On social and psychological consequences of prolonged poverty–A longitudinal narrative study from Finland

By means of qualitative longitudinal material, this article explores meaningfulness during persistent monetary poverty through an integrative framework, which builds upon conceptualisations of meaning in life (coherence, significance, and purpose) and modes of being (labour, work, action). The material consists of 36 autobiographical accounts and their follow-up accounts from 2006 and 2012. The analysis reveals that in the developed welfare state of Finland, prolonged monetary poverty is connected with the propensity for incoherence and a feeling of insignificance, particularly if life is governed by a vicious cycle of scarcity. Prolonged poverty 1) turns aspirations from long-term to short-term goals and frames life as something characterised by negative anticipation and a circular sense of time. Life primarily takes place in private space. It also 2) weakens the sense of belonging and 3) reduces public participation. These are the domains where the meaning in life is constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. In a developed welfare state, the comprehensive and manageable social security scheme maintains coherence, yet universal social policy actions that enable participation in public activities nourish a sense of significance.

”Den här kroppen som lämnat mig i sticket”

”This body that has forsaken me.” Breast cancer, bodies, and recovery in Kristina Sandberg’s "En ensam plats" and Yvonne Hirdman’s "Behandlingen" This article studies autobiographical accounts of breast cancer, so called pathographies, analysing how the body and the illness are portrayed. The article has a special focus on the experiences of the lived body, relating it to the psychological concept resilience as well as to the sense of estrangement of the body in illness and the socially situated body. The focus of the study is two autobiographical Swedish accounts of breast cancer: Kristina Sandbergs’ En ensam plats (‘A lonely place’, 2021) and Yvonne Hirdman’s Behandlingen. 205 dagar i kräftrike (‘The treatment. 205 days in the kingdom of cancer’, 2019). The article is located in the field of medical humanities and the authors aim to bring out aspects relevant to both the literary understanding of pathographies and the medical understanding of individual experiences of illness.

Bengal Partition Refugees at Sealdah Railway Station, 1950–60

This article focuses on the Sealdah railway station in Calcutta, West Bengal, as a site of refugee ‘settlement’ in the aftermath of British India’s partition. From 1946 to the late 1960s, the platforms of Sealdah remained crowded with Bengali Hindu refugees from East Pakistan. Some refugees stayed a few days, but many stayed for months, even years. Relying on newspaper reports, autobiographical accounts and official archives, this article elaborates how a busy railway station uniquely shaped the experiences of partition refugees. Despite severe infrastructural limitations, the railway platforms of Sealdah provided these refugee residents with certain opportunities. Many preferred to stay at Sealdah instead of moving to any government facility. However, even for the most long-term residents of Sealdah, it remained a temporary home, from where they were either shifted to government camps or themselves found accommodation in and around Calcutta. The article argues that by allowing the refugees to squat on a busy railway platform for months and years, the state recognised a unique right of these refugees, their right to wait, involving at least some agency in the process of resettling.

Deeds and Words: The Holloway Jingles and the Fight for Female Suffrage

This article explores the importance of the written word of the Holloway Jingles in the fight for female suffrage through the analysis of the Foreword, “There’s a Strange Sort of College” and “L’Envoi.” Firstly, it will focus on the importance of writing as a venting tool for the suffragettes and it will demonstrate the idealization of imprisonment in the collection by comparing it to realistic and autobiographical accounts of life in Holloway Gaol, as well as the relevance of such an idealization in order to strengthen the bonds between the suffragettes both inside and outside of prison. Secondly, it will explore the impact of the collection within the feminist movement relating it to Virginia Woolf’s and Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideas, thus focusing on a wider notion of justice and freedom that was essential for their emancipatory fight.

