Biographical Narrative Interviews Research Articles

PUPILS' LEARNING EXPERIENCE IN HOMESCHOOLING- BIOGRAPHY ANALYSIS

The article concentrates on learning experience as a factor that shapes people's attitude towards lifelong learning. Literature analysis demonstrated a gap in the understanding the experience of adults going through alternative education. The study analysis, the experience of adults who were educated in Poland at home in times of compulsory education system. The studies are carried out on the basis of biographical analysis using biographical narrative interviews by Schütz. The method falls within the quality methodology and concentrates on exact parts in the respondent's biography.

„Rola społeczna uczonego” – o mistrzach, mentorach, autorytetach w wywiadach biograficznych z emerytowanymi pracownikami naukowymi Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego

Niniejszy artykuł stanowi kontynuację projektu badawczego „Łódź akademicka w biografiach”. Celem opracowania jest odtworzenie na podstawie wywiadów narracyjno-biograficznych doświadczeń biograficznych emerytowanych pracowników Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, w szczególności dotyczących relacji mistrz–uczeń. Podjęto próbę odpowiedzi na pytania o to, kim byli „mistrzowie”, oraz jak w swoich opowieściach biograficznych ukazują swoich mistrzów/mentorów badani. Materiał badawczy został zebrany z zastosowaniem metody wywiadu biograficzno- -narracyjnego zgodnie z ujęciem Fritza Schützego.

The dilemma of voice in biographical narratives: confronting complexity in the ‘unexpected stories’ of intercountry adoptees

ABSTRACTThe biographical-narrative interview has been touted as a conduit for ‘giving voice’ to disempowered groups and individuals. On account of this strength, a biographical-narrative approach was chosen for an investigation into the cultural identity constructions of intercountry adoptees in Australia. However, while yielding rich and detailed accounts of participants’ lives, the method also facilitated the telling of ‘unexpected stories’ that did not conform to the researcher’s expectations. This paper reports on these unanticipated findings and the methodological insights they prompted. In light of these insights, the paper argues that doing justice to participants’ voices involves three imperatives: an explicit recognition of the multi-voiced and co-constructed nature of academic storytelling; sustained reflexivity during the analysis and writing of participant narratives; and the pursuance of ‘socially just’ acts of representation. From this perspective, the aim of biographical-narrative research should not be to ‘give voice’, but instead to produce deeper, more complex accounts of phenomena that change for the better those who tell, hear, and interpret biographical narratives.

Discursive Strategies of Polish Nationalists in the Construction of the Other

The paper explores the discursive strategies used by participants of Polish nationalist (radical right) organizations when they speak about others: Muslims and homosexuals. The article is based on the critical discourse analysis of 30 biographical narrative interviews with the members of three main Polish nationalist organizations: the National Radical Camp (ONR), the National Rebirth of Poland (NOP), and the All-Polish Youth (MW). Following the reconstruction of more general ways in which various categories of others are discursively constructed by narrators, the body of the paper focuses on two categories, Muslims and homosexuals, which appear most often in the narratives collected. The nationalists present themselves as the concerned defenders of both the European civilization as well as the Polish identity based on components such as religion (seen as the source of morality), tradition and history. Others are presented as a threat because of their otherness, claims and aspirations for power and dominance attributed to them. While Muslims constitute the embodiment of a cultural enemy who threatens the European (Christian) civilization, homosexuals are identified with liberalism seen as the danger destroying Polish identity and the traditional family.

Stroke survivors' views and experiences on impact of visual impairment.

ObjectivesWe sought to determine stroke survivors’ views on impact of stroke‐related visual impairment to quality of life.Materials and MethodsStroke survivors with visual impairment, more than 1 year post stroke onset, were recruited. Semistructured biographical narrative interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic approach to analysis of the qualitative data was adopted. Transcripts were systematically coded using NVivo10 software.ResultsThirty‐five stroke survivors were interviewed across the UK: 16 females, 19 males; aged 20–75 years at stroke onset. Five qualitative themes emerged: “Formal care,” “Symptoms and self,” “Adaptations,” “Daily life,” and “Information.” Where visual problems existed, they were often not immediately recognized as part of the stroke syndrome and attributed to other causes such as migraine. Many participants did not receive early vision assessment or treatment for their visual problems. Visual problems included visual field loss, double vision, and perceptual problems. Impact of visual problems included loss in confidence, being a burden to others, increased collisions/accidents, and fear of falling. They made many self‐identified adaptations to compensate for visual problems: magnifiers, large print, increased lighting, use of white sticks. There was a consistent lack of support and provision of information about visual problems.ConclusionsPoststroke visual impairment causes considerable impact to daily life which could be substantially improved by simple measures including early formal visual assessment, management and advice on adaptive strategies and self‐management options. Improved education about poststroke visual impairment for the public and clinicians could aid earlier diagnosis of visual impairments.

Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives

Southern European society has been described in sociological literature as ableist, patriarchal and male-oriented. Under such conditions, many disabled women face multiple oppressions on grounds of gender, disability, class, age, sexual orientation, ‘race’ and ethnicity. The social construction of the impaired body as passive and dependent is conducive to a process of desexualization, presenting disabled people as inadequate for a full intimate life. The dominant biomedical model reinforces this process. This article draws on selected works in feminist disability studies to argue that rather than a body which is unfit, or does not fit, the ‘misfit’ is instead a cultural failure in accommodating and cherishing diversity. The authors also suggest that the desexualization of disabled women is replicating, as well as resulting from, historical tendencies to dehumanize and infantilize women. The empirical data is drawn from a larger project ‘Disabled Intimacies? Sexual and Reproductive Citizenship of Disabled Women in Portugal’. Biographical narrative interviews with disabled women are analyzed to explore the notion of ‘misfit’ sexual bodies. Theirs are stories of counter-norms and the struggle for sexual fulfilment and recognition. The women’s discussions of sexuality point to a need to change the ways that disability and intimacy are addressed in mainstream scholarly literature, institutions and the state. Narrow, heteronormative and ableist understandings of sexual intercourse and the linear character of mainstream stories of intimacy are shown as hindering the prospect of the recognition of disabled women as sexual citizens.

Self-positioning as a man in transnational contexts: constructing and managing hybrid masculinity

ABSTRACTThe majority of research on migrant men is focused on critical analyses regarding the domestic sphere, family relations, power and equality. The analysis is often based on a juxtaposition of migrant and Western patterns of masculinity. Little attention is paid to young, highly skilled, single migrants who may experience challenges regarding their gender role as they change countries. Among adolescents and young adults, different visions of masculinities and gender roles are important factors in general adaptation. These ideas influence the way young people spend their free time, make friends, and are accepted in their peer group. On the one hand, differing perspectives can impede adaptation; however, on the other hand, these differences may be used to evade gender norms that are oppressive or inconvenient. This paper is based on biographical narrative interviews with men of different nationalities who have migrated in childhood and in their adult lives (serial migrants). Three case studies are explored, each illustrating certain strategies of constructing and managing one’s masculinity.

“It is such a very free job.” Selected aspects of the lifestyle of women in the private sex business

The lifestyle of people working in the sex business differs, especially due to the financial situation, specific working hours, choice of how leisure time is spent and the nature of the work. Recently, the sex business in the Czech Republic has moved from nightclubs to apartments and private flats. The secretiveness of the private sex business is connected with a very small mapping of this form and the persons working in it, therefore the aim of this paper is to describe the lifestyle of women working in the private sex business considering their everyday life at work as well as out of it. A qualitative research strategy with the technology of a biographical-narrative interview has been used in the research. The research file was formed of 10 women working in the private sex business within the South Bohemian Region. The ascertained data has been processed and coded in the Atlas.ti programme and then by means of set theory the following main categories were identified: addictions (substance and non-substance), relationship to clients, family, partners, relationship to work and healthy lifestyle. The results show that women in the private sex business are a markedly heterogeneous group considering the area of relationships. A common aspect is considering the sex business as “a business”. The informants positively evaluate their work with respect to the opportunity to decide on their working hours and leisure time by themselves, and with respect to the financial benefits that often serve as support for close family.

“A lo lejos” – Aging in place and transnational care in the case of transnational migration between Cuba and Germany

AbstractThis article analyzes family care and aging in place in transnational families between Cuba and Germany. It draws on the results of a longitudinal multi-sited research on transnational families, based on reconstructive analysis of participant observations and biographical-narrative interviews with Cuban migrants in Germany and their relatives in Cuba. Adopting a case level of family histories enables me to see how the exchange of care is negotiated across generations. In this article, two case studies will provide a detailed description of transnational care and aging between Cuba and Germany. Originating from a transnational migration studies background, this article addresses the implications of the transnationalization of life worlds and the possibility to maintain contact via information and communication technologies for the concept of aging in place. Furthermore, it discusses the influence of structural constraints (like restrictions of travel and ICTs access) on aging in a transnational pla...

Child Soldiers as Refugees in Germany

Child Soldiers as Refugees in Germany How do former child soldiers cope with their potentially traumatic experiences, and how do the living conditions as refugees influence these coping processes? A dissertation at the faculty of human and social sciences at the University of Wuppertal, based on biographical-narrative interviews with 15 young refugees from six African countries, describes the characteristics of the traumatic sequences in the countries of origin and in exile, and elaborates typical coping processes. In order to survive a situation of absolute subjection within armed groups, children develop forms of adequate adaptation to the context like regulation and detachment of emotions e.g. with the use of drugs, assimilation to an idea of "hard masculinity" etc. They become victims, witnesses and often perpetrators of extreme violence (man-made-disaster), respectively traumatic processes can be seen in all sequences. After leaving the armed groups there is no way back into the families and communities destroyed by armed conflict, so they become refugees. In Germany, they are subjected to a bureaucratic and excluding asylum system, in which decisions on all relevant areas of life (age determination, place and right of residence, form of accommodation, access to education, etc.) are imposed on them. Especially the insecure right of residence and the living conditions in refugee camps are severe risk factors, impeding stabilization. Social support, e. g. by competent professionals, access to trauma- and culture-sensitive psychotherapy, societal inclusion, but also personal resilience are essential for coping with trauma and developing new future perspectives.

International Lifestyle Migration in the Andes of Ecuador: How Migrants from the USA Perform Privilege, Import Rurality and Evaluate Their Impact on Local Community

AbstractUsing the example of Vilcabamba in Ecuador, this article explores the ways that migrants from the USA materialise their quest for better lives by relocating to small communities in the Global South. Taking a lifestyle migration approach, we explore the ways migrants interpret and perform rurality in their post‐migration lives according to their economic and symbolically privileged status. Empirical data gathered from biographical narrative interviews with immigrants and guideline‐based interviews with experts show that migrants construct their own, mostly idealised, meanings of rurality; for instance, through the enactment of a healthy way of life close to nature, and social community spirit. Performing their privileged status through everyday practices, lifestyle migrants transfer their mostly Western understandings of rurality, derived from notions of the rural idyll, to other socio‐cultural settings. Consequently, they foster various transformations of local society, economy and public space. At the same time, however, via critical self‐reflection, they exhibit an ambivalent attitude to these transformations.

El autocuidado y apoyo social de mujeres de un proyecto de seguimiento mamográfico en Porto Alegre/Brasil

Objective: Identify preventive self-care practices and analyze the configurations of the network support for women with and without breast cancer registered in a mammography-monitoring project from Porto Alegre/Brazil. Method: a mixed sequential delimitation was performed, which expanded the results of the quantitative step (cross and correlation section) in a qualitative step (narrative interviews). 37 women diagnosed with breast cancer (group 1) and 72 without this diagnosis (group 2 – monitoring) participated. The following instruments were used: Assessment Questionnaire Self-care Ability (ASA-A) and Assessment Questionnaire Perceived Social Support and Community. There were performed descriptive analysis and comparison of means (t test and ANOVA) between the two groups. To deepen the understanding of the data, we selected four women with breast cancer with extreme levels on the scale of Social Support to participate in the biographical narrative interviews. Results: the analysis indicate that women who had breast cancer have better self-care practices than the women from the monitoring project (t = 1.791, P = 0.027). As for the analysis of social support, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. All participants have an average level of perceived social and community support. It was highlighted by the qualitative data that it was after the diagnosis of breast cancer that women lived self-care aspects they had not previously experienced. Conclusions: the self-care was significantly bigger in the group of women with breast cancer, where the cancer diagnosis was a trigger to increase self-care.

