Biographical Perspective Research Articles

The absurdities of remote learning in art schools in the narratives of teachers, parents and students – reflections from pilot research

The article presents the issue of remote teaching in art schools (music and ballet) during the COVID-19 pandemic from the biographical perspective of students, their parents and teachers of the main instrument. The cited stories focus on the unexpected difficulties they faced after the introduction of online education. Subjects closely related to artistic development (such as main instrument lessons, orchestra, choir, ear training, chamber ensembles – in music schools, or classical dance lessons – in the case of ballet schools) have caused many organisational and technical problems. Their effectiveness, in many cases, is unable to meet the needs of either students or teachers, leaving behind a feeling of meaninglessness, grief of loss, and, in borderline situations, physical harm.The article presents the results of pilot research (2022–2023) conducted as part of biographical research among teachers, parents and students of music and ballet schools. In-depth narrative interviews (and excerpts from them included in the text) paint a picture of the complicated everyday life of the pandemic, the strategies for coping with the encountered problems and the emotions associated with remote teaching of arts subjects in each studied group. The result of the pilot research is a record of the initial analysis and opens the research path for full-scale research planned for 2023–2024.The personal stories presented in the article have a dual purpose. On the one hand, they intend to outline their common experiences during the pandemic, outline the scale of the problem, and, as it were, confirm the validity of undertaking such a research topic. On the other hand, they invite readers to reflect on the reality of art schools that may be unknown to them.

What is a mathematician doing…in a chemistry class?

The way of thinking of mathematicians and chemists in their respective disciplines seems to have very different levels of abstractions. While the firsts are involved in the most abstract of all sciences, the seconds are engaged in a practical, mainly experimental discipline. Therefore, it is surprising that many luminaries of the mathematics universe have studied chemistry as their main subject. Others have started studying chemistry before swapping to mathematics or have declared some admiration and even love for this discipline. Here I reveal some of these mathematicians who were involved in chemistry from a biographical perspective. Then, I analyze what these remarkable mathematicians and statisticians could have learned while studying chemical subjects. I found analogies between code-breaking and molecular structure elucidation, inspiration for statistics in quantitative analytical chemistry, and on the role of topology in the study of some organic molecules. I also analyze some parallelisms between the way of thinking of organic chemists and mathematicians in terms of the use of backward analysis, search for patterns, and use of pictures in their respective researches.

‘If we lower our responsiveness, the algorithm likes us less’. A biographical perspective on (losing) control in the platform economy

ABSTRACT While there have been numerous – mostly qualitative – studies on the experience and the conditions of platform labour, the exploratory potential of biographical research has so far been overlooked. This article responds to this gap in research by presenting a case study of a French crowdworker, who was interviewed in the context of a larger European research project on precariousness and unpaid labour. On the basis of her autobiographical narrative, the authors reconstruct how her relationship with two online labour platforms evolved throughout the course of two years. The aim of this article is to illustrate the benefits of adopting a longitudinal, process-oriented perspective on the experience of online gig work in a biographical context. By giving informants the time and space to openly narrate and reflect about how their lives evolved, it also becomes possible for them to work through difficult past experiences and gain new perspectives. Furthermore, this research approach can be a tool to amplify ‘voices from below’ as a corrective against powerful corporate strategies. The authors aim to make the process of interpreting autobiographical narrative interviews transparent by highlighting the analytical relevance of selected formal textual features.