Interpersonal and Intersubjective Alienation in Social Stigmatization and Depression

The subjective experience of social stigma has been widely researched in terms of discrimination, rejection, isolation, etc. These are commonly understood within the traditional individualistic framework of affective experience and sociality, which fails to address the transformative effects of social stigma on how one experiences the social realm and the own self in general. Phenomenology and recent work on the relationality of affective experience acknowledge the central role interpersonal interactions play in subjectivity and offer a suitable approach towards addressing the complexity of the subjective experience of social stigma. Focussing on autobiographical accounts, I propose that the experience of social stigmatization is characterized by an affective atmosphere of interpersonal alienation. Its counterpart, an atmosphere of belonging, is closely related to social empathy, which is eroded by prejudicial attitudes and stereotypes. The breakdown of social empathy establishes a peculiar form of relationless relationality that radically transforms one’s subjectivity. The transformation of subjectivity is structurally similar to disturbances of intersubjectivity in psychopathological conditions such as depression and feelings of disconnectedness, loneliness, and even shame are common in both cases.

Autobiographical accounts of students working on the Innocence Project London (IPL): students telling their story about how working on the IPL affected their lives

This reflection on a presentation at the Greenwich Learning and Teaching Conference (SHIFT) 2021 shows how powerful a sense of belonging can be, not only for students, but also for academics. By sharing their autobiographical reflections’ project, the student and staff presenters so powerfully connected with their audience that everyone was struck by the importance of collaborations that give students a voice. The occasion both produced some unanticipated outcomes and enabled everyone to relate personal experience to that of others.’

„Denn das Falsche kann echt werden“

: In his autobiographical accounts, Johann Wolfgang Goethe emphasizes the vital role that his father’s collections of books and art had for his own Bildung. In fact, the library of Johann Caspar Goethe (1710–1782) played a vital role in Goethe’s education and early studies while also attesting to his family background and status. However, soon after Johann Caspar’s death, his library was dissolved – and whereas Johann Wolfgang Goethe and other family members integrated some of the books into their own collections, the majority of objects were sold and dispersed. Today, a handwritten catalog commissioned by Goethe’s mother, Catharina Elisabeth Goethe, just before the sale (in 1793/1794), is a critical tool for reconstructing the collection. This article describes the history of Johann Caspar Goethe’s library, its dispersal as well as the efforts to reconstruct the collection. As the retrieval of the original copies from Johann Caspar’s library and the re-establishment of the original collection were impossible, the Freies Deutsches Hochstift has managed to collect equivalent titles and editions in order to restore a library that allows visitors to the Goethe-Haus in Frankfurt to learn about Goethe’s family background, the cultural setting of his upbringing, and early influences on his education.

A Pole in the Far East: Trials and Tribulations of a Text between New York, Paris, and Warsaw (Ferdynand Ossendowski, Beasts, Men, and Gods)

