Life History’s Second Life

Author:

Lincoln, Yvonna   Lanford, Michael   

Journal:

Qualitative Inquiry

Issue Date:

2018

Abstract(summary):

New and revisited insights, theoretical developments, and the emanation of a new political landscape-coupled with the influence of new technologies and social media-suggest that life histories might be considerably more complicated to conduct today than a short generation ago. For example, at least three developments-the rise of a neoliberal, ultra-capitalist, political-economic environment; new technologies, particularly the rise of social media and the shifting social relationships such technologies have engendered; and the Enlightenment counter in posthumanism-have given rise to a postmodern "saturated self." This "saturated self" is both more situated in the new era and, at the same time, less intimately connected with a surrounding community. This article will explore the critical junctures and concussions of life history with new theoretical, political, and social pressures on the individual and on the practice of creating biography from life history.