El uso de la autobiografía de infancia como recurso para la investigación en educación

Abstract

The literary genre of autobiography is a form of life-writing, and has become an established focus of enquiry in the social sciences, including the field of education. Autobiographical narratives of childhood comprise an emerging sub-genre in this regard, wherein the adult self attempts to recreate an alternative version of childhood past. The testimonies compiled in some autobiographical narratives of childhood reflect the processes by which personal and social identity are shaped from the distinctive perspective of a child-narrator, and may cast light on issues, such as the fostering of sociability in children. In this article we explore the sub-genre of autobiographical narratives of childhood and the relationship between education and narrative. We propose a possible application to the study of the fostering of sociability in transcultural children.