Leaving Spain

Since the beginning of the economic crisis of 2008, Spain, like other Southern European countries, has witnessed a mass departure of mostly young people looking for opportunities abroad. Leaving Spain is based on 58 autobiographical narrative interviews with recent Spanish migrants who went to the UK and Germany, and sometimes returned. By presenting a combination of in-depth case studies and comparative analyses, the author demonstrates the potential of biographical research and narrative analysis in studying contemporary Europe, including its overlapping crises. The scope of the sociological study is not limited to examining how those who left Spain experienced single phases of their migration. Instead, it focuses on the significance of migration projects in the context of their life histories and how they make sense of these experiences in retrospect. This book will not only be of great interest to social scientists and students in different disciplines and interdisciplinary studies such as sociology, anthropology, human geography, European studies, education, and social work, but also to professionals, European and national policy makers, and those interested in learning more about migrants’ experiences, perspectives, and (often invisible) contributions.

Representation across languages: biographical sociology meets translation and interpretation studies

Biographical approaches are increasingly being used with people who speak and write a range of languages. Even when an account is originally spoken, the final version usually ends up written in the language used by the majority of the population. Researchers have shown that adopting a language that is not the one an account was given in may change how someone is perceived. Yet little has been written by sociologists using biographical approaches about the implications of moving accounts across languages. Researchers within translation and interpretation studies are increasingly tackling issues of representation across languages and developing concepts that can usefully be applied in biographical research. They question the assumption that accounts can be unproblematically transferred across languages and argue for strategies and concepts that “foreignise” texts and challenge the baseline of the target, usually for these writers, English language. However, these concepts bring issues of their own. In this article I examine these developments and give an example from my own cross language research that show that these concepts can begin to open up debates about meaning and representation.

SCIENTISTS-EDUCATORS OF UKRAINE ON THE PAGES OF BIOBIBLIOGRAPHIC INDEXES

The article considers the priority area of the leading educational libraries scientific and bibliographic activities - methods of compiling, filling and publishing the serial personal (bio-bibliographic) indexes of leading scientists of Ukraine, works of the high educational establishment professors and teachers. The role of biobibliographic indexes is highlighted as to the process of searching for documents about the main publications of famous educators - a reliable source of historical and biographical research that facilitates the search for scientific information, gives a complete picture of current and past research status, outlines their future topics, as well as the possibility to satisfy the informational needs of users on a specific topic. The analysis of serial personal indexes of different form, structure and content is carried out. Emphasis is placed on the role of the State Scientific and Pedagogical Library of Ukraine named after V.O. Sukhomlinsky in the preparation and publication of biobibliographic indexes, which reflect the creative heritage of the outstanding scientists and the implementation of their creative ideas in pedagogical activity. Particular attention is paid to the personal bibliographic indexes structure, ways of arranging the material and their content, which ensures the scientist holistic image creation, his scientific, state and public activities main results coverage, determination of their contribution to Ukrainian and world science development. Biobibliographic indexes highlight the accomplishments and scientific achievements of the Ukrainian education prominent representatives, information about which can be used in further research on the pedagogical science history, including of the Ukraine NAPS scientists-teachers, contribute to the further development of a new philosophy of education and upbringing. The scientific heritage of Ukrainian scientists, recorded in bio bibliographic indexes, makes it possible to study and objectively evaluate their achievements. Professionally prepared personal indexes are an integral part of the source base of Ukrainian science and have significant value for modern researchers and play a significant role in research.

