Life History Research

Everybody is born into a family. Each has its own history, therefore, 'our history' is not made by us, but by previous generations. The rise of International migration and the crumbling of family structures, however, only make it harder for descendants to learn about their family history. Inhibited by language and geographical barriers as well as lost connections to the bearers of knowledge, many offspring of migrant families year for answers to questions such as 'Where do I come from?' or 'How did I get here?' Answering these requires re-establishing lost connections and meeting family one previously did not know. This paper illustrates how the juxtaposition of two generations of Chinese Australian migrants' narrative (a 'pioneer migrant' and an 'overseas born Chinese' are vital to piecing together a segment of family history.

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There are only a few studies in the libraries of the world that study so well the internationalization of class relations and positions, as well as the transnational formation of experience and identity (…).  The work and vision of Moises, as presented by Besserer is an example with no parallel of how the local links to the global, and how the politics of the local community has to be analyzed and acted internationally”.  (From the preface written by Dr. Michael Kearney, University of California Riverside).



"Hay pocos estudios en las bibliotecas del mundo que traten tan bien la internacionalización de las posiciones y relaciones de clase, así como la formación transnacional de la experiencia y la identidad (...) El trabajo y visión de Moisés, como Besserer nos lo presenta, es un ejemplo sin paralelo de cómo lo local se liga a lo global y cómo la política de la comunidad local debe ser analizada y actuada internacionalmente" (del prefacio escrito por el Dr. Michael Kearney de la Universidad de California en Riverside).

Fred Francis Bosworth (1877-1958) was a Pentecostal pioneer, famous healing evangelist, musician and author who took the United States and Canada by storm in the 1920s and 1930s. With his brother, Burton B. Bosworth, often working with him, he reportedly led more than a million people to Christ through his ministry. He was considered by scholars and ministers alike to be one of the most successful healing evangelists of the 20th century. He received more than 225,000 written testimonies of healing and his book, Christ the Healer, is a classic that has been in print since 1924.

Though he spent most of his life as a member of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, he was well respected among Pentecostals and holiness groups. In fact, F.F. Bosworth was the preacher who brought Pentecost – and the first Assemblies of God church -- to Dallas, Texas. The church he founded, Dallas First Assembly of God Church, is thriving to this day.

The impact of Bosworth’s teachings continues to be felt in all parts of the world. Many of today’s mega Charismatic/Pentecostal churches and other ministries, including those of T. L. Osborn, Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, Benny Hinn and the late Kenneth E. Hagin, have been greatly influenced by his work. Osborn, one of the most successful missionary evangelists of the 20th century, has said: “Old F.F. Bosworth used to share a lot secrets with us.” Vast numbers of Word of Faith churches read Bosworth’s teachings with great excitement. His book is a required text at Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Okla.

