Qualitative Inquiry

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.

In India, university students from scheduled castes (SCs) face a number of challenges that not only prevent them from graduating but also prevent them from being strong performers in universities and upon graduation. Utilizing the framework of social capital, this article draws upon life histories, secondary interviews, and document analysis to understand the lived realities of four male Indian adolescents from different SCs who are in their third year of university studies. Although the findings support the notion that overt acts of discrimination based on a student’s caste are negligible, lower caste students have limited access to the networks that create social capital. Moreover, institutional efforts to develop or enhance student social capital are minimal. For these reasons, the article concludes that systemic reform is necessary to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds overcome less obvious forms of discrimination, so that they might succeed during college and after graduation.

At the heart of this article are the stories of a woman who identifies herself as a “homegrown,” Mexican American teacher. It is through storytelling with this teacher, Ms. Luna Martinez, that we come to understand how race, class, gender, ethnicity, and motherhood cross borders from the home to the classroom and back again. Although this article focuses on the life story of one teacher, it should be noted that her story resides within a larger research context. Ms. Luna Martinez’s story works to counter deficit, majoritarian narratives that inflict harm on Communities of Color. Moreover, her story radiates moments of survival and resilience with the potential to uplift and inspire Communities of Color. As a “homegrown” teacher who embodies a “pedagogies of the home” approach in the classroom, Ms. Luna Martinez connects with students through a familial and communal kinship.

This article reflexively engages and discusses a Life/ography project involving two female superintendents of schools in two U.S. North Central states who are dedicated to making their respective districts a better learning community. Life/ography is used to refer to life history, oral history, and biography as valued qualitative research approaches for understanding the social world of individuals—in this case, of female leaders. Originally, the study began with curiosity about gender issues; however, it became a study of shifting patterns in the workplace and the structure of work. The values of stories about real-life individuals lead us to understanding a person’s life in context in all of its raw truth, beauty, and suffering. By using letters, diaries, reflective journals, and poetry to augment the interviews in the study, Life/ography offers many paths to access imagination, curiosity, and critical reflexive practice and thought.

This article presents the life histories of two “nontraditional” college students—Demetrius and Christine—as a means to explore the concept of “outsiderness” and its impact on undergraduate student success. Through multiple interviews and observations conducted over the course of a full year, the article first outlines the life circumstances that compelled both students to leave formal education during adolescence. Then, the article details how Demetrius and Christine managed to return to college despite formidable personal and financial challenges. Although both students demonstrate tremendous promise in their college-level coursework, they are wary of their own college readiness, primarily due to their “nontraditional” educational trajectories and a lack of clarity about instructors’ expectations. Hence, the article concludes by considering the forms of support that might help similar nontraditional students succeed in first-year coursework, and eventually graduate from college.

Diverse in nature, style, and approach, life histories enjoy a rich and established position within the broader narrative and qualitative research traditions. Nevertheless, such a position may be rendered considerably more complicated given new technologies and post-humanist developments. Rather than shy away from such new complexities, the life history field, it is argued, should embrace these developments and explore the fertile ground that might well lie at the intersections of the postqualitative, Indigenous, and place-based turns. What happens when “place” becomes the central character—the complex, entangled protagonist—of a life history focus? Exploring just such a re-imagining, this article examines the potential for creating fecund new ground for a life history of place. As a concrete example—although perhaps an unlikely source for inspiration—Phil Jenkins’s An Acre of Time: The Enduring Value of Place will be offered as a potential prototype.