Call for Papers bis 15.10.24 - Speaking and Silencing of Violent Experiences As a Social Issue in Biographical Research and Oral History

Im Rahmen des nächsten ISA-Forum of Sociology, das vom 06. bis 11. Juli 2025 in Rabat, Morocco, stattfinden wird, könnt Ihr bis zum 15. Oktober 2024 über das Confex-System Abstracts einreichen könnt. Die Session des Research Committee 38 - Biography and Society ist untergegliedert. 

Speaking and Silencing of Violent Experiences As a Social Issue in Biographical Research and Oral History

In post-violence societies, social conditions and public discourses highly impact how surviving victims, perpetrators, and bystanders talk about what they experienced and what they keep silent about. ‘Speaking’ and ‘silencing’ are not absolute but find various expressions. In different ways, this might also be the case with the descendants of either group. Biographical accounts gathered through methods of reconstructive sociology, such as the autobiographical narrative interview, or oral history studies can reveal mechanisms of biographization, the operationalization of biography as an effort to reach an interpretation of past events, and de-biographization, casting out life historical and family biographical features from the narration. Since the biographical framework encapsulates historical entities and their memories in current society, both mechanisms enable us to analyze and understand the (un)describable and (un)discussable elements and the ruling conditions at specific times.

We invite proposals for papers that focus on (kinds of) thematization and silencing and reconstruct their specific conditions after violent political conflicts and persecution. Papers can be based on biographical or oral history research. Some of the questions for discussion might be: In which ways are historical processes and their memories in current society encapsulated in biographies? How can we analyze and understand the (un)describable and (un)discussable elements in relation to dominant social conditions and discourses? What kinds of changes can be observed with regard to biographization and other phenomena in family narratives over generations?

Bei Fragen oder Interesse teilzunehmen, schreibe bitte eine E-Mail an Eren Yetkin  Eren.Yetkin@KHSB-Berlin.de