https://doktori.hu/index.php?menuid=193&lang=HU&vid=23181

különösen:
http://doktori.btk.elte.hu/folk/paalzsuzsanna/tezis.pdf

IN ENGLISH:
Short summary
of the PhD. thesis from Mrs. Zsuzsanna Paál:
“A rural society on its way to urbanisation?"
The thesis follows with attention the process of cultural changes in a (non-Hungarian) European
region. As a consequence of the European unification and under the pressure of the accelerating
modernisation Italian peasant families have gone through a radical change in their way of life.
This thesis reveals through case studies the life of a micro-region of northern Italy perhaps last in
the urbanisation proceses - the villages in the vicinity of Padova.
The five chapters of the thesis give the reader an insight into the rural economy and social life of
the "proper peasants" in the Padova region.
Certain social, historical statistical and demographical phenomena are also discussed from the
viewpoint of the north - south comparison (second chapter) in order to put the problems of the
Padova micro-region into broader context. The thesis follows life histories of whole families
throughout the 20th century (first chapter) by using the family history method widely accepted in
social sciences. The ethnographical collection - which serves as a basis for further examination -
consists of a series of in situ collected an later edited oral presentations of family stories (third
chapter). The interviewees speak about a sinking world in which they spent the majority of their
lives and which is on the brink of disappearence against their will. However they are able to
speak about it in a rich and undistorted way. During the reading of citations from these persons -
frequent in he thesis - one can feel their sublime spirit. The author presents in the fourth chapter
the atmosphere of the traditional kinship families and the many divergent transitional ways of life
after its decay while the subjects of household and its surroundings, foodstuff, kitchen, trousseau
and clothing are discussed in the fifth chapter.
The author wishes to express and emphasize her view - even by putting a question mark into the
title of the present thesis - that the changes are uneven: the traditional (kinship) attitude to life
and the material culture which manifests itself in economy and in everyday objects fade away at
very different speed. Although one can still find a few examples of surviving material culture and
gastronomy (like home-made cheese) the case studies point to the conclusion that changes in
attitude and mentality are much slower than those related to material culture. As a consequence
of this we are witnesses of a change which is vitually fast but in fact it is much slower than it
seems to be.
The thesis offers the possibility of comparison to other European regions in many fields of
interest. Such question for example is a private life issue which fundametally affects one`s whole
life: male peasant youngsters from well-to-do families face difficulties in finding proper partner
for marriage in the 20th century. An another issue can be the appearance of "leading a double
life" in different European regions.
In the summary of the thesis Paál tries to define the relative position of the Padova region rural
society compared to other European ones, and gives a more flexible interpretation for the terms
of "eastern" and "western" types of rural communities.

Budapest, 2003

With a ministry that spanned two world wars and over five decades, Fred Francis Bosworth (1877-1958) was considered one of the greatest authorities on divine healing. The author of Christ the Healer, he was a Pentecostal pioneer who reportedly led more than a million people to faith in Christ. He conducted some of the largest evangelistic healing campaigns ever reported in the United States.

Despite Bosworth's many accomplishments, there is little known about his life history. While much is known about his teachings on divine healing, there is a lack of research on how he developed into a famous healing evangelist. Bosworth has attributed his success to such practices as prayer and fasting, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, along with simple faith in the Word of God and the confession of the Word. Yet, his actual experiences may have played a more important role in his success than he or others have noted.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of experience in Bosworth's healing ministry, and explain how it served as a catalyst for his success as a healing evangelist. By seeing the ministry of healing in this light, the church will know more, I believe, about the value of experience in preparing one for future ministry. The primary methodology for this research was the historical case study, through which I collected and analyzed historical research data on Bosworth’s life history. I reviewed his experiences on four levels: Personal, Corporate, Theological and Developmental.

En este trabajo presento una serie de aspectos del método biográfico —o método
de las historias de vida— que suelen surgir durante procesos de investigación y
acerca de los cuales los/as investigadores/as deben poder tomar decisiones fundadas.
Me detengo en distinciones terminológicas, diferencias con áreas fronterizas
—como el enfoque narrativo o la literatura— y en la relevancia del método para la
ciencia social. Analizo el «problema» de la objetividad y de la representatividad y
la disyuntiva entre (sólo) presentar o analizar el material generado. Comento algunos
criterios para la elección de un/a «buen/a» informante, las estrategias de producción
y análisis de la información y la cuestión de la (des)confianza en los relatos
de informantes e investigadores/as. Mi objetivo es plantear —no resolver— estas
cuestiones, con el fin de que sean tenidas en cuenta en la toma de decisiones
durante los procesos de composición de una historia de vida.

A preliminary review of the literature on cultural or expatriate adjustment with regard to the spouses of diplomatic personnel, such as the military attaché, clearly indicated a gap in the existing knowledge scholars have of the adjustment experiences of spouses of expatriate managers. The aim of this study was exploring and describing one South African expatriate’s wife’s authentic experiences of expatriate adjustment to India.

A modernist qualitative methodology with symbolic interactionism as theoretical framework and interpretivist constructivism as research paradigm was employed. The
case study was used as qualitative research strategy and the life history was used as the qualitative research technique. Purposeful sampling was employed. Plummer’s (2001) critical humanism was included to reflect the flavour of the diversity of
frameworks available to life history researchers. Data were obtained from solicited and unsolicited sources. This yielded a life history with rich descriptive data that were systematically analysed with the grounded theory technique proposed by Strauss and Corbin (1990, 1998). A conceptual framework was compiled and used to substantiate the finding by means of a literature review, the identification of the core category, and
finally the development of a substantive theory called: a transitional theory of spousal expatriate adjustment. Guidelines proposed in the literature were followed to ensure the authenticity, trustworthiness and credibility of the study.

The findings provided some understanding of how wives of military attaché’s experience the process of expatriate adjustment. Recommendations were made to improve current
practice. The study also made a methodological contribution to the local study of Industrial and Organisational Psychology and in particular International Human Resources Management. Recommendations are made for future research.

This life history reflection aims to constitute, generate, and proliferate complex progressive masculinities for male teachers and advance notions of progressive masculinities writ large in education and elsewhere. This reflection, working with life story interviews of white male teachers in US inner-city schools, positions this research within the researcher’s life history. Informed by existing literatures on male teachers emphasising crisis-shortage and gender workplace issues, this reflection expands these literatures by developing life narrative concepts that replace static masculinities with narrativised identifications, lived counternarratives, and contradictory progressive masculinities. Key to respondents’ progressive
masculinities, this life history reflection provides four lived counternarratives including respondents’ illegal drug use, process spirituality, alternative media, and critical politics. Through these counternarratives, respondents’ contradictory
progressive masculinities emerge as bifurcated phenomena that reify privileges yet drive respondents, precariously situated between nihilistic impotency and political potential, towards passively conjugated alliances with subaltern others.

Kein Lebewesen kann auf unbegrenzte Ressourcen oder eine unbegrenzte Lebensspanne zurückgreifen. Somit gilt es begrenzte Ressourcen in begrenzter Zeit möglichst optimal einzusetzen. Basierend auf der Life History Theory, welche die alters- bzw. lebensphasenspezifischen Muster der Reifung, Reproduktion (und damit verbundener Aufwendungen) – ja grundsätzlich des Überlebens bzw. Sterbens – bei allen Spezies beschreibt meint man mit dem Konzept der Life History Strategy (LHS) die je spezifische Strategie des Ressourceneinsatzes, der Reproduktion, der Investition in die Nachkommen, usw. Man unterscheidet dabei langsame (K-Strategie) von schnellen (r-Strategie) LHS. Menschen zählen zu jenen Spezies mit den langsamsten LHS, d.h. geringe Nachkommenzahl (lange Jahre der Fürsorge), lange Reproduktionszyklen, lange Lebensspanne, langsame Entwicklung, lange Lernphasen, usw. Dennoch gibt es innerhalb unserer Spezies eine hohe Variabilität die LHS betreffend. Voland nennt uns „flexible K-Strategen“ und bezieht sich damit auf unsere Anpassungsfähigkeit an gegebene Umweltbedingungen. Welche LHS zur Ausprägung gelangt ist u.a. eine Frage der „ökologischen Bühne“ (Voland 2013), im Falle des Menschen also der Umweltbedingungen (soziale wie natürliche Umwelt), v.a. in der Kindheit und Jugend, also den prägendsten Phasen unserer Entwicklung. Eine variable, unsichere Umwelt führt dabei zu schnellerer LHS, eine stabile, sichere Umwelt zu langsamerer LHS. Der vorliegende Beitrag führt in das Konzept der LHS ein und gibt einen Überblick über bisherige – soziologisch relevante – Forschung aus der evolutionären Psychologie. Dies geschieht aus der Überzeugung heraus, dass eine Berücksichtigung der LHS in sozialwissenschaftlichen Überlegungen und deren Erfassung in empirischen Studien zu einem erweiterten Verständnis soziologischer Phänomene beitragen kann. Vieles (bspw. Eingehen vs. Vermeiden von Risiken (auch deviantes Verhalten), frühe vs. späte Partnerwahl bzw. Fortpflanzung) lässt sich damit als evolutionär rationale (Deep Rationality) Verhaltensweise begreifen und somit besser verstehen. Den Abschluss des Beitrags bildet eine Diskussion etablierter Messinstrumente (biodemografische Indikatoren, SES, Mini-K) zum Einsatz in empirischen sozialwissenschaftlichen Studien.

