narratives demonstrate that criminal justice professionals engage in meaning-making processes through the creation of biographical accounts that tie personal and professional self-understandings together. The contribution of the article is thus twofold: it situates the role of individual agency in the development of penal projects and provides a novel explanation as to how legal aid lawyers become personally and professionally invested in indigent defense.