Critical Events as Factors Shaping Life Experiences

The article presents the life story of an elderly woman, the sense of the quality of her life, the critical events that shaped her life, and the lessons learned from her experiences. The study adopted a biographical paradigm, which explains the importance of individual biographies in the education process and indicates the need to study the history of life as a source of knowledge about man and his learning. The main aim of the undertaken research was to recognise the meanings that the respondent gives to critical events in shaping the quality of her life. The biographical method was used, and, within it, an autobiographical narrative interview. The most significant events assessed as positive were the births of her children. The negative events were in particular: the deaths of close ones, a failed marriage and an accident. In coping with suffering, the woman was helped by: help from others, faith, strength, optimism, activity, activities for the benefit of others, and her value system. Lessons emerged from the subject’s history, helpful in her life, which can also inspire others. The narrator tried to live in harmony with her conscience and the accepted principles, which gave her satisfaction. Biographical research has an educational function. Life stories can teach what is important in life, what is worth living for, and they can lead to reflections.

Explanation and Understanding as Methods of Historical and Biographical Cognition

Traditionally, explanation is considered to be the method of natural sciences and understanding to be the method of humanities. However, this paper considers both to be methods of history. Namely, the author focuses on how explanation and understanding function in history in general and in biography in particular. Referring to biographical realm helps explicate the specifics of explanation and understanding as well as broaden the view about their uses in humanities. In the first part, the author refers to explanation and understanding in history as such. In particular, causal explanation (explanatory sketch by Karl Hempel) and rational explanation (history of ideas by Mark Bevir) are considered in the paper along with the relationship of hermeneutic notion of understanding with the two. The second part of the paper deals with the functioning of explanation and understanding in biographical research. Namely, it considers biographical understanding by Tilmann Habermas and Neşe Hatiboğlu as well as cases of causal and rational explanations in biographical research. In particular, it is shown that while causal explanation occurs in biography as explanatory sketch, it is not a separate distinct notion. It is also shown that rational explanation is used in biographical reconstructions in order to clarify the influence of particular events on beliefs of people. Based on the materials involved, the author demonstrates the specifics of explanation and understanding in biography compared to their usage in historical cognition in general.

Badania biograficzne rodzin więźniów. Refleksja metodologiczna Angelika Cieślikowska-Ryczko 1

The article deals with the life situation of the families of prisoners, in particular, parental relationships connected with the experience of incarceration in a correctional institution. During the realisation of the research I noticed many difficulties in finding contact with potential interlocutors, therefore I considered the families of prisoners as an environment “invisible in the research field”. In addition, I defined families of prisoners as marginalised and stigmatised environments. The main aim of the article is to show selected methodological dilemmas that can be encountered through the design and analysis of biographical research of family members of prisoners. The theoretical introduction of the paper as an extended definition of the penitentiary crisis allowed to characterise the dominant trends and directions of research on prisoners’ families. Further, it focused on selected problems of realisation of qualitative research (especially biographical research). I analyse the literature and present my own methodological approach based on the direction of interpretative sociology. Using the potential of the autobiographical narrative interview technique (of the German sociological school of Fritz Schütze), I collected 31 interviews with adult children of prisoners and 30 interviews with parents of prisoners. Finally, I refer to my own research experience and discuss the “usefulness and ineffectiveness” of an autobiographical narrative interview. Moreover, I characterise key reflections on the role of the researcher in obtaining autobiographical narrations. The article is an invitation to discuss the improvement of research procedures, especially in the area of research on family members of persons in prisons.

Digital Materiality and Subjectivation: Methodological Aspects of Hybrid Entanglements in Processes of Bildung

This chapter explores possible connections among discourse analysis, materiality and biographical research in the context of subjectivation. The extant methodological/epistemological concepts linking the Foucauldian idea of discourse with biographical research do not provide clear openings for the incorporation of materiality, specifically those in digital form. This chapter proposes an adapted, modified approach to the analysis of material-discursive practices to the end of investigating the materiality and mediality of relationally understood processes of Bildung. In so doing, it identifies a need for a post-anthropocentric understanding of the biographical that focuses on the variety of socio-medial relational reconfigurations.

