Teaching Life Writing: Theory, Methodology, and Practice

Teaching Life Writing: Theory, Methodology, and Practice combines research in life writing and pedagogy to examine the role of life stories in diverse learning contexts, disciplines, and global settings. While life stories are increasingly integrated into curricula, their incorporation raises the risk of reducing them to mere historical evidence. Recognizing the importance of teaching life stories in a manner that goes beyond a surface understanding, life-writing scholars have been consistently exploring innovative pedagogical practices to engage with these stories in ways that encourage dynamic and nuanced conversations about identity, agency, authenticity, memory, and truth, as well as the potential of these narratives to instigate social change.

This book assembles contributions from a diverse group of international educators, weaving together life writing research, critical reflection, and concrete pedagogical strategies. The chapters are organized around three overarching conversations: the materials, practices, and mediations involved in teaching life writing within the context of contemporary social change. The unique perspectives presented in this collection provide educators with valuable insights into effectively incorporating life stories into their teaching practices. Featuring works by over a dozen educators, the volume interlaces life writing research, critical reflection, and tangible pedagogical practices.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.

Orly Lael Netzer is Assistant Professor (teaching stream) at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. She is scholar of autobiography, cultural, and memory studies. Her research explores the ways that audiences are invited to bear witness to difficult knowledge in autobiographical literature and art to better understand how relations between communities are shaped by the ways we listen and respond to each other’s stories of protest.

Amanda Spallacci is Lecturer in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, where she received her PhD (‘21). Her research publications centre on survivor/victim representations of sexual assault across various media, including memoir, television, film, and social media, that she critically engages with through frameworks including but not limited to memory studies, affect theory, trauma theory, and feminist print culture studies. Her most recent work is a forthcoming edited book collection on digital memory cultures in Canada (2024).