Postgraduate Course: Theory and Research in Auto/Biographical Studies (SCIL11018)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Sociology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course provides students with access to leading-edge theory and research on a range of auto/biographical topics. Auto/biographical studies exists both as an interdisciplinary area of scholarly interest and engagement, and as a distinct focus within the framework of many disciplines across the social sciences as well as arts and humanities. It has grown rapidly over the last thirty years and engages many postgraduate students as a possible way of conceptualising, investigating and understanding their own research interests. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: No |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| No Classes have been defined for this Course |
| First Class |
First class information not currently available |
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to:
&· Gain an overview of the key theoretical ideas, methodologies and debates within auto/biographical studies
&· Appreciate the location within this of particular pieces of research that they encounter at the required seminars and conferences
&· Critically engage with and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both the wider literature and the research presentations
&· Understand the place of auto/biographical ideas within a range of disciplines and where their own ideas and work might be situated within this
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Assessment Information
| The course will be assessed by means of (a) 500 word reviews of the seminar and conference attended, and (b) a 3,000 word essay on a topic set by the course convenor and tailored around each participant&©s research interests. The essay will count for 80% of the assessment and the reviews for 20%. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Linda Anderson (1997) Women and Autobiography in the Twentieth Century Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead.
Linda Anderson (2001) Autobiography London: Routledge.
William Andrews (ed, 1993) African American Autobiography Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Shari Benstock (ed, 1988) The Private Self: Theory & Practice of Women&©s Autobiographical Writings Routledge, London.
Daniel Bertaux (ed, 1981) Biography and Society Sage Publications, London.
Jan Campbell & Janet Harbord (eds, 2002) Temporalities: Autobiography & Everyday Life Manchester University Press, Manchester.
Prue Chamberlayne, Joanna Bornat & Tom Weingraf (eds, 2000) The Turn to Biographical Methods in Social Science Routledge, London.
Prue Chamberlain, Michael Rustin & Tom Wengraf (eds, 2002) Biography and Social Exclusion in Europe: Experiences and Life Journeys Bristol, UK: The Policy Press.
Norman Denzin (1989) Interpretive Biography Sage, New York.
Michael Erben (ed, 1998) Biography and Education Falmer Press, London.
Dan Goodley, Rebecca Lawthorn, Peter Clough & Michele Moore (2004) Researching Life Stories: Method, Theory & Analyses in a Biographical Age Routledge Falmer, London.
Morwenna Griffiths (1995) Feminisms and the Self: The Web of Identity Routledge, London.
Janet Hoskins (1998) Biographical Objects: How Things Tell the Stories of People&©s Lives London: Routledge.
Celia Hunt & Fiona Sampson (eds, 1998) The Self on the Page: Theory and Practice of Creative Writing in Personal Development Jessica Kingsley, London.
Zdenek Konopasek (ed, 2000) Our Lives As Database Czech Social Transitions in Autobiographical Dialogues Czech Republic: Univerzita Karlova v Praze.
Laura Marcus (1994) Auto/biographical discourses: theory, criticism, practice Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Robert Miller (2000) Researching Life Stories and Family Histories Sage Publications, London
Robert Miller (ed, 2005) Biographical Research Methods London: Sage.
David Morgan & Liz Stanley (eds, 1993) $ùSociology and Auto/Biography&©, special issue, Sociology 27, 1.
Nussbaum, Felicity. 1989. The Autobiographical Subject: Gender and Ideology in Eighteenth Century England. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Ken Plummer (2001a) Documents of Life 2: An Introduction To The Problems and Literature of a Humanistic Method London: Sage Publications.
Pauline Polkey (eds, 1999) Women&©s Lives into Print: The Theory, Practice and Writing of Feminist Auto/Biography London: Macmillan.
Pauline Polkey & Alison Donnell (eds, 1998) Representing Lives: Women and Autobiography London: Macmillan.
Brian Roberts (2002) Biographical Research Open University Press, Buckingham.
Schuster, Shlomit. 2003. The Philosopher&©s Autobiography. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson (eds, 1996) Getting a Life: Everyday Uses of Autobiography Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson (eds, 1998) Women, Autobiography, Theory: A Reader Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
Liz Stanley (1992) The Auto/Biographical I: Theory and Practice of Feminist Auto/Biography Manchester University Press, Manchester.
Liz Stanley (ed, 2009, in press) $ùIn Dialogue: On Life Writing and Narrative Inquiry&© special issue of Life Writing.
Domna Stanton (ed, 1984) The Female Autograph Chicago University Press, Chicago.
Sturrock, John. 1993. The Language of Autobiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Julia Swindells (ed, 1995) The Uses of Autobiography London: Taylor & Francis.
Treadwell, James. 2005. Autobiographical Writing and British Literature 1783-1834. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elisabeth Young-Bruehl (1998) Subject to Biography: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Writing Women&©s Lives Massachusetts, Harvard University Press. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
The course will open with a two-hour session in which the field of auto/biographical studies is overviewed and some of its main concerns presented and evaluated. There will also be a detailed annotated reading list to facilitate student participation in the seminars and conferences. The closing session will be concerned with the essay component of the course assessment, which will be written around the particular research ideas concerned with auto/biographical topics introduced through the seminars and conferences in connection with their place in the wider auto/biographical literature.
Students will also be required to attend two sets of research presentations. This will involve participation in (a) the half-day and whole-day seminars and conferences organised in each teaching semester by the Centre for Narrative and Auto/Biographical Studies and (b) the monthly seminars organised by IASH (Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities).
Indicatively, in the spring semester 2009, NABS half- and whole-day seminars included: a half-day (1pm to 5pm) set of presentations on $ùLives and Letters?&©, a half-day participatory symposium on a special issue of the journal Life Writing, and a whole-day conference (9.30 $ú 4.45) on new research on narrative and auto/biography; and the monthly two-hour long IASH auto/biography seminars included $ùWomen&©s self-expression in wartime Europe 1930-1950&© (January) and $ùThe making on Alva Belmont: Autobiography, biography & the creation of self&© (February). |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Lizbeth Stanley
Tel: (0131 6)51 3139
Email: liz.stanley@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Caroline Foord
Tel: (0131 6)51 3009
Email: caroline.foord@ed.ac.uk |
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