The Image of the Snow Maiden in the Sketches of Costumes for the Russian Theater of the Late 19th Century: Paths of Evolution

В исследовании на основе эскизов костюмов для постановок пьесы «Снегурочка» А. Н. Островского выявляются основные тенденции эволюции образа главной героини на протяжении последней четверти XIX в. Художественное изучение эскизов русских художников-станковистов этого периода и обращение к результатам исследований в области истории народного и сценического костюма, этнографии, биографическим изысканиям позволило рассмотреть изменение облика костюма Снегурочки от первых постановок пьесы (1873) до врубелевского воплощения (1890). Анализируемый образ развивался путем отказа от «художественного подхода», присущего русскому академизму (М. Клодий), последующего обращения к интерпретации В. М. Васнецова, в которой Снегурочка оказалась наиболее точным выражением идеала русской красоты, а затем – к народной романтизации, проявившейся в эскизах Н. К. фон Бооля и М. А. Врубеля. Трактовка В. М. Васнецова установила новый «сказочный канон», сохраняемый в театральном и киноискусстве до сих пор. The aim of the study is to identify the ways and features of the transformation of the fairytale image of the Snow Maiden (the main heroine of the play of the same name by Alexander Ostrovsky) in the conditions of the Russian stage of the late 19th century. The work was carried out on the basis of sketches of stage costumes created by Russian easel painters of the late 19th century. Other important sources were studies in the field of the history of Russian painting and scenography, the history of folk and stage costumes, ethnography; biographical research on Viktor Vasnetsov; Ostrovsky’s diaries. The core of the research was an evolutionary approach, which eventually made it possible to achieve the aim of the study. A comparative historical method was used for discovering the similarity between the motives reflected in the images of the Snow Maiden in the analyzed sketches and Russian folk ornaments of the 19th century that decorated the traditional costumes of Russian peasant women. In the course of the study, the appearance of the Snow Maiden’s costume was analyzed. From how it was shown in the sketches for the first productions of Ostrovsky’s play in the Bolshoi and Maly Theaters (sketches by M. P. Klodt) to the image of the heroine captured in the relief drawing by Mikhail Vrubel. Particular attention was paid to Vasnetsov’s interpretation, in which the image was successfully correlated with the traditional motives that existed in the folk ornament and embroidery of the Russian North. The characteristic features of the image of later authors (Nikolay von Bool and Mikhail Vrubel) were revealed. The later incarnations of the image were studied (for example, in Soviet cinema at the end of the 20th century). It has been established that a sketch of a stage costume solves the problem of the structure of the embodied image, it is an illustration of the author’s artistic beliefs and (in the case of reaching a certain level of artistic perfection) is a guideline for determining the technology of creating a costume. It has been determined that sketches made by old masters of Russian theatrical costume have a special artistic value and expressiveness. The leader among the masters, according to the author, is Vasnetsov, the creator of the authentic, perfect graphics of the Russian folk costume. The image of the Snow Maiden on the Russian stage of the late 19th century developed from the “artistic approach” characteristic of Russian academism and implemented in the works of M. P. Klodt to the most accurate expression of the ideal of Russian beauty embodied by Vasnetsov and further towards popular romanticization (von Bool and Vrubel).

