Discusses the use of testimonials (edited oral narratives collected from people who by their circumstances cannot write about their experiences firsthand) in the English classroom. States that teaching testimonial narratives leads students to ask challenging questions about priorities in literature classes and their everyday experiences. (RS)

Life-story mapping is a technique for exploring personal identity and family history within the context of human geography. Site-specific autobiography develops a sense of how place influences identity. (SK)

This paper argues that there is no other way to describe history, and particularly the personal life history of people, apart from in the form of a narrative. It also suggests that as history is not understandable, save in the form of a narrative, the narration as such "makes" history. Drawing on the findings of a research project on…

Recent evidence suggests that there have been significant increases in the number of problems reported by students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. This paper seeks to describe, by means of autobiographical account, the educational implications of being identified as "queer" within schools. It draws on experiential stories to illustrate…

This study investigated cultural differences in autobiographical memory of trauma. Australian and Asian international students provided self-defining memories, narratives of everyday and trauma memories and self-reports assessing adjustment to the trauma. No cultural distinction was found in how Australian or Asian subjects remembered a personal…

The ways contemporary American journalists view themselves and order their experiences in their autobiographies stem from the reporter-as-celebrity phenomenon. As a result of this phenomenon, many journalists are writing their autobiographies when they are fairly young, and creating larger-than-life personas of themselves, which tends to emphasize…

To consider Frederick Douglass as an autobiographer, it is useful to examine each of his three autobiographical texts with a view to drawing some conclusion about their relation to one another, and about the relation of the author to each one. It seems likely that the shifting of Douglass' narrative stance is an index of his intellectual…

A story told about soliciting comments and criticisms from students during a class one day reveals a number of disturbing techniques used in academic story-telling. Such story telling, which has become increasingly common in academic teaching/writing journals of late, creates the deceptive impression of sincerity and intimacy. In this case, the…

Contemplates autobiographical and creative life writing and journalizing, which contribute to the knowledge of the particularities of feminine experience. Discusses six different facets of feminist, autobiographical, and postmodern writing or teaching. (PA)

Explains how the author has come to understand that all writing, in many different ways, is autobiographical and that autobiography grows from a few deep taproots that are set down in childhood. Shares some of his own writing as examples. (MG)

At Brooklyn College (New York), students' autobiographical narratives are used to help other students examine the structure of the world in which they grew up and to better understand the tension between the individual and society. In this way, sociology becomes more real and personal. (MSE)

Summarizes a study that interviewed a group of 10 self-selected college students exhibiting a range of disabilities. Findings revealed the importance of the faculty-student relationship as a means of establishing identity within the classroom and university. A significant factor was the students' desire to tell their stories, attesting to…

Analysis of descriptive reports about individuals with autism included case studies, diagnostic reports, single-subject research studies, family accounts, and autobiographies. Seven distinct types of descriptions were identified, including a child on a specific occasion, typical behavior, what a child should have done, how behavior was…

Autobiographies are useful in teaching middle school reading and writing since middle school students tend to focus on topics about themselves and their place in the world. Autobiographies offer a powerful mechanism for self-reflection. This paper presents activities demonstrating how to use autobiography to motivate students to express their…

In this paper, I share stories that provide sites of inquiry for the (re)interpretation of my own educative experience. Crossing time, I (re)visit and (re)construct seminal events in my life using knowledge gleaned in the intervening years to come to see how these life stories inform and guide me in the present. I use my own stories to enhance my…