Drawing on findings from a longitudinal study of adults' learning biographies, the paper focuses on different representations of time in the interview data. We distinguish three broad patterns: chronological time, narrative time, and generational time; we then analyse how this impact on and serve as resources for reflection on and learning from life.

"Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education" argues that by rethinking the way we relate to time, we can fundamentally rethink the way we conceive education. Beyond the contemporary rhetoric of acceleration, speed, urgency or slowness, this book provides an epistemological, historical and theoretical framework that will serve as a comprehensive resource for critical reflection on the relationship between the experience of time and emancipatory education.

Drawing upon time and rhythm studies, complexity theories and educational research, I reflect in this book upon the temporal and rhythmic dimensions of education in order to (re)theorize and address current societal and educational challenges. The book is divided into three parts. The first begins by discussing the specificities inherent to the study of time in educational sciences. The second contextualizes the evolution of temporal constraints that determine the ways education is institutionalized, organized, and experienced. The third and final part questions the meanings of emancipatory education in a context of temporal alienation.

This is the first book to provide a broad overview of European and North-American theories that inform both the ideas of time and rhythm in educational sciences, from school instruction, curriculum design and arts education, to vocational training, lifelong learning and educational policies. It will be of key interest to academics, researchers, postgraduate students and practitioners, in the fields of philosophy of education, sociology of education, history of education, psychology, curriculum and learning theory, and adult education.

For more information, and to read the introduction chapter (freely accessible), please visit: www.routledge.com/9781138845848

This volume offers insights into contemporary trends and perspectives in psychobiographical research. It applys new theoretical and methodological frameworks and presents discourses on psychobiography from transdisciplinary backgrounds and various socio-cultural contexts, displaying the new state-of-the-art, new trends and themes in psychobiography. The book outlines psychobiography’s outstanding contribution to psychology from 36 internationally reputable authors. It also presents the ideas of five outstanding psychobiographers through interview excerpts. This book is a must for researchers, lecturers and practitioners in the field of psychology and social sciences interested in the use of new psychological theories and methodologies in life-span research.

This article will focus primarily on the last ten years of F.F. Bosworth’s life with particular emphasis on his experiences in South Africa in 1951. Its purpose is to show how his healing methodology changed as a result of his new experiences on foreign soil. An understanding of his changes and development in the healing ministry will shed light on the ministry of healing as it relates to missionary-evangelism. This study will also allow the church to know more about the ministry potential of aging Christian workers and the gospel of healing as a universal message.

Five areas will be considered: 1.) His struggle with aging; 2) His recognition of spiritual gifts; 3.) His use of healings as object lessons; 4.) His discovery of mass faith; and 5.) His burden for foreign missions.

As a result of his experiences in South Africa, Bosworth gained new insight into divine healing that resulted in new methods of ministry and a new vision for foreign missions. Despite being 74 years of age, he would spend the rest of his life (six years) visiting foreign countries as a missionary-evangelist.

How does a person with an impairment become a physical educator? This paper presents the life history of one educator who became a physical educator and later a university professor in physical education. The paper uses the methodological model of “life history” and involves gathering information about an individual using a variety of techniques including interviewing and ethnographical fieldwork .We used a life history approach to investigate the personal truth of “Karen,” (a pseudonym) a professor of sport pedagogy with a physical impairment, to examine whether she experienced marginalization in the dimension of ableness within the historical context of her time.