International audience After the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ferdynand Ossendowski, a Polish scientist, adventurer and writer living in the Russian Empire, managed to flee the country and tell his story to the world. This account of a dangerous journey through Central Asia, titled Beasts, Men, and Gods, was published in New York thanks to the help of an American, Lewis Stanton Palen. The universally admired book was translated from English into many languages, and Ossendowski himself soon prepared a Polish version of the narrative. Although Palen was credited only as a collaborator, hisimplication in the project seems to be larger than has been so far assumed. This paper discusses hitherto unexamined letters from Palen to Ossendowski as well as details of their later cooperation to form a theory on the genesis of Ossendowski’s most famous book. It also traces the uncommon literary career of Palen who since the publication of Beasts, Men, and Gods embarked on the collaboration with several other Central and Eastern European “source-authors” whose autobiographical accounts he edited and/ or translated. While none of them seems to have later retold the events in their own language, Ossendowski did, and the most important differences between the two texts are analyzed in the context of the necessity to adjust one’s personal experiences to the foreign literary market and the implied readers’ vision of the traversed lands. Après que la révolution bolchevique a éclaté, Ferdynand Ossendowski, un scientifique, aventurier et écrivain polonais, qui vivait dans l’Empire russe, a réussi à fuir le pays et raconter son histoire au monde. Ce récit d’un voyage dangereux à travers l’Asie centrale, intitulé Bêtes, hommes et dieux (conformément à l’original Beasts, Men, and Gods), a été publié à New York grâce à l’aide d’un Américain, Lewis Stanton Palen. Le livre, universellement admiré, a été traduit de l’anglais en plusieurs langues et Ossendowski lui‑même a préparé peu après une version polonaise de la narration. Bien qu’on attribue à Palen seulement le rôle d’un collaborateur, son implication dans le projet semble plus importante qu’on ne l’avait supposé jusqu’à présent. Cet article examine des lettres de Palen à Ossendowski qui n’avaient encore jamais été commentées ainsi que des détails sur leur collaboration plus tardive pour formuler une hypothèse sur la genèse du livre le plus connu d’Ossendowski. Il retrace également la carrière littéraire de Palen qui, à partir de la publication de Bêtes, hommes et dieux, a commencé à collaborer avec d’autres « auteurs‑sources » d’Europe centrale et de l’Est, dont il a rédigé et/ou traduit les récits autobiographiques. Mais alors qu’aucun d’entre eux n’a raconté plus tard cesévénements dans sa propre langue, Ossendowski l’a fait et les différences les plus importantes entre les deux textes sont analysées à la lumière du besoin d’adapter ses expériences personnelles au marché littéraire étranger et à la vision des pays traversés que pouvaient avoir ses futurs lecteurs. Po wybuchu rewolucji bolszewickiej Ferdynand Ossendowski, polski naukowiec, poszukiwacz przygód i pisarz mieszkający w Imperium Rosyjskim, zdołał uciec z kraju i opowiedzieć światu swoją historię. Relację o niebezpiecznej podróży przez Azję Środkową, zatytułowaną Beasts, Men, and Gods (polski tytuł Przez kraj ludzi, zwierząt i bogów) opublikowano w Nowym Jorku dzięki pomocy Amerykanina Lewisa Stantona Palena. Powszechnie podziwianą książkę przetłumaczono z angielskiego na wiele języków, a sam Ossendowski niedługo później przygotował polską wersję narracji. Mimo że wkład Palena określono jedynie jako współpracę, wydaje się, że był on większy niż do tej pory sądzono. W niniejszym artykule omówiono niebadane dotąd listy Palena do Ossedowskiego, a także szczegóły ich późniejszej współpracy, aby sformułować teorię na temat genezy najsłynniejszej książki polskiego pisarza. Szkic przedstawia również nietypową karierę literacką Palena, który po publikacji Beasts, Men, and Gods podjął współpracę z innymi „autorami źródłowymi” z Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej, których autobiograficzne relacje redagował i/lub tłumaczył. Wydaje się, że Ossendowski jako jedyny z nich opisał opowiedziane Amerykaninowi wydarzenia powtórnie we własnym języku. Najważniejsze różnice między dwoma tekstami skomentowano w kontekście konieczności dopasowania osobistych przeżyć do obcego rynku literackiego i wyobrażeń, jakie o przemierzonych krajach mieli projektowani czytelnicy.

Investigando colaborativamente en el doctorado: Bondades y desafíos a partir de un estudio de caso

This article proposes to show the benefits and challenges of collaboration in research processes. We start from the account of the experience of two directors and two doctoral students to problematize the academic regulations for which doctoral theses in traditional modalities be signed individually. A qualitative case study methodology is used to analyze the autobiographical accounts and the field diaries of the doctoral students, as well as the fragments of the field diaries of the two thesis supervisors. The results show first-hand narrated experiences about both the meaning and lived experience of developing two collaborative theses. The researchers detected four benefits, which at the same time are challenges, that emerge from the fact of working in a collaborative way and narrating together. First, we find the ability to transcend individuality and create collective knowledge. This finding leads to the second, related to the need to create an atmosphere of trust, and the third, the creation and use of the same language; which relate to the fourth, goodness and the challenge of treating the information collaboratively. Given the importance of developing research where collaboration is increasingly common, this experience concludes the need to highlight inconsistencies between the legal framework regarding doctoral theses and the acquisition of a doctoral degree and the needs involved with current collaborative investigations.

Identity and Masculinity in Two Cases of Early-Onset Disability Autobiography

This article examines the construction of identity and masculinity in two cases of disability autobiography. Retrospectively written autobiographical accounts of early-onset disability were analyzed abductively by using the model of narrative circulation (MNC), with a thematic content analysis being used to organize the data. Both narrators constructed their adult identity as men in relation to the available disability narratives and living conditions. Three intertwined dimensions regarding the construction of identity could be observed: external expectations, internal intentions, and locally situated narratives of work. The narratives may be considered to represent an alternative way to bypass, overcome, and refresh the culturally dominant stock of stories.