Handbook of the course on Autobiographical Methods, by CIAPE, www.ciape.it

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Autobiographical Methodologies e-Book. Edited by CIAPE – Centro Italiano per l’apprendimento permanente.
This e-book has been edited by CIAPE – Centro Italiano per l’Apprendimento Permanente,
as a compendium of the most important information debated during the training course
“Autobiographical Methodology in adult education”.
Author: Andrea Ciantar, sociologist, expert and trainer in autobiographical methodologies.
Creative Commons Licence – Non-commercial Licence – Non Derived Works
(http://creativecommons.org/worldwide).
For a more extensive knowledge, please refer to the Bibliography.
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Index of contents
Autobiography in nutshell.................................................................................................. 3
Autobiographical methodologies as support for learning processes ...........4
Concept of Lifelong learning.............................................................................................4
Adults and lifelong learning ..............................................................................................4
Transformative learning....................................................................................................5
Learning forms .................................................................................................................6
Guiding Principles for effective autobiographical teaching and didactics .........................7
Exercise: “The time I learned” ..........................................................................................9
Autobiography as self-care...............................................................................................9
Remembering...................................................................................................................9
Variety of Autobiographical narrative forms....................................................................10
The reasons behind autobiographical education............................................................10
Methods facilitating effective autobiographical paths .....................................................11
Autobiographical methodologies in active citizenship...................................... 12
The Concept of Active Citizenship .................................................................................12
Narrating life story as a form of knowledge ....................................................................14
Memories for intergenerational and intercultural work....................................................14
Can we learn from experience? .....................................................................................14
Developing critical knowledge, breaking through the social myths.................................15
Memory is a bridge.........................................................................................................15
Different forms of active citizenship and participation connected with memory..............15
A guide map for autobiography..................................................................................... 16
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 18

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Autobiography in nutshell
Everyone has a story to tell. Each
recounting of an episode in our life
becomes a story in which each of us and
others play a part (Randall, 1995).
An event on the way home from work is
detailed; a betrayal of a friend is
described. In our story, characters
emerge as if on a stage, each carrying his
or her own part: “She turned me down;
hope was gone, and so I left.” But when
we begin the task of transcribing our life
into text—of writing our story—we move
beyond the set stage and bear witness to
the wider theatre of our life. We begin to
view these scenes differently, and to
discern the pattern that connects them.
We look back and then we look ahead,
and in this sense, we become both actor
and director of the part that is the rest of
our life.
Autobiography is most recognized and
researched as a literary rather than an
educational tool. It emerged at the end of
the 18th century from a tradition that has
variously been called a “memoir” or
“confession” (the most notable being the
religious Confessions of St. Augustine).
Later, it developed among writers into a
self-analysis, less related to sin and
transgression and more to intimacy,
emotion, and self-understanding (Feski,
1998). In the past quarter century it has
commanded even greater attention,
through the psychoanalytic and
philosophical analysis in James Olney’s
(1980) edited writings, and in feminist
literary analysis, as in Smith and
Watson’s (1996, 1998) edited collections.
Howarth (1980) described autobiography
as a “self-portrait”—a work of art that
resembles the life that itself continues to
take shape. Following from Howarth’s
definition, one could surmise that adult
learners (like their literary counterparts)
who reflect on their lives in this manner
embark also on a process of recollection,
distillation, and analysis that can yield
both insight into life’s meaning and
purpose and understanding of self and
others.
Learning in the service of self-awareness
and self-understanding involves deeper
levels of the person; it entails the
processes of critical reflection, self-
awareness, meaning making, and
perspective change (Mezirow, 1991;
Tennant & Pogson, 1995).

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Autobiographical
methodologies as support
for learning processes
Concept of Lifelong learning
The European Council held in Lisbon in
March 2000 marked a decisive moment
for the direction of policy and action in the
European Union. Its conclusions affirmed
that Europe had indisputably moved into
the Knowledge Age, with all that this will
imply for cultural, economic and social
life.
Patterns of learning, living and working
are changing apace. This means not
simply that individuals must adapt to
change, but equally that established ways
of doing things must change too.
The move towards lifelong learning must
accompany a successful transition to a
knowledge-based economy and society.
Therefore, Europe’s education and
training systems are at the heart of the
coming changes. They too, must adapt.
The conclusions of the Feira European
Council invite the “Member States, the
Council and the Commission … within
their areas of competence, to identify
coherent strategies and practical
measures with a view to fostering lifelong
learning for all”.
Lifelong learning is no longer just one
aspect of education and training; it must
become the guiding principle for provision
and participation across the full
continuum of learning contexts.
Adults and lifelong learning
A person never is but is always becoming
his or her self (Jung, 1954; Kegan, 1982).
Development is directed towards greater
inclusiveness, complexity, and coherence
of personality (Kegan, 1982; Labouvie-
Vief, 1994; Mezirow, 1991).
Jung (1954) described this process as
“individuation”—becoming all that one is
capable of becoming; Erikson (1980)
called it “integrity”—coming to terms with
our life, a task that entails encompassing
into our perspective more that just our
own histories.
Adult learning theory posits that, whereas
much of adult learning parallels that of the
younger school-aged population, adults
(as well as many adolescents) have the
capacity for transformative learning. It is
learning that permits a more inclusive,

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differentiated, and integrated view of
themselves and the world (Mezirow,
1991; Tennant & Pogson, 1995).
Transformative learning
A central feature of transformative
learning is critical self-reflection, a
process whereby adults examine the
cultural and individual assumptions and
meanings that underlie and shape their
view of life (Brookfield, 1986; Mezirow,
1991). Whereas critical reflection calls
largely upon the learner’s rational
processes (Mezirow, 1991), it includes
both intuitive and emotional dimensions
as well (Dewey, 1964; Schon, 1983).
It appears, however, that attention to the
personal aspects of the learner is central
not only to transformative learning but
also to learning in general.
For instance, writing in the context of
common education, Elizabeth Vallance
(1986) built on the earlier work of art
educator Elliot Eisner, and argued that
effective education should incorporate
both the discipline-related (objective)
approaches and the personal-relevance
(subjective) approaches. Similarly,
Maxine Greene (1978) suggested that
learning should incorporate the learner’s
personal “landscapes.” And John Dewey
(1964) emphasized that learning ought to
be “an experience” for the individual,
which then remains as an enduring
memory that is both valued and
significant.
In sum, curriculum theorists have
acknowledged the importance of
addressing the personal dimensions of
the learner and of encompassing into the
educational process both their “outside”
and their “inside” worlds.
In autobiography we transform our life
into a story. As Gusdorf (1980) explained:
“The author of an autobiography gives
himself the job of narrating his own
history; what he sets out to do is to
reassemble the scattered elements of his
individual life and to regroup them in a
comprehensive sketch (p. 35).
Autobiography differs from a private
journal that records the writer’s
experiences, impressions, and mental
states. Rather, it requires one to take a
distance with regard to oneself, to draw
the meaning from one’s life (Gusdorf,
1980), to reconstruct “the unity of a life
across time” (Gusdorf, 1980, p. 37), and
to find the “larger story” that distinguishes
one’s life from that of another (Houston,
1987).

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Learning in these contexts results from
finding patterns and meaning in our life,
perhaps even building a theory of our life,
or of life in general. Having stepped back
and reflected, we know something now
that we did not know before. Our
knowledge has been extended (Olney,
1980).
In sum, these theoretical propositions
hold that learning and development
continue throughout life, and that both
may be enhanced by activities such as
autobiographical writing. Because
autobiography involves not only
recounting memories and expressions but
also finding their larger meaning, and to
the extent that the activity expands the
individual’s knowledge of self and the
world, it constitutes learning.
The usefulness of telling one’s story is
that it provides an occasion and
instrument for learning.
We learn from our own stories, giving
value to our experiences and making the
hidden and implicit knowledge that is in
each one of us visible.
Learning forms
Educational contexts and related forms of
learning are traditionally divided into three
main typologies:
• formal learning, which includes the
traditional school system and all those
training programmes leading to formal
certification;
• non-formal learning, which includes all
those educational paths which – while
structured and organized – do not lead
to an educational qualification. Such
paths are above all typical of Adult
Education.;
• informal education and learning,
“Learning resulting from daily life
activities related to work, family or
leisure. It is not structured (in terms of
learning objectives, learning time or
learning support) and typically does
not lead to certification. Informal
learning may be intentional but in
most cases it is non-intentional” (or
“incidental”/random). Commission of
the European Communities (2001: 32-
33)
"Life is the thing that happens to us while
we are busy making other plans.”
Informal learning, we might say by
paraphrasing De Mello, happens while we
go about our daily lives. But this does not

