300834 Generations and Narratives: Reading personal narratives from a generational perspective (S) (WiSe 2023/2024)

This course aims to link theoretical debates around the concept of generations and narrative studies. More specifically the focus will be on personal stories ((autobiographies, oral histories, life history interviews, etc.) and the potential of reading these stories from a generational perspective.

Therefore, the course is divided into three main sections:

· Theoretical discussions on the concept of generations

· Narrative studies and narrative analysis as a methodology

· Using generational perspective to read personal narratives in a sociological research

In the first section, we will be dealing with the concept of generation as a sociological problem. We will dive into the sociological literature on generations and try to draw a general framework.

Secondly, narrative studies which is an emerging multi-disciplinary field in the social sciences will be briefly explained. The epistemological roots of the narrative studies, early discussions in the field, and theoretical and methodological aspects will be discussed in this section.

In the last part of the course, we will focus on “personal narratives” as a specific type of narrative and discuss its potential in sociological research. We will follow the question of how personal narratives can be read from a generational perspective. To answer this question, both theoretical and methodological texts will be read in cooperation.