Whilst it is one thing to say disablism negatively impacts the lives and well-being of people with impairments, it is another altogether to tease out how this happens in everyday life. This article explores the potential of combining sociological theories
and method with a psychosocial framework as an interdisciplinary approach to studying the transitional experiences of people with impairments. Using a single life history case study of Ella, a young woman with a severe physical impairment, it clearly illustrates that the impact of disablism on transition is contextual and mediated by a combination of socio-historical factors. It highlights, in particular,
the constant tension between agency and structure—revealing that Ella’s levels of personal agency to challenge or undermine disablism varied from one social context to another and from one life phase to the next.

In this article, we investigate to what degree infant mortality risk was transferred from grandmothers to
mothers in the Antwerp district, Belgium, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. We also
investigate some of the determinants of infant mortality and explore the role of the family - paternal factors
(presence, age, and social class), mother’s childcare experience, and infant household location - in the survival
of infants. The data for this research were retrieved from the Antwerp COR*-database and were transferred
into the Intermediate Data Structure (IDS). The results of the survival models show that women whose
mother experienced three or more infant deaths had a 77% higher risk of experiencing the loss of an infant
themselves, compared to women whose mother experienced zero infant deaths in the past. These results
remained robust after controlling for potential mediating and moderating factors. The results on the age
of the mother at birth, her marital status, as well as the living environment suggest that at least part of the
intergenerational transfer in infant mortality can be explained on the basis of life history theory: women who
grew up in a high-risk family tended to reproduce earlier and faster, and often raised their children without
a partner. In this way they unconsciously created riskier conditions for the raising of their own infants: the
mothers had little life experience, limited resources, and often no assistance from a partner. As a result, their
own children were also at an increased risk of dying in infancy.

This methodology paper recommends that, when possible, qualitative research on activism should be designed to enable each participant to choose between using a pseudonym and one's actual name. The stance is informed by life history data collection encounters with women in post-conflict settings whose activism seeks to eliminate violence against women and girls (VAWG). The benefits of accommodating a mix of names make this a viable alternative to the prevalent practice of obscuring all participants' identities with pseudonyms. Writing about participants in a way that does no harm to them depends on the care and attention with which the researcher ascribes or dissociates data to or from them, regardless of the name used. Process consent is desirable as participants' consent is not fully informed prior to data collection. One aspect of informed consent worthy of attention is the need to explain the methods of data analysis and presentation of findings to life history participants. The above practices help ensure that negotiating informed consent with participants whilst acting towards the principle of doing no harm are tailored to the particular features of the life history method.

In this article, we investigate second/foreign language teachers’ translingual identity development through a narrative approach to their life histories. While several studies have investigated how teachers’ intercultural experiences shape their identity formation and pedagogies (Menard-Warwick 2008, 2014; Ortaçtepe 2013; Varghese et al. 2005), we explore not only the impact of teachers’ identity on their practice but also highlight the influences of language teaching itself on teacher identity development. In this process, an emergent theoretical framework of translingual practice becomes particularly useful in interpreting our participants’ “sociocultural in-betweenness,” that is, the capacity and disposition to co-construct meaning across languages and language varieties (Canagarajah 2013: 3). We aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of this framework by capturing how our two focal participants’ translingual practice emerged, developed, and changed in relation to their identities through a range of intercultural experiences in their life time. As they eventually became language teachers, we also explore their perspectives on language and culture, especially in terms of how they see their interculturality manifesting in their classroom practices, as well as how their pedagogies simultaneously shaped their teacher identities. Our findings have pedagogical implications in regards to narrative knowledge construction in language teacher education.

The aim of this paper is to explain and discuss timeline interviews as a method for
doing life history research. It is a ‘how to’ article explaining the strengths and weaknesses of
using a timeline when conducting qualitative interviews. The method allows the interviewee to
participate in the reporting of the interview which may give raise to ownership and sharing of
the analytical power in the interview situation. Exactly for this reason, it may not be the most
appropriate method for interviewing elites or for conducting insider interviews where
positionality can be at play. The use of the timeline should not lead the interviewer or the
interviewee to assume linearity and coherence; it is an organising principle for the events. It
provides an opportunity for linking the story with the wider social, political and environmental
context during the interview. While the method is very suitable for life story research, it can
also be used for other types of studies where interviews are made.

Sulle tracce di Antonio Doria, condottiero del '500 di origini genovesi, attraverso la lettura di un atto del notaio Francesco Prunaruro, datato 1572 e conservato presso l'Archivio di Stato di Campobasso. Le milizie dell'Illustrissimo Antonio Doria stazionarono a Campobasso proprio in quell'anno...

PLUMMER's book is a substantially revised edition of his now classic 1983 Documents of Life. It is an outstanding introduction to the field of qualitative biographical research, particularly in sociology. The text can be broadly divided into two parts. Firstly, a conceptual overview outlining different types of biographic research, different types of documents, as well as reviews of major developments in the field. The second part focuses on the research process, collecting and managing data, and writing. A major strength is PLUMMER's engagement with new developments in the field, particularly the "narrative turn" in the social sciences and insights from feminism and postmodernism. While the book is an excellent introduction, experienced researchers will also gain from the inclusive overview that PLUMMER provides. Underpinning the entire book is PLUMMER's belief that a revised "critical humanism" is the most appropriate basis from which to study lives. While this is a seductive notion, it is suggested by the reviewer that "critical humanism" is nonetheless problematic as it cannot avoid overemphasizing the individual. This does not detract from an outstanding book and an exemplary revision.

The aim of this paper is to explain and discuss timeline interviews as a method for doing life history research. It is a ‘how to’ article explaining the strengths and weaknesses of using a timeline when conducting qualitative interviews. The method allows the interviewee to participate in the reporting of the interview which may give raise to ownership and sharing of the analytical power in the interview situation. Exactly for this reason, it may not be the most appropriate method for interviewing elites or for conducting insider interviews where positionality can be at play. The use of the timeline should not lead the interviewer or the interviewee to assume linearity and coherence; it is an organising principle for the events. It provides an opportunity for linking the story with the wider social, political and environmental context during the interview. While the method is very suitable for life story research, it can also be used for other types of studies where interviews are m...

In this paper the author explores how relationships are defined within the context of constructing a life history. The life history of Benjamin, a homeless young man transitioning to adulthood, is used to illustrate how difficult it is to define the parameters of the research environment. During an “ethically important moment” in the research process, the author had to critically analyze his obligation to his participant based upon the relational titles exchanged. As chaos in Benjamin’s life increased, a choice needed to be made about the researcher’s involvement in his life. Should the researcher provide support or simply document events? Based upon the obligations inherent in how Benjamin defined his relationship with the researcher, the author explains why and how Benjamin’s life was interrupted.

Through a series of life history interviews with my Grandmother in her Ft. Lauderdale apartment, I reflect on the underappreciated advantages of fostering intimate interpersonal relationships in ethnographic practice. Relating examples from my grandmother’s description of her experiences in Nazi Germany, I argue that intimacy can in many cases serve as a powerful tool to make research more rigorous by helping to forestall temptations to over-generalize interview data to confirm preconceived expectations, while also promoting deeper insights into the diversity and subtlety of individual conceptions of self. I connect this argument to larger debates regarding the advantages and disadvantages of insider and outsider ethnographic practice.

Drawing on life-history theory, it is predicted that individuals’ attitudinal orientation toward unrestricted
short-term mating behavior, as well as their ability to engage in such behavior, are inversely related to
nurturant emotional responses (tenderness) to infants. To test these hypotheses, participants (N = 305)
completed measures assessing individual differences in short-term mating orientation, self-perceived
physical attractiveness, dispositional tendency to experience tenderness, and their affective responses
to photographs of human infants. Results revealed that (when controlling for other relevant individual
difference variables) men’s short-term mating orientation and self-perceived attractiveness were inversely
associated with dispositional tenderness. Also, among men only, short-term mating orientation and
self-perceived attractiveness predicted less intense tenderness responses to infants.