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mean that it is less important than other
forms of learning – on the contrary, we
will see that in some ways informal
learning is a unique and indispensable
part in the life of an individual and society.
When we consider the context, we see –
as the definition cited above affirms – that
informal learning occurs in many
experiences and aspects of life, such as:
• from experiences connected to
work, as well as leisure time and
play;
• from art, books, cinema, music;
• from a trip – which is, as we well
know, one of the most important
sources of informal learning;
• from people we love, from our
relationships, encountering others;
• from the many forms of
communication, through the mass
media and the web;
• also from contact with nature and
through our body, trying to
rediscover inner equilibrium.
The fact of undergoing experiences –
even extraordinary ones – is not a
guarantee that we will be able to learn
appropriate lessons from them.
Educators and teachers can, however, try
to offer ad hoc tools and approaches –
informal and non formal – helping
individuals to effectively exploit and
develop experiences of informal learning.
Just as they can contribute to creating
contexts for effective informal learning.
Guiding Principles for effective
autobiographical teaching and
didactics
• Memory is a cognitive activity.
• Cultivating memory is the basis of
all education.
• Cultivating memory activates
various kinds of expressive
languages (technical-procedural,
descriptive, but also the language
of novels and poetry).
• Cultivating memory invites us to
think about other people’s
memories.
• Cultivating memory means
growing emotionally, since
remembering is also a feeling.
(Demetrio, Borgonovi, Teaching to
Remember Ourself: the Autobiographical
Methodology, Springerlink 2005)
Different aspects are connected with the
rules of autobiographical methodologies
as support for learning processes:
1) Know your way of thinking.

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The cognitive autobiography can
help answering critical questions
for adult learning, related precisely
to its relationship with knowledge:
How does my mind work in certain
situations? What is my cognitive
style? What kind of limits and
blocks do my thoughts meet?
2) Reconstruct your past story.
This is a way to reorganize
individual identity: Who am I? How
can I represent my past training?
What do I want to be here and
now? What plans do I have for the
future?
3) Ability to continue learning.
Adults should continue and learn
all lifelong. Rediscovering a story
to share might open possible
different scenario for the future,
supporting the possibility of
change, as well as the realization
of dreams. “The desire to learn
comes from a desire to be, and
perhaps be other than what it is"
(The time I learned, Gamelli,
Formenti, p.121).
Autobiographical methods are very
important in non formal and informal
learning, as tools enabling learners to
manage their learning experiences
autonomously. They can also provide
positive inputs to some educational
challenges…
• First challenge: bringing to the
surface our implicit knowledge and
ideas about ourselves and the
world around us.
How can we bring to the surface implicit
beliefs about ourselves and the world, in
order to become conscious of them and –
if the case– to transform them?
This becomes even more important in a
multi-cultural society, where identity –
even in adulthood – must be re-defined
and continuously adapted to changing
circumstances, especially in relation to
professional life.
• Second informal learning
challenge: developing critical
knowledge, breaking social myths
and stereotypes.
An age-old challenge is involved,
because the human being is always
embedded in a certain culture and in pre-
existing symbolic codes. Everyone should
feel free from such codes, free to create
new ones, to bring culture back to its
function of “tool”, “mean” more than “end”.
• Third challenge: taking back
control of the “means” of doing.

