“Tell Something About the Pictures”: The Content and the Process of Autobiographical Work Among Scrapbookers

Abstract

Viewing the popular process of making “scrapbooks” as a particular type of autobiographical occasion, I analyze interviews with scrapbookers and others who make up the scrapbooker's community, including industry workers and biographical others (i.e., family and friends). By considering scrapbooks within the autobiographical community in which they are created, I am able to scrutinize the structure of the narratives they contain, the role of the audience in their creation, and the emergence of norms of remembrance among scrapbookers. The narratives recorded in scrapbooks emerge from the bottom up and suggest that scrapbooking is a way to demonstrate the biographical stability necessary to craft an authenticity narrative. Further, I explore how scrapbookers “do autobiography” by uncovering their decision‐making process regarding what is worth memorializing. Scrapbookers work through a mnemonic checklist assessing special events and everyday life for its “scrapworthiness.” This paper's contribution centers on describing the process and the content of these atypical autobiographical occasions.

Studying social practices and global practice change using scrapbooks as a cultural probe

“…() and other qualitative researchers using visual methods (e.g. Medley‐Rath, ; Oldrup & Carstensen, ), we found the memory scrapbook facilitated discussion of past and present trajectories of practice entities which may not be as forthcoming in an interview based on talk only. As Oldrup and Carstensen (, p. 234) conclude, the “use of visual media offers the researcher an opportunity to come closer to the immediate, lived everyday life” of participants.…”

“…stickers), memorabilia (e.g. ticket stubs), and journaling on archival paper” and then positioning the page in an album to preserve histories and memories (Medley‐Rath, , pp. 86–87).…”

“…86–87). Referred to as autobiographers or “scrapbookers, scrappers, memory keepers, and hobbyists”, in the USA for example, scrapbooking is supported by a billion‐dollar industry (Medley‐Rath, ).…”

“It Did Not Affect Me”: The (IR)Relevance of the German Reunification in Autobiographical Narratives of East Germans

“…How can the autobiographical accounts of East Germans broaden our sociological understanding of the relationship between historical events, and autobiographical and collective memory? Contributing to an emerging body of research on the concept of autobiographical narratives within the context of memory studies (DeGloma ; Johnston ; Medley‐Rath ), my findings suggest that it is not so much historical events that shape our autobiographical stories, and hence autobiographical identities. Rather, individuals make use of a narrative logic of emplotment and continuity (Ricoeur ) to select not only how historical events are incorporated into one's autobiographical narrative, but moreover which historical events become part of an autobiographical narrative.…”

Adopting a Cloak of Incompetence: Impression Management Techniques for Feigning Lesser Selves

“…People purposefully play dumb in many different situations. Qualitative researchers, for example, use this strategy to elicit more detailed information than their informants might be inclined to provide (Lofland et al 2006; Medley-Rath 2016; Prus 1997). Becker (1954:31–32) used this tactic in his classic study of Chicago public school teachers:I played dumb and pretended not to understand certain relationships and attitudes which were implicit in the description the teacher gave, but which she preferred not to state openly.…”