The interconnectedness of marriage politics and luxury consumption: a marital biographical perspective

ABSTRACTThe article examines how two symbolic arenas of Gabor Roma politics – the accumulation of wealth (with a special focus on competitive luxury consumption centred around beakers and roofed tankards made of antique silver) and marriage politics – are intertwined and interact with each other. The first part introduces Roma politics, describes the most important features of luxury consumption and marriage politics, and delineates the main types of interconnectedness and interplay between these two symbolic arenas. The second part, using a marital biographical perspective, sheds light on how one of these types of interconnectedness works through a detailed analysis of the establishment and dissolution of an engagement of historical importance among the Gabor Roma. This case study demonstrates why and how economic and political ambitions or constraints may shape individual and family-level strategies and decision-making concerning partner choice and marriage politics. The article serves as an insightful example of why a marital biographical perspective – based on concepts such as processuality, dynamism, relatedness, and context-sensitivity – is well suited to provide a nuanced insight into how the political economy of family life works in various ethnographic settings.

Family Practices In The Construction Of Creative Professionals. A Biographical Perspective

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationships between family configurations and creative occupations. For this purpose, a biographical perspective was taken through the reconstruction of the life histories of sixteen creative professionals in Spain. We have followed two lines of approach, namely Florida’s classification of occupations (2002), which distinguishes between a creative class and a super-creative core, and Lahire’s conception of family configuration (1995). The main results reveal the importance of practices that are carried out on a daily basis by the family network (both internally and externally): reading and writing, cultural consumption (theatre, music, exhibitions, etc.), types of leisure (travelling) and forms of authority that lead the way to self-control and domestic family order. We have shown with this study the importance of the transmission of family culture in the construction of people who have creative occupations and the relationship that exists between the family educational capital and the educational level attained by the offspring.

Protesting parents as a significant social and educational phenomenon

The aim of this paper is to give the initial analysis of the phenomenon of protesting parents within a wider study on the learning potential of rebellion. This thread appeared due course the induction of the category “socialization to rebellion” from the empirical material. In this research project, the author uses a biographical perspective proposed by Danuta Urbaniak-Zając. The empirical material is analysed in a “transverse” way. First, individual biographies are analysed. Then all empirical material is compared with respect to differences and similarities. In the narrations of the “rebellious” people several threads about their childhood and participation in protests along with their parents were discovered. The analysed narrations show that protesting parents could potentially have played an important role in shaping the involvement of respondents in social and political affairs. It can be seen as an important citizen education issue.

It's not all nuts and bolts, you know... [art - engineering

This article explores the intersection between engineering and art, highlighting some of the most iconic designs that embody both form and function. Despite the perception that science and art are two separate domains, there are engineers and artists who have seamlessly merged these disciplines to create breathtaking industrial aesthetics. The article examines the biographical perspective of six engineering creations, from the Clifton Suspension Bridge to the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner, and also pays tribute to one of the greatest artist-engineers of all time, Leonardo da Vinci. Other examples on this list include the Shard building in London, which combines stunning architectural design with advanced engineering techniques, the iconic Aston-Mini car that showcases sleek design and efficient engineering, and the iPod, which revolutionized the music industry with its innovative design and user-friendly interface. Through these examples, the article showcases how engineering can transcend its functional purpose and become a work of art.

It's not all nuts and bolts, you know... [art - engineering

This article explores the intersection between engineering and art, highlighting some of the most iconic designs that embody both form and function. Despite the perception that science and art are two separate domains, there are engineers and artists who have seamlessly merged these disciplines to create breathtaking industrial aesthetics. The article examines the biographical perspective of six engineering creations, from the Clifton Suspension Bridge to the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner, and also pays tribute to one of the greatest artist-engineers of all time, Leonardo da Vinci. Other examples on this list include the Shard building in London, which combines stunning architectural design with advanced engineering techniques, the iconic Aston-Mini car that showcases sleek design and efficient engineering, and the iPod, which revolutionized the music industry with its innovative design and user-friendly interface. Through these examples, the article showcases how engineering can transcend its functional purpose and become a work of art.

‘Sympathy for the Devil?’ McDonald’s between imperialism and the building of post-Yugoslav Serbian identity

Abstract Since the opening of its first restaurant in a communist country, which was Yugoslavia, not only is the huge success of the U.S. franchise something that was merely not supposed to happen, but ‘consuming McDonald’s’ has left its mark on the post ‑Yugoslav identity building process. Our central argument is that the singularity of the ‘McDonaldization of Serbia’ encompasses the interactions between expansion/ localness, dominance/adaptation and those who take part in this historical process which spans more than three decades, their responses that apprise, shape and constrain their everyday life conditions. This paper starts from the observation that most of the existing scholarly literature on identity building addresses the end of the Yugoslav experience whether through state narratives or identities introverted. We chose a different and understudied angle, which is a people ‑centred perspective. Accordingly, this paper uses different research methods under the umbrella of a biographical perspective from 1988 to 2021. Ethnographic fieldwork, comprising 45 semi ‑structured interviews with Belgradians, aims to expand scholarly knowledge on consumption and identity building in post ‑Yugoslav Serbia. In addition, conversations with influential individuals contributed to identify periods in the intermingled life of McDonald’s and people in contemporary Serbia. In the early 1990s, the McDonaldisation to some extent escalated cultural disputes between the republics against a backdrop of identity tensions. During the period spanning from the late years of Milosevic’s rule to the advent of Alexandar Vučić in 2012, political conflicts over sovereignty sparked ambiguous civic responses. Finally, McDonald’s has brought Serbs into the Western sphere which is probably best encapsulated in a local popular saying ‘McDonald’s is McDonald’s’ (‘Mek je Mek’), despite being considered ‘tasty’/unhealthy, expensive/rewarding or socially stimulating.

(Auto)Biographical Narratives and the Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers who Teach Probability and Statistics

Background: Investigating narratives from the (auto)biographical perspective has expanded the possibilities of research in mathematics education, in the personal and professional aspects of the individuals and their choices during professional development. Objectives: This article aims to analyse (auto)biographical narratives of mathematics teachers who teach stochastics in basic education and their teacher professional development processes. Design: It is qualitative research, from the (auto)biographical perspective. Setting and Participants: The lexical corpus is composed of ten narratives by teachers from the states of São Paulo and Espírito Santo, Brazil, participants of a continuing education course offered in a virtual learning environment. Data collection and analysis: For the textual and lexical analysis of the content, the IRaMuTeQ software and its respective analysis resources were used: word cloud technique, similarity analysis and the descending hierarchical classification (DHC). Results: From this analysis, four thematic categories emerged: initial education, professional challenges, school practice, and continuing education. Conclusions: We concluded that school practice is directly related to initial education and the challenges the mathematics teacher faces. Second, only by reflecting on their practices can the teacher be convinced of their need for updating in continuing education.

A Career in IT? The Meanings of a Career at Business Process Outsourcing Centers in Poland from a Biographical Perspective

The paper reconstructs the ways of attributing meanings to IT specialists’ careers at BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) centers in Poland. The findings rely on empirical data, collected through autobiographical narrative interviews. The technique of analysis applied in the study was inspired by grounded theory methodology and allowed for the identification of a basic social process at the analytical stage, namely, “career planning.” On the one hand, the analysis also showed how IT specialists’ careers are given meanings concerning career planning; there seem to be three main ways of understanding one’s career in IT: (1) in terms of reaching economic and social stability, (2) as a transition period in a career as an IT specialist, (3) with regard to becoming an expert in IT. On the other hand, the second axis of analysis has been conceptualized, which is comprised of other subjective and objective elements that may shape career planning. These include the biographical experiences of work, the context of the Polish BPO industry, and career planning resources. Furthermore, a typology consisting of three ways of attributing meanings to IT specialists’ careers at BPO centers has been put forward and analyzed.

Newly appointed principals’ professional identity – insights from a Swedish perspective

The aim of the article is to explore newly appointed principals’ professional identity formation in Sweden. By addressing five specific aspects of principals’ professional identity, the article analyses how principals depict their ‘knowledge’, ‘understandings’, ‘experiences and wisdom’, ‘values’ and ‘beliefs’ in forming a professional identity. Another focus is on newly appointed principals’ knowledge, understandings, experiences and wisdom, values and beliefs, given their biographical histories. The empirical analysis rests on a qualitative survey conducted with 87 principals who were about to begin the National Principal Training Programme that all newly appointed principals in Sweden have to follow. Theoretically, the analytical work rests on a biographical perspective on principals’ professional identity. The main results show that the identity of newly appointed principals is diverse and also fragmented. Moreover, from a biographical point of view, there are facts prior to professional experience-knowledge that are significant in identity construction and that give meaning to an identity as school principals.

Almodóvar’s High Heels revisited: a scandalous or thought-provoking portrayal of a judge?

ABSTRACT Taking as its focus the 1991 movie High Heels by Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar, this article argues that the multi-layered narrative style of Almodóvar's films make them especially suited to the examination of present-day culture and society. High Heels is the story of a troubled mother–daughter relationship compounded with the subplot of a judge who is entrusted with the investigation of the murder of the daughter's husband. A judge by day, at night he performs as a drag artist in a gay bar (as well as occasionally slipping into other roles). The article contends that, rather than the two plots being in a hierarchical relationship, they are intertwined. Bringing her own biographical perspective as a former judge, Ruth Herz considers the significance of the Almodóvar's judge Dominguez's role as the one who navigates the intricate labyrinth of facts, feelings, and fantasies, and who mediates between the two plots. The unique method employed by Dominguez in his quest for the ‘truth’ challenges the deep-seated notion among the general public and in the judiciary itself of what judgecraft is. He demonstrates – albeit in a typically scandalous, parodic way – how the process of judging continues to remain enigmatic even under democracy, despite the claim of transparency and open courts.

Introduction

Introduction

The Art Applied to Business

The article presents an overview of Russian authors’ publications, mainly from the first issues of the journal “Technical Aesthetics” of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Technical Aesthetics (VNIITE). The purpose of this study is to highlight the controversial issues and problems relevant at the initial stages of forming the theory of a new type of artistic and industrial activities: technical aesthetics. The study’s relevance is determined by the fact that in the theory of design, at present, the aspect of the “art — design” linking is considered systemically incomplete. While the stages of the development of Russian design in chronological and biographical perspectives are covered quite fully by K.M. Kantor, N.V. Voronov, Yu.V. Nazarov, G.V. Vershinin and a number of other authors, but the theoretical aspects require further research development.The years of the Institute’s active work (1960s—1980s) are called fruitful in conceptual, scientific and creative terms, it was then that the professional model of the service and interaction between design and the planned economy was finally formed. The article shows that, at that time, intensive discussions of the main problems of artistic design and the provisions of aesthetics were reflected in regular publications of a number of periodicals, especially the journals “Technical Aesthetics” and “Decorative Art of the USSR”; and the difficult question of the criteria for evaluating the aesthetic qualities of industrial products turned out to be paramount. The term “artistic construction” implied the solution of the problem of bringing art and science closer to industry. In this process, in the discourse of the principles of technical and aesthetic creativity, all employees of the Institute — theorists and practitioners who would become outstanding design specialists — took part.The VNIITE’s activities met the demand of the time, the task of national importance — to establish mass production of a decent aesthetic level of industrial products. The period of 1964—1969 is the first stage in the study of the Soviet design formation history and is associated with intensive studying the heritage of the 1920s, introducing new materials into scientific circulation, formulating a number of new problems, and developing criteria for an objective assessment of many phenomena. It was accompanied by a number of difficulties in the relation between the settings of artistic construction and Russian art studies. This article justifies the importance of the work of the pioneers in the field of design in connection with other fields of art, and specifically with architecture and printing.

“Ja już podarłem kilka swoich sztuk…”. From the personal archive of Adam Tarn

The personal archive of Adam Tarn (1902–1975), the first editor-in-chief of the Dialog monthly and a translator, critic, novelist, and playwright, includes notes with loose ideas for plays, notes to his unfinished book on Chekhov, and minor literary attempts, which he corrected, set aside and later expanded. This material, which Tarn’s heirs kindly offered me for study, constitutes a valuable proof the creative process and the evolution of the writing of the Dialog’s editor-in-chief. In the context of Obraz ojca w czterech ramach [Father’s Image in Four Frames] (1934), Tarn’s début novel and the only one he completed, the novel Kameleon [Chameleon] is an intriguing item in the author’s collection of unfinished works. In this article I shall discuss the material contained in Tarn’s personal archive. This study offers an insight into his “internal laboratory” of writing and enables one to read it from, e.g., the biographical perspective. The dating of the collected material can be only approximated. The earliest surviving prose attempt written in French probably came from the interwar period, while the final notes were composed during his émigré period after 1968, when Tarn was working on his unfinished book on Chekhov.

Studying the material culture of science education in Argentina: consumer market, transnational circulation, educational practices, and local appropriation

The article presents part of a research process on the material culture of science education, particularly natural sciences, in Argentina, between the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. We used some methodological tools that were useful to manage the various sources, such as the biographical perspective of the cultural life of objects, the notion of circulation of knowledge and scientific instruments, the complex network of relationships between artifacts, knowledge, and local scientific-educational practices. This article shows some indicators and examples of the scientific materials studied.

"Biographical Learning" reloaded. Theoretical grounding of a challenging appoach

Abstract. This article discusses an apparently ‘outdated’ concept of thinking about learning within the lifespan. Obviously, the term ‘biographical learning’ has been replaced by the label of ‘lifelong learning’. In a first section, this position is critically examined and the importance of the biography for all learning experiences is emphasised. In a second step of argumentation, it is conceptually specified what the peculiarity of biographical learning actually is. The specifity of this learning concept can only be understood from a biographical perspective through the dimensions of ‘temporality’, ‘contextuality’ and ‘reflexivity’. The concluding third part introduces the concept of ‘biographicity’ and proposes a theoretical understanding of the complex biographical learning idea using the ‘grammar metaphor’ from language theory.

An Analysis of Amado V. Hernandez's Novel "Birds of Prey" Using Sociological and Biographical Perspective

The purpose of this research is to examine various social issues in the novel Birds of Prey by Amado V. Hernandez through content analysis. It also aims to produce an analysis from social issues to the elements of characters, venue and rivalry. The use of Sociological and Biographical perspectives has played a major part in highlighting the data in the study. In order to carry out this study, the researcher has tried to address various social issues in the novel. Based on the data gathered and the results, the study showed that social issues represent ten components. Characters, venue and rivalry have played an important role in raising various social issues. Finally, the life of Amado V. Hernandez is intertwined with the life of Mando Plaridel who is the main character in the novel.

Biographical perspectives on language ideologies in teacher education

Universities represent spaces where language ideologies are taken up, modified, and transformed. The monolingual orientation of most universities contributes to the (re)construction of inequalities between students perceived as “native speakers” and others labelled as “non-natives”. Therefore, language ideologies can be a challenge for linguistically minoritized students if their multilingual practices are not accepted as legitimate. Linking biographical with sociolinguistic and educational theories, this article focuses on the experiences of linguistically minoritized student teachers who aspire to work as German teachers in Austria. The research is based on biographical interviews. Through a comparison of three different cases, in which interviewees describe personal experiences with language hierarchies, the article elaborates on the following: how biographies of linguistically minoritized student teachers are shaped by language ideologies; how the processes of inclusion and exclusion in teacher education are linked to multilingual practices; and how linguistically minoritized student teachers position themselves against and make sense of language ideologies in their educational biographies. In the concluding section, the article makes an argument for the relevance of biographical theory and methodology to research on multilingual practices in educational institutions.