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If informal learning is a place for self-
organized and spontaneous learning – for
self-development – can it also become an
occasion for individuals, groups and
communities to develop and take back
control of their own “means/tools” of
doing?
(Three challenges for informal learning in
Europe, Andrea Ciantar; Speech for
Contact Seminar National Italian LLP
Agency, 2010).
Exercise: “The time I learned”
• Try to recall a time in your life
when you learned something
important for you.
• What happened?
• What made the learning possible?
What kind of processes did
activate such learning (mental,
physical, relational, social, casual,
etc.)?
• Why is this memory still important
for you today? What are the most
important aspects of that
experience that you still remind?
• How do you think this learning can
be interesting also for other people
in general?
Autobiography as self-care
The autobiographical methodologies are,
since many years, a very important
teaching method in non-formal and
informal adult education. Actually,
narrating and writing down own individual
story represents - for adult learners – a
way to enhance life experiences, allowing
implicit learning coming out, and so
making life experiences become learning
opportunities.
Remembering
The mere fact of beginning to remember
and talk about one’s recollections is the
first step towards self-valorisation.
It means discovering that each one owns
his/her own unique heritage.
Remembering is a kind of reconstruction,
an attempt to find a meaning: “… every
man and woman mindfully grows in
relation to his or her ability to reprocess
the past as a resource for the present…”
(Demetrio, Borgonovi, Teaching to

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Remember Ourself: the Autobiographical
Methodology, Springerlink 2005)
Variety of Autobiographical
narrative forms
There are several autobiographical
narrative forms. The main forms are:
autobiography memoirs, epistolary,
journals and diaries. But there are also
new forms, such as personal notes,
blogs, letters and e-mails, etc., used to
state private feelings and thoughts about
oneself.
“Autobiography represents a unique
example, with implications not present in
the other cited forms. It is not, in fact, a
spontaneous narration: it requires efforts,
patience, diligence, a willingness to go
back over an existential path whose
tracks have been lost. Supposedly, the
autobiographical method soothes and
creates self-esteem.” (Demetrio,
Borgonovi, 2005).
“Writing about oneself (….) teaches one
to coexist both with pain and life’s most
secretive and intense moments. A
relationship with suffering, as with beauty,
explored through writing about oneself, is
a source of maturity and improvement.”
(Demetrio, Borgonovi, 2005).
From a pedagogical view, the
autobiographical approach is focused on
the conscious dimension of activities
related to thinking.
“…without neglecting that every personal
writing always conceals unconscious,
symbolic and hidden dimensions under its
immediate semantics, in the
autobiographical genre we search for
forms that express awareness of one’s
self and of the world.” (Demetrio,
Borgonovi, 2005).
This allows us to say that:
“Although autobiographies and journals
are at the core of writing about oneself,
we trace all types of narrator-focused
writing – short, epigrammatic, formal, in
prose or poetic – to the “autobiographical
genre”. (Demetrio, Borgonovi, 2005).
The reasons behind
autobiographical education
There are many aspects stressing the
importance of autobiographical education.
• Meta-cognitive
Rethinking our educational
pathway allows us to discover
ourselves as capable of thinking,
as well as capable to learn and do.

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• Revitalization
Testifying our existence and our
history within a context of listeners
has a strong motivational effect.
Reviving and renewing own
emotions is connected to "feeling"
again individual life experiences.
• Heuristic
Autobiography allows us to explain
and "give a sense" to experiences,
forming connections and enabling
to build new meaningful models or
renewing existing ones.
• Training
Reconstruction of our
autobiography and identity,
integrating past learning
experiences, might make new
training needs emerge.
• Change
The resonances of
autobiographical recognition may
produce significant changes in a
person (Formenti 1998).
“… autobiographical writing might
improve relationships through empathy
and better understanding of others.
Besides, people who regularly put down
their own experiences, emotions and
thoughts, on paper, and acquire a habit of
self-reflection, can act with greater
deliberation and self-control and pay
more attention to the needs of others.”
(Demetrio, Borgonovi, 2005).
Methods facilitating effective
autobiographical paths
Memory list
“Towards the plot” is an exercise in which
a learner is asked to recall memories of
significant events. Those memories can
then be reorganised in a sequence or in a
specific order, thus building a possible
plot of our story.
Memories can be of various kinds, as for
instance:
• Encounters: in each life story
encounters with other persons
represent a source of change;
• Moments of life connected with the
main spheres of human life: love,
work, play- leisure, death, etc.;
• Turning points, where there have
been significant changes;
• Wounds, moments of success, etc.
Facilitating reflective processes
Learners should be guided in their
pathway leading to:

