The (mis)uses of life histories. The linguistic turn, life histories and (women’s) life stories

Costa, Claudia de Lima

doi:10.1590/S0104-71831999000300008

Abstracts

This paper retraces the debates on life-histories before and after the linguistic turn in the social sciences, and, more specifically, in the anthropological tradition. It stresses how poststructuralist feminist methodological, theoretical, and political appropriations of personal narratives represent a significant textual intervention in the gendered social-cultural scripts of women’s lives.

feminist theories; life history; subjectivity; women’s life stories

Este artigo analisa os debates sobre histórias de vida que antecederam e sucederam as discussões sobre a virada linguística nas ciências sociais, principalmente na tradição antropológica. O artigo argumenta que o feminismo pós-estruturalista, ao reapropriar-se teórica, metodológica e politicamente das histórias de vida, representou importante intervenção nos “textos” sociais e culturais disponíveis às mulheres na construção de seus relatos de vida e de suas subjetividades.

história de vida; narrativa de mulheres; subjetividade; teorias feministas

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¹
BAYNES, K.; BOHMAN, J.; McCARTHY, T. (Ed.). After philosophy: end or transformation? Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987.
²
BEVERLEY, J. The margin at the center: on testimonio. In: SMITH, S.; WATSON, J. De/Colonizing the subject: the politics of gender in women’s autobiography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992.
³
BERNSTEIN, R. J. The restructuring of social and political theory Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978.
⁴
BOURDIEU, P. A ilusão autobiográfica. In: FERREIRA, M. de M.; AMADO, J. (Ed.). Usos e abusos da historia oral Rio de Janeiro: Editora da Fundação Getúlio Vargas, 1996. p. 183-192.
⁵
BURGOS, M. Life stories, narrativity, and the search for the self. Life Stories/Recits de Vie, n. 5, p. 29-38, 1989.
⁶
CLIFFORD, J. Introduction. In: CLIFFORD, J.; MARCUS, G. (Ed.). Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986a. p. 1-26.
⁷
CLIFFORD, J. On ethnographic allegory. In: CLIFFORD, J.; MARCUS, G. (Ed.). Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986b. p. 98-121.
⁸
CHANFRAULT-DUCHET, M.-F. Narrative structures, social models, and symbolic representation in the life story. In: GLUCK, S. B.; PATAI, D. (Ed.). Women’s words: the feminist practice of oral history. New York: Routledge, 1991. p. 77-92.
⁹
CRAPANZANO, V. Life-Histories. American Anthropologist, n. 86, p. 953-959, 1984.
¹⁰
DALLMAYR, F. Language and politics Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984.
¹¹
DE LIMA COSTA, C. Situando o sujeito do feminismo: o lugar da teoria, as margens e a teoria do lugar. Travessia, n. 29/30, p. 123-160, 1997.
¹²
DE LIMA COSTA, C. The subject in feminism. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales (forthcoming).
¹³
DE LIMA COSTA, C. Etnografia, representação e prática política: os dilemas do feminismo na escrita da cultura. (in press).
¹⁴
DENZIN, N. K. The research act: a theoretical introduction to sociological methods. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1970.
¹⁵
DENZIN, N. K. Interpretive ethnography: ethnographic practices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997.
¹⁶
DUBOIS, C. Some psychological objectives and techniques in ethnography. Journal of Social Psychology, n. 8, p. 285-301, 1937.
¹⁷
FRANCO, J. “Si me permiten hablar”: la lucha por el poder interpretativo. Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, n. 36, p. 109-116, 1992.
¹⁸
HARLOW, B. From the women’s prison: Third World women’s narratives of prison. Feminist Studies, n. 12, p. 501-524, 1986.
¹⁹
HARLOW, B. Resistance literature New York: Methuen, 1987.
²⁰
JONES, G. R. Life history methodology. In: MORGAN, G. (Ed.). Beyond method: strategies for social research. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1983. p. 147-159.
²¹
KAPLAN, C. Resisting autobiography: out-law genres and transnational feminist subjects. In: SMITH, S.; WATSON, J. De/Colonizing the subject: the politics of gender in women’s autobiography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992. p. 115-138.
²²
KAPLAN, C. Autobiografia de resistência: gêneros fora-da-lei e sujeitos feministas transnacionais. Travessia, n. 29/30, p. 63-100, 1997.
²³
LANGELLIER, K. M. Personal narratives: perspectives on theory and research. Text and Performance Quarterly, v. 9, n. 4, p. 242-276, 1989.
²⁴
LEWIS, O. The children of Sanchez: autobiography of a Mexican family. New York: Random House, 1961.
²⁵
PASSERINI, L. Women’s personal narratives. In: PERSONAL NARRATIVES GROUP (Ed.). Interpreting women’s lives: feminist theory and personal narratives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. p. 198-198.
²⁶
PERSONAL NARRATIVES GROUP. Introduction. In: PERSONAL NARRATIVES GROUP (Ed.). Interpreting women’s lives: feminist theory and personal narratives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. p. 3-15.
²⁷
PORTELLI, A. The peculiarities of oral history. History Workshop Journal, n. 12, p. 96-107, 1981.
²⁸
QUEIROZ, M. I. P. Relatos orais: do “indizível” ao “dizível”. In: VON SIMSON, O. de M. (Ed.). Experimentos com histórias de vida São Paulo: Edições Vértice, 1988. p. 14-43.
²⁹
RABINOW, P.; SULLIVAN, W. M. (Ed.). Interpretive social science: a reader. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
³⁰
RICOEUR, P. The model of the text: meaningful action considered as a text. In: RABINOW, P.; SULLIVAN, W. M. (Ed.). Interpretive social science: a reader. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. p. 73-101.
³¹
ROSALDO, R. Doing oral history. Social Analysis, n. 9, p. 18-26, 1980.
³²
ROSALDO, R. Culture and truth: the remaking of social analysis. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989.
³³
SAID, E. The world, the text, and the critic Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.
³⁴
SALAZAR, C. A Third World woman’s text: between the politics of criticism and cultural politics. In: GLUCK, S. B.; PATAI, D. (Ed.). Women’s words: the feminist practice of oral history. New York: Routledge, 1991. p. 93-106.
³⁵
SOMMER, D. No secrets: Rigoberta’s guarded truth. Women’s Studies, n. 20, p. 51-72, 1991.
³⁶
TAYLOR, C. Philosophy and the Human Sciences: philosophical papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
³⁷
WATSON, L. C.; WATSON-FRANKE, M. B. Interpreting life histories: an anthropological approach. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1985.
³⁸
YÚDICE, G. Testimonio and Postmodernism. In: GUGELBERGER, G. M. (Ed.). The real thing: testimonial discourse in Latin America. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996. p. 42-57.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
Dec 1999

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

[1] ¹
BAYNES, K.; BOHMAN, J.; McCARTHY, T. (Ed.). After philosophy: end or transformation? Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987.

[2] ²
BEVERLEY, J. The margin at the center: on testimonio. In: SMITH, S.; WATSON, J. De/Colonizing the subject: the politics of gender in women’s autobiography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992.

[3] ³
BERNSTEIN, R. J. The restructuring of social and political theory Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978.

[4] ⁴
BOURDIEU, P. A ilusão autobiográfica. In: FERREIRA, M. de M.; AMADO, J. (Ed.). Usos e abusos da historia oral Rio de Janeiro: Editora da Fundação Getúlio Vargas, 1996. p. 183-192.

[5] ⁵
BURGOS, M. Life stories, narrativity, and the search for the self. Life Stories/Recits de Vie, n. 5, p. 29-38, 1989.

[6] ⁶
CLIFFORD, J. Introduction. In: CLIFFORD, J.; MARCUS, G. (Ed.). Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986a. p. 1-26.

[7] ⁷
CLIFFORD, J. On ethnographic allegory. In: CLIFFORD, J.; MARCUS, G. (Ed.). Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986b. p. 98-121.

[8] ⁸
CHANFRAULT-DUCHET, M.-F. Narrative structures, social models, and symbolic representation in the life story. In: GLUCK, S. B.; PATAI, D. (Ed.). Women’s words: the feminist practice of oral history. New York: Routledge, 1991. p. 77-92.

[9] ⁹
CRAPANZANO, V. Life-Histories. American Anthropologist, n. 86, p. 953-959, 1984.

[10] ¹⁰
DALLMAYR, F. Language and politics Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984.

[11] ¹¹
DE LIMA COSTA, C. Situando o sujeito do feminismo: o lugar da teoria, as margens e a teoria do lugar. Travessia, n. 29/30, p. 123-160, 1997.

[12] ¹²
DE LIMA COSTA, C. The subject in feminism. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales (forthcoming).

[13] ¹³
DE LIMA COSTA, C. Etnografia, representação e prática política: os dilemas do feminismo na escrita da cultura. (in press).

[14] ¹⁴
DENZIN, N. K. The research act: a theoretical introduction to sociological methods. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1970.

[15] ¹⁵
DENZIN, N. K. Interpretive ethnography: ethnographic practices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997.

[16] ¹⁶
DUBOIS, C. Some psychological objectives and techniques in ethnography. Journal of Social Psychology, n. 8, p. 285-301, 1937.

[17] ¹⁷
FRANCO, J. “Si me permiten hablar”: la lucha por el poder interpretativo. Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, n. 36, p. 109-116, 1992.

[18] ¹⁸
HARLOW, B. From the women’s prison: Third World women’s narratives of prison. Feminist Studies, n. 12, p. 501-524, 1986.

[19] ¹⁹
HARLOW, B. Resistance literature New York: Methuen, 1987.

[20] ²⁰
JONES, G. R. Life history methodology. In: MORGAN, G. (Ed.). Beyond method: strategies for social research. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1983. p. 147-159.

[21] ²¹
KAPLAN, C. Resisting autobiography: out-law genres and transnational feminist subjects. In: SMITH, S.; WATSON, J. De/Colonizing the subject: the politics of gender in women’s autobiography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992. p. 115-138.

[22] ²²
KAPLAN, C. Autobiografia de resistência: gêneros fora-da-lei e sujeitos feministas transnacionais. Travessia, n. 29/30, p. 63-100, 1997.

[23] ²³
LANGELLIER, K. M. Personal narratives: perspectives on theory and research. Text and Performance Quarterly, v. 9, n. 4, p. 242-276, 1989.

[24] ²⁴
LEWIS, O. The children of Sanchez: autobiography of a Mexican family. New York: Random House, 1961.

[25] ²⁵
PASSERINI, L. Women’s personal narratives. In: PERSONAL NARRATIVES GROUP (Ed.). Interpreting women’s lives: feminist theory and personal narratives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. p. 198-198.

[26] ²⁶
PERSONAL NARRATIVES GROUP. Introduction. In: PERSONAL NARRATIVES GROUP (Ed.). Interpreting women’s lives: feminist theory and personal narratives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. p. 3-15.

[27] ²⁷
PORTELLI, A. The peculiarities of oral history. History Workshop Journal, n. 12, p. 96-107, 1981.

[28] ²⁸
QUEIROZ, M. I. P. Relatos orais: do “indizível” ao “dizível”. In: VON SIMSON, O. de M. (Ed.). Experimentos com histórias de vida São Paulo: Edições Vértice, 1988. p. 14-43.

[29] ²⁹
RABINOW, P.; SULLIVAN, W. M. (Ed.). Interpretive social science: a reader. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.

[30] ³⁰
RICOEUR, P. The model of the text: meaningful action considered as a text. In: RABINOW, P.; SULLIVAN, W. M. (Ed.). Interpretive social science: a reader. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. p. 73-101.

[31] ³¹
ROSALDO, R. Doing oral history. Social Analysis, n. 9, p. 18-26, 1980.

[32] ³²
ROSALDO, R. Culture and truth: the remaking of social analysis. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989.

[33] ³³
SAID, E. The world, the text, and the critic Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.

[34] ³⁴
SALAZAR, C. A Third World woman’s text: between the politics of criticism and cultural politics. In: GLUCK, S. B.; PATAI, D. (Ed.). Women’s words: the feminist practice of oral history. New York: Routledge, 1991. p. 93-106.

[35] ³⁵
SOMMER, D. No secrets: Rigoberta’s guarded truth. Women’s Studies, n. 20, p. 51-72, 1991.

[36] ³⁶
TAYLOR, C. Philosophy and the Human Sciences: philosophical papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

[37] ³⁷
WATSON, L. C.; WATSON-FRANKE, M. B. Interpreting life histories: an anthropological approach. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1985.

[38] ³⁸
YÚDICE, G. Testimonio and Postmodernism. In: GUGELBERGER, G. M. (Ed.). The real thing: testimonial discourse in Latin America. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996. p. 42-57.

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The (mis)uses of life histories. The linguistic turn, life histories and (women’s) life stories

Abstracts

Publication Dates