Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Collective Biography |
| Unit code |
EDUCD0085 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
D/8
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. Reed |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department |
School of Education |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit focuses on collective biography as a form of research methodology that encompasses collective data collection and analysis. Participants will explore the ways in which collective and collaborative methods of writing generate critical responses to narrative research questions. The unit will provide a vehicle in which participants will engage critically in a collective writing workshop. There will be three strands to the course:
- reading and discussion of relevant texts;
- opportunities to engage in collective biographical methods;
- the production of an individually annotated collective biography.
This unit aims to:
- Place under scrutiny representations of culture, agency and knowledge as both subjective and objective constructions
- Position collective biography as an interdisciplinary collaborative research genre and as a legitimate site for explorations of the interplay between selves, identities, communities, societies and cultures.
- Develop as research tools a critically informed appreciation of memory work and embodied/collective life writing
- Provide opportunities to undertake collective biography
Intended Learning Outcomes
This unit aims to:
- Place under scrutiny representations of culture, agency and knowledge as both subjective and objective constructions
- Position collective biography as an interdisciplinary collaborative research genre and as a legitimate site for explorations of the interplay between selves, identities, communities, societies and cultures.
- Develop as research tools a critically informed appreciation of memory work and embodied/collective life writing
- Provide opportunities to undertake collective biography
Teaching Information
A range of learning and teaching opportunities will be made available during an integrated collective biography workshop comprising tutor facilitation, theory-generating seminars and group discussions. The substantial focus of the workshop will remain individual and collective writing, critical reading and the critique, re-writing and performing of texts
Assessment Information
A written or multimodal assignment equivalent to 4000 words per individual contributor will be required. The assignment may be individually or collectively produced; collaboratively generated projects will be required to indicate, annotate and evidence the contributions that each participant has made in the production of the project.
Reading and References
- Davies, B and Gannon, S (2006) Doing collective biography, Open university press, Buckingham
- Gannon, S (2001) (Re) presenting the collective girl, Qualitative Inquiry, 7 (6) 787-800
- Onyx, J and Small J (2001) Memory work: the method, in: Qualitative Inquiry, 7 (6) 733-786
- Haug, F (and others) (1999, 2nd ed) Female sexualization: a collective work of memory, verso, London
- Speedy, J (2005) Collective biography practices: collective writing with the unassuming geeks group, In: British Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 2 (2) 29-38
- St. Pierre, E (1997) Circling the text: Nomadic writing practices, In: Qualitative Inquiry, 3(4) , 403-418