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• The emergence of implicit beliefs
about the world and themselves;
• The processing: verifying the
adequacy of implicit beliefs about
the world and themselves;
Some key questions:
“What kind of implicit beliefs do you think
this experience has generated?”
“In particular, what are the implicit beliefs
about yourself?”
Every experience generates implicit
beliefs about the world. Most importantly,
they can produce beliefs about us,
especially the negative ones, which often
represent an obstacle to self-esteem.
For what concerns the “processing”
phase, learners might be asked:
“Looking at these implicit beliefs today, do
you think that they are valid and
appropriate, or - in the light of your
current awareness – do they seem wrong
or limited to you?”
“How this experience can be still
important for you today? What kind of
reflection, open question or learning does
it live open?”
“How do you think that this experience
can be important also for other people?”
Autobiographical
methodologies in active
citizenship
The Concept of Active
Citizenship
There is no universally accepted
definition of Active Citizenship and no
standard model of what an active citizen
is. But there is general agreement that it
refers to the involvement of individuals in
public life and affairs. This can take place
at local, national and international levels.
The term is used especially at local level
to refer to citizens who become actively
involved in the life of their communities
tackling problems or bringing about
change or resisting unwanted change.
Active citizens are those who develop the
skills, knowledge and understanding to be
able to make informed decisions about
their communities and workplaces with
the aim of improving the quality of life in
these. At national level it can move from
voting to being involved in campaigning
pressure groups to being a member of a

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political party. At international level the
global active citizen may be involved in
movements to promote sustainability or
fair trade, to reduce poverty or eliminate
slavery.
An active citizen is not necessarily a
‘good citizen’ in the sense that they follow
the rules or behave in a certain way. An
active citizen may challenge the rules and
existing structures although they should
generally stay within the bounds of
democratic processes and not become
involved in violent acts. There is a
general set of values and dispositions
that can be associated with active
democratic citizenship including respect
for justice, democracy and the rule of law,
openness, tolerance, courage to defend a
point of view and a willingness to listen to,
work with and stand up for others.
We can identify some key characteristics
of Active Citizenship:
• Participation in the community
(involvement in a voluntary activity
or engaging with local government
agencies)
• People are empowered to play a
part in the decisions and
processes that affect them,
particularly public policy and
services
• Knowledge and understanding of
the political/social/economic
context of their participation so that
they can make informed decisions
• Able to challenge policies or
actions and existing structures on
the basis of principles such as
equality, inclusiveness, diversity
and social justice.
Narrating and writing down own story is -
for adult learners – a way to enhance
their life experiences, but - at the same
time – it represents also a possibility to
share stories with others, giving a
personal contribution to the society.
Stories give individuals the opportunity to
“take the floor”, to express their ideas and
narrate the experiences of which they
have been the protagonists.
The power of stories lies in the fact that –
through the experiences narrated – they
can make us familiar with many invisible
and little known realities. Stories bring us
knowledge in a very direct and emotional
way. We understand macro-historical
events through micro-stories.

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Another very important aspect of working
with memory and citizenship deals with
intercultural dialogue. Memories and life
stories help us to learn about “the other”,
thus representing a mean to curb racism
and xenophobia.
Narrating life story as a form
of knowledge
Narrating personal stories is a mean to
share and make others know our recent
history, through the direct power and
vividness of people who have
experienced such events.
Through the stories, actually, we can
learn about many aspects of the reality,
which are rarely given space in the mass
media or in other information channels.
However, it is not a question only of what
we know but also of how we know. Telling
one’s story, in fact, makes it possible to
experience history in a direct, emotional
and involving way. This way of learning
must of course always be accompanied
by more organized and “objective”
knowledge, but stories can create doors
that invite us to enter spheres of
contemporary and historical realities in a
more involving way.
Memories for
intergenerational and
intercultural work
One very important aspect of the
educational role that the memories can
play today is that it can definitely
contribute to knowledge of the different
worlds and the diverse cultures that make
up present-day European society (and
the world as well).
The culture of xenophobia, fear and
racism is fuelled by the lack of knowledge
of the other, simplification, prejudice and
stereotyping. Encountering the “other”
and learning about his world in a direct
way is the best way to bring down this
edifice of prejudice, especially in a time
when identity is becoming increasingly
fluid, hybrid, in flux.
In the meantime the practice of narration
can easily facilitate the relation between
people from different generations.
Can we learn from
experience?
Can we learn from the past? We now
know that this by no means happens
“automatically”. After World War II, it was
said that it must never be forgotten so as
to avoid its ever happening again. But

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even afterwards, other wars and other
genocides have bloodied Europe, and
there is no lack of European responsibility
in many other scenes of horror in other
areas of the world.
As long as our memories can become an
opportunity for true knowledge and
transformation, we must create occasions
for encounter, study and reflection on the
memories we have of the past. Memory
and the practice of storytelling can thus –
when properly promoted – offer
opportunities for learning and can be a
means of developing individual and
collective consciousness.
Developing critical
knowledge, breaking
through the social myths
Can contexts and processes of informal
learning become places where we can
deconstruct social structures based on
unjust premises but which society
presents as “normal”, to then build up
modes of co-existence which are
peaceful and just?
How some social “frenzy” in which we
often participate unawares can become
clear to us? (for example the work-
consumption-work cycle can often have
perverse effects, when we are doing work
that is alienating, in which we find no
meaning, in order to maintain levels of
consumption which we are told will bring
us “happiness”, and then going back to
work in order to consume more, etc. )
Memory is a bridge
The memory that can be a “tool” for the
change of the individuals as well as of the
society is the memory that allow us to “go
trough”, “across” the experiences, thanks
to the act of reflecting, creating meaning
and knowledge.
Like a bridge, the knowledge and
awareness that come from the action of
remembering, can be an occasion for a
better understanding, and for the
valorisation of all those heritage
and values that we inherited from the
past, and that's worth keeping in the
future.
Different forms of active
citizenship and participation
connected with memory
There is a proliferation of “local memory”
projects, in which it is often senior citizens
who play an active role.

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Noteworthy too is the work of
“autobiographical volunteers” – that is,
people of every age and walk of life who
decide to make a contribution to their
community by collecting stories,
especially of those people who – without
their help and support – would find it
difficult to leave behind testimony of their
own lives.
Finally, the importance of the spread of
digital narration and web use should be
stressed, for these tools permit the
participation of vast numbers of people in
the digital archives of stories.
A guide map for
autobiography
The following guidelines may be useful
for anyone wanting to utilize
autobiographical writing with their
students.
a) A publisher has given you the option of
writing five chapters of your life story.
b) Prepare an outline that includes the
chapter titles; consider a title for your
story.
c) Write two pages for each chapter. Try
to move beyond a simple chronology of
events.
d) Pay attention to any metaphor, thread,
pattern, or story that emerges from the
events of your life, like “crossing over” or
“Still Me”.
Student autobiography offers one
opportunity for learners to look into and
around the “I” and to gain a deeper

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understanding of themselves and of their
relationship with others and the world.
Although this learning may not offer them
specific technical skills or discipline-
related knowledge, it does permit a
deeper personal knowing that may even
be transformative.
The act of self-observation and critical
reflection can enlarge their understanding
of the community in which their life
unfolded, the people and events that
have moulded their identities and their
own patterns and responses that have
shaped their life. It may even precipitate a
change in their story, should they attempt
to “escape from older narratives to a new
beginning” (Smith & Watson, 1996, p.
16). Autobiography, to the extent that it
furthers this process, becomes a valued
tool.
...And then when you think about it,
storytelling is the oldest form of education
there is.

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Autobiographical Methodologies e-Book. Edited by CIAPE – Centro Italiano per l’apprendimento permanente.
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