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This book is an exploration of the ways in which political belief is developed and sustained throughout the course of a lifetime. Through extensive interviews, it focuses on the lives of fifteen British men and women, aged between seventy and ninety, who have dedicated half a century or longer to working for social change and justice. From Dorothy Greenald's commitment to provision of adequate housing for prisoners' families to Walter Gregory's active service in the Spanish Civil War and Trevor Huddleston's vital role in the international Anti-Apartheid Movement, these men and women have been involved in both local and international struggles. Respondents discuss topics ranging from the importance of gender identity for their political activism, to their perceptions of recent events in Eastern Europe. The work is unusual in combining an investigation of individual lifelong political commitment with a wider consideration of the formation of social identity, aging and the interplay between individuals and their environment. Lifetimes of commitment will have a wide appeal amongst social psychologists, sociologists, social and oral historians and political scientists

This article opens with a problematisation of how one can meaningfully discuss the concept of quality in a methodology as notoriously 'murky' as narrative research. Unlike other kinds of qualitative approaches, there is a lack of consensus of what constitutes narrative, much less a clearly prescribed protocol for ascertaining evaluation. It then proceeds by outlining three features of narrative research (the importance of stories, the 'messy' nature of the data, and the attention to temporality), and then provides a close reading of an extract of an interview with a political activist who describes how she made her decision to break the law. Finally, drawing on the previous discussion, there is a non-exhaustive checklist of quality indicators for narrative research. ; Peer reviewed

Although there is widespread agreement with the argument that Hannah Arendt made more than half a century ago, that forgiveness is "one of the human faculties that make social change possible" (Misztal, 2011, p. 201), beyond this, there is little consensus of what it means. Applying a narrative structure to this discussion, there is a lack of clarity around questions of who, what, where, when, and why to forgive. This article will explore the politics of forgiveness in East Germany, where these issues have been hotly contested for more than 25 years. The data examined in this article suggest that the fraught process of forgiveness embodies not consensus but contest, as people disagree on key questions such as who has the right to forgive whom, for what, how long the window for the opportunity of forgiveness stays open, and even why these questions matter, not only for individuals but for the whole of society.

Cet article examine pourquoi l'imagination est centrale pour la narration et comment la narration représente une composante vitale de l'imagination. Quel est donc le rôle de l'imagination en nous aidant à « voir autrement », pas seulement entre nous-mêmes et les autres, mais aussi entre nous-mêmes et qui nous pourrions être ou qui nous aurions pu être ? L'article explore la nature située de l'imagination et son rôle critique dans la vie quotidienne.

"Political Narratives and "Abraham Obama"" published on by Oxford University Press.

This article will compare the narrative projects of nation building and dismantling as represented in the truth commissions of South Africa and East Germany. One of the most important aspects of truth commissions is that personal suffering on a wide scale is publicly acknowledged and written into the national fabric. The relationship between individual and collective memory is a powerful one; through the testimonies that it has documented, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has created the possibility for South African citizens to participate in the writing of a new official version of their country's recent history. It has helped to establish a break with the past, so that the country as a whole can move forward. In contrast, the truth commission set up in East Germany was important in the dismantling of that country. While most truth commissions cover a relatively limited period of time, the truth commission of East Germany was unusual, if not unique, in that it covered the whole of that country's history. And unlike South Africa, and other countries, where truth commissions function as a pivotal bridge between past and future, in East Germany, the truth commission marked the completion of the national narrative.

One of the most dominant cultural narratives is 'the story of mothering' but as many researchers have documented, there is a large chasm between this cultural product and individuals' lived experiences of mothering and being mothered. When individuals talk about their relationships with their mothers, they locate themselves — knowingly or not — politically, economically, and historically. This article analyses data based on in-depth interviews with four men and women between the ages of seventy-five and ninety, and explores the stories they tell about the role of their mothers in relation to the children they were and the adults they became. Of the four cases presented, two involve child beating, in one the mother is absent from the time of the speaker's early childhood, and one is an account of maternal depression. However, as these individuals recount their early memories of their mothers, they do so as people who have developed significantly since that time. Implicitly challenging the deterministic mother-blaming which lies at the heart of key cultural narratives, these men and women reveal a deep level of understanding — both personal and political — of the difficