Exploring Autobiographical Reflections and Memory: A Narrative Pedagogical Approach during Times of Emergency

Abstract

The practice of narration has been part of the history of Western civilisation since the Greeks coined the well-known expression epimelestai eautou.

Autobiography has become one of the topoi of contemporary research in various fields of knowledge, not least the pedagogical one, for one particular reason, which we will try to explain in this contribution: as a process of responsibility-taking and “self-care”, as a questioning of one's identity within a group and a collective history. Emergency pedagogy uses narration to accompany those overwhelmed by the coming crisis to reflect on their experiences, reconstruct their meaning and place them in a shared cultural context. In particular, educational autobiography is analysed, which performs a dual epistemic function: it triggers memory processes and gives meaning to experiences. Memory, through stages such as recollecting, recalling, remembering and reminiscing, becomes a pedagogical process of initiation into the writing of one's autobiography as a return to memory education.