Normalisation of Precariousness? Biographical Experiences of Young Workers in the Flexible Forms of Employment in Poland

This article explores interpretive practices and life strategies related to the flexibilisation of employment in Poland. The socio-economic background for workers’ biographical experiences and coping patterns can be defined in terms of a shift from the socialist type of Fordism to the capitalist, neoliberal, flexible labour regime. In 2015, Poland remained the leader in the EU in terms of the share of employees with temporary contracts in total employment. Yet, despite the expansion of precarious employment, the Polish workers were, until recently, not too prone to protest. This paper explains this apparent paradox by analysing the meanings given to the changing nature of employment by workers themselves in the context of their overall biographical experiences. The empirical basis are 24 biographical narrative interviews collected within a mini-research project on non-unionised young (18-29) workers in services in the city of Wrocław, in South-Western Poland (in 2013). The analysis documents some level of “normalisation” of unstable employment among young precarious employees for whom it became an important aspect of their “taken-for-granted” assumptions related to their occupational careers. Simultaneously, the research demonstrates the biographical and social limits of “normalisation of precariousness” and suggests that the “disenchantment” with flexibility can (in some cases) contribute to greater support for various collective counter-movements (Karl Polanyi). In the article, both the normalisation and disenchantment with market flexibility are discussed with the reference to selected biographical cases.

Why can't you change? Stories of parents and street educators about adolescent girls in street situations

For children and young people in street situations, to give up street life is easier said than done. The study reported in this article aims to contribute to the field of children and young people in street situations by introducing the voices of parents whose daughters live on the streets. In biographical narrative interviews, we asked parents together with street educators from Bolivia to share their stories of girls entering and leaving street life. Our findings showed that a child's act of running away made parents aware about their parenting, leading to new openings and possible renewed social bonds with their children. At the same time, street educators’ stories exposed the importance of the family support during the process of exiting street life. Nevertheless, even though parents no longer want to stand on the sidelines, the stories also revealed that parents are still forgotten throughout interventions with street children in Bolivia.

Experiences of Migration as a Space for Reflection

Based on biographical narrative interviews with three migrant women, the article discusses how migration experiences can lead to a reflection of gender roles. In the three cases, there are various motivations for migration, different family arrangements and work experiences throughout the migration process, and also a change of roles of the women within their families. For the interview partners, the access to material resources achieved partly under great sacrifice and the possibility to compare different life contexts and gender regimes triggered an ambivalent process of reflection on gender relations. Their reorganization of gender relations can be rather incomplete or require strong legitimization upon return; it can also be transmitted as a project for the next generation to complete. Keywords: migration, gender relations, agency, biographical analysis, biographical narrative interview-----Bibliographie: Dudt, Muriel/Kempf, Andreas Oskar/Satola, Agnieszka: Experiences of Migration as a Space for Reflection, ZQF, 1+2-2014, S. 98-113. https://doi.org/10.3224/zqf.v14i1-2.21329

Caring for recognition ‒ young women on their way

The purpose of this qualitative research – based on biographical narrative interviews – is to trace the migration strategies of two young female domestic workers in private households in Germany. The authors interpret their agency mainly as a successful practice of “coping”. The analysis of the case studies reveals that biographical resources, language skills, aspects of class, nation state policies and expectations of the future intersect within the emancipation process. Care and domestic work functions as a strategy to realize longterm migration and thereby emphasizes its fundamental value in societies. Keywords: care and domestic work, migration policies, biographical recourses, classmobility, agency-----Bibliographie: Kupczyk, Monika: Caring for recognition ‒ young women on their way, ZQF, 1+2-2014, S. 114-130. https://doi.org/10.3224/zqf.v14i1-2.21330

Migrants: keeping a foot in both worlds or losing the ground beneath them? Transnationalism and integration as experienced in the everyday lives of Polish migrants in Belfast, Northern Ireland

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses transnationalism and integration as processes entangled in the everyday lives of Polish migrants. It acknowledges that the co-existence of transnationalism and integration can present an array of choices and enable migrants to lead a fulfilling life in the receiving country while they continue to maintain a foothold in their original homeland. Yet, it might also create a feeling of disjuncture, discontinuity of relations, and ceaseless negotiation between inclusion and exclusion. It is, thus, important to bear in mind that migration is a process involving individuals with all their unique life experiences, complexities and consequences of their choices, sacrifices, ambiguities and hopes associated with the move. All of these have a profound impact on changes in migrants’ perception of, and attitude to, their place of origin, the specificities of destination setting and interpersonal relations between the two milieux. The empirical grounds for this discussion originate in biographical narrative interviews with Polish migrants in Belfast, Northern Ireland. These narratives portray transnationalism and integration as multiple trajectories, emphasising the co-existence of non-linear relations between the time and the intensity/frequency of migrants’ connections to the two settings. These will be examined using the theoretical framework of interpretative sociology, viewing individuals as constantly engaged in the task of interpretation, which is intrinsically rooted in the processes of interaction.

Relações de gênero e ruralidade nos projetos vitais e noções de si de jovens mulheres

Resumo O presente artigo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa qualitativa com 48 jovens mulheres do meio rural do Rio Grande do Sul, focando aspectos do protejo vital e marcadores identitários presentes na construção dos mesmos. A aproximação metodológica consistiu de uma combinação entre entrevistas narrativas de caráter biográfico e uma proposta de fotocomposição, ambas com roteiro de produção semiestruturada. Os resultados indicam que as relações comunitárias de ruralidade e de gênero são importantes marcos dos projetos vitais dessas jovens, que pendem entre leituras tradicionais dos papéis de gênero e possibilidades subversivas do feminino, em um processo narrativo dialógico.

Using carer biographical narratives to explore factors involved in proxy reporting of quality of life in people with dementia

Objectives: Quality of life is an important focus of research on dementia, with interest in direct reports of people with dementia and proxy reports of their carers. By exploring the subjective perspectives of unpaid family carers and paid care workers, this study aims to understand how carers construct meaning in narratives about quality of life with dementia.Method: A case-centred approach involved biographical narrative interviews with 10 carers to explore what was important for people with dementia to have a good quality of life. Detailed narrative analysis attended to the linguistic and structural features of accounts to consider how dementia is conceptualised by carers in the framing of quality of life.Results: An individual's perception of how dementia impacts on awareness and behaviour was central to their understanding of quality of life. Carers who constructed dementia as a loss of skills and abilities were able to represent quality of life in positive terms despite the challenges of dementia. Carers who constructed dementia as eroding identity represented quality of life less positively and centred on their own means of coping with a challenging care situation.Conclusion: Findings highlight the importance of helping carers develop positive constructions of quality of life that are associated with understanding dementia as a loss of skills and abilities, rather than as a loss of self. Engaging with subjectivity in carers’ biographical narrative accounts is important in the development of quality of life assessment to understand the meanings and emotions that underlie proxy perspectives.

PP44 Lifetime alcohol use trajectories of russian men: qualitative study exploring the role of social context and perceptions of age-appropriate behaviour

Background Heavy and hazardous alcohol use is an important driver of the Russian male mortality crisis. Previous studies have addressed the macro-level factors affecting changes in population-level drinking but few have addressed the social and contextual factors associated with individual change in drinking over the life course. There is also a dearth of qualitative research on Russian men’s drinking. Methods This qualitative study was conducted as part of a longitudinal study on men’s alcohol consumption in Izhevsk, Russia, a medium size industrial town. We collected 25 semi-structured biographical interviews with men aged 33–60 years. Consistent with the biographical-narrative interview technique the interviewers asked the respondents to describe events in their lives and any significant changes in drinking over the lifetime. Interview data were coded independently by three researchers using thematic content analysis. Results The drinking narratives describe changes occurring over a period of incredible social and economic instability brought on by the collapse of the Soviet Union. The dominant drinking pattern was decreasing binge and frequent drinking as men reached middle age which was precipitated by family building, reductions in drinking with work colleagues, and health concerns. A minority of men described chaotic drinking histories with periods of abstinence and heavy drinking. The results highlight the importance of the blue-collar work environment for conditioning male heavy drinking in young adulthood through a variety of social, normative and structural mechanisms. Bonding with workmates through heavy drinking was seen as an unavoidable and essential part of young men’s social life. Post-Soviet changes associated with marketisation reduced the propensity for workplace drinking but the important social function of male drinking sessions remained. With age peer pressure to drink decreased and the need to perform the role of responsible breadwinner put different behavioural demands on men. For some resisting social pressure to drink became an important site of self-determination and a mark of masculine maturity. Conclusion The study highlights the intersecting influences of broader societal changes, contextual norms, and individual life events on alcohol use trajectories. Over the men’s lifetime the place where masculine identity was asserted shifted from the workplace to the home, which commonly resulted in a reduction in drinking. We contribute to existing theories of Russian male drinking by showing that the performance of age-related social roles influences Russian mens’ drinking patterns, drinking contexts and their attitudes. Further research should be conducted investigating drinking trajectories in Russian men.