TECENDO HISTÓRIAS… ENTRELAÇANDO NARRATIVAS… TECITURAS QUE CONSTROEM A DOCÊNCIA DE PROFESSORES BACHARÉIS

Este artigo tem como objetivo compreender as trajetórias de vida de professores bacharéis egressos do Programa Especial de Graduação de Formação de Professores para a Educação Profissional (PEG) a fim de investigar os processos formativos que levaram à construção da docência. Os professores investigados participaram de estudo doutoral que buscou apoio metodológico na pesquisa (auto)biográfica, utilizando como metodologia a investigação biográfico-narrativa e fazendo uso de entrevistas narrativas e diário de campo como instrumentos para a produção das informações. O processo de análise foi pautado pela análise narrativa e produziu dois “movimentos”: o primeiro envolveu a reconstrução das trajetórias de vida como textos narrativos, compondo tramas; o segundo fez surgir a “imagem” do “tear biográfico”, um dispositivo que impulsionou o entrelaçamento das tramas, possibilitando a composição de tecituras que constroem a docência dos sujeitos da pesquisa. Compreendemos, dessa forma, que a construção da docência não tem uma definição exata, sendo construída nos percursos vividos pelos sujeitos, nos modos de escritas de si e no entrelaçar das tramas, por meio do “tear biográfico”. Tramas que carregam muitas histórias, muitas memórias e que ao serem entrelaçadas, produziram tecituras - representações, sentidos e saberes - que, neste trabalho, não são entendidas como aspectos fragmentados, mas sim como aspectos que se articulam no movimento de narrar a vida, definindo a docência de quatro professores bacharéis egressos do PEG.Palavras-chave: formação de professores; pesquisa (auto)biográfica; tecituras; construção da docência de bacharéis.WEAVING STORIES... INTERLACING NARRATIVES... WEAVINGS THAT CONSTRUCT THE TEACHING OF BACHELOR TEACHERSAbstractThe purpose of this article is to understand the life trajectories of the bachelor teachers graduated of the Special Program of Graduation of Teacher Education for Professional Education (PEG) in order to investigate the formative processes that led to the construction of teaching. The investigated teachers participated in a doctoral study that sought methodological support in (biographical) research, using biographical-narrative research as a methodology and making use of narrative interviews and field diaries as tools for the production of information. The process of analysis was guided by narrative analysis and produced two "movements": the first involved the reconstruction of life trajectories as narrative texts, composing plots; the second gave rise to the "image" of the "biographical loom", a device that encouraged the interweaving of the plots, making possible the composition of weavings that construct the teaching of the research subjects. It is understood, therefore, that the construction of teaching does not have an exact definition, being built on the paths lived by the subjects, in the ways of writing oneself and in the interweaving of the plots, through the "biographical loom". Plots that carry many stories, many memories and that when intertwined, produced weavings - representations, senses and knowledge - that in this work are not understood as fragmented aspects, but rather as aspects that are articulated in the movement of narrating life, defining the teaching of four PEG graduates.Keywords: teacher training; (auto) biographical research; weavings; construction of the teaching of bachelors.TEJER HISTORIAS... ENTRELAZANDO NARRATIVAS: TECITURAS QUE CONSTRUEN LA DOCENCIA DE PROFESORES LICENCIADOS ResumenEste artículo tiene como objetivo comprender las trayectorias de vida de profesores licenciados egresados del Programa Especial de Graduación de Formación de Profesores para la Educación Profesional (PEG) con la finalidad de investigar los procesos formativos que llevaron a la construcción de la docencia. Los profesores investigados participaron en un estudio doctoral que buscó apoyo metodológico en la investigación (auto) biográfica, utilizando como metodología la investigación biográfica-narrativa y haciendo uso de entrevistas narrativas e diario de campo como instrumentos para la producción de las informaciones. El proceso de análisis fue pautado por el análisis narrativo y produjo dos "movimientos": el primer movimiento implicó la reconstrucción de las trayectorias de vida como textos narrativos, componiendo tramas; el segundo movimiento hizo surgir la "imagen" del "tear biográfico", un dispositivo que impulsó el entrelazamiento de tramas, que posibilita la composición de tecituras que construyen la docencia de los sujetos de la investigación. Comprendemos, de esta forma, que la construcción de la docencia no tiene una definición exacta, siendo construida en los recorridos vividos por los sujetos, en los modos de escrituras de sí y en el entrelazamiento de las tramas, por medio del "tear biográfico". Tramas que cargan muchas historias, muchas memorias y que al ser entrelazadas, produjeron tecituras - representaciones, sentidos y saberes. - que, en este trabajo, no se entienden como aspectos fragmentados, sino como aspectos que se articulan en el movimiento de narrar la vida, definiendo la docencia de cuatro profesores licenciados y egresados del PEG.Palavras-llave: formação de professores; pesquisa (auto)biográfica; tecituras; construção da docência de bacharéis.