What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Correia, S. B.
Data de Publicação: 2023
Outros Autores: Caetano, A.
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/31106
Resumo: When we ask people to tell us the story of their lives, it is not the full extent of their biographies that we have access to, but only a partial version of it. Biographical narratives are permeated by processes of selection that imply highlighting some things while omitting others. Most of the time, what is left unsaid cannot be fully acknowledged, precisely because it is not explicitly verbalised. In the scope of the research project Biographical echoes, we were able to identify significant events and relationships in a person’s life that were not disclosed in autobiographical accounts but were unveiled in hetero-biographical ones by close people who were interviewed about that person’s life. The triangulation of data allowed us to access elements of a biography that would otherwise have remained unseen. By taking omissions as units of analysis, we characterised their main features and identified three distinct profiles of omissions using a Multiple Correspondence Analysis: relational, light and taboo. We argue that the act of omitting something is a meaningful social action with implications at both the biographical and analytical levels.
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spelling What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narrativesBiographical researchIdentityNarrativesOmissionsUnsaidWhen we ask people to tell us the story of their lives, it is not the full extent of their biographies that we have access to, but only a partial version of it. Biographical narratives are permeated by processes of selection that imply highlighting some things while omitting others. Most of the time, what is left unsaid cannot be fully acknowledged, precisely because it is not explicitly verbalised. In the scope of the research project Biographical echoes, we were able to identify significant events and relationships in a person’s life that were not disclosed in autobiographical accounts but were unveiled in hetero-biographical ones by close people who were interviewed about that person’s life. The triangulation of data allowed us to access elements of a biography that would otherwise have remained unseen. By taking omissions as units of analysis, we characterised their main features and identified three distinct profiles of omissions using a Multiple Correspondence Analysis: relational, light and taboo. We argue that the act of omitting something is a meaningful social action with implications at both the biographical and analytical levels.SAGE Publications2024-02-20T11:28:17Z2023-01-01T00:00:00Z20232024-02-20T11:27:42Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10071/31106eng0011-392110.1177/00113921231200253Correia, S. B.Caetano, A.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-02-25T01:19:45Zoai:repositorio.iscte-iul.pt:10071/31106Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T03:11:24.033112Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
title What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
spellingShingle What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
Correia, S. B.
Biographical research
Identity
Narratives
Omissions
Unsaid
title_short What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
title_full What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
title_fullStr What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
title_full_unstemmed What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
title_sort What is left unsaid: Omissions in biographical narratives
author Correia, S. B.
author_facet Correia, S. B.
Caetano, A.
author_role author
author2 Caetano, A.
author2_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Correia, S. B.
Caetano, A.
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Biographical research
Identity
Narratives
Omissions
Unsaid
topic Biographical research
Identity
Narratives
Omissions
Unsaid
description When we ask people to tell us the story of their lives, it is not the full extent of their biographies that we have access to, but only a partial version of it. Biographical narratives are permeated by processes of selection that imply highlighting some things while omitting others. Most of the time, what is left unsaid cannot be fully acknowledged, precisely because it is not explicitly verbalised. In the scope of the research project Biographical echoes, we were able to identify significant events and relationships in a person’s life that were not disclosed in autobiographical accounts but were unveiled in hetero-biographical ones by close people who were interviewed about that person’s life. The triangulation of data allowed us to access elements of a biography that would otherwise have remained unseen. By taking omissions as units of analysis, we characterised their main features and identified three distinct profiles of omissions using a Multiple Correspondence Analysis: relational, light and taboo. We argue that the act of omitting something is a meaningful social action with implications at both the biographical and analytical levels.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z
2023
2024-02-20T11:28:17Z
2024-02-20T11:27:42Z
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10.1177/00113921231200253
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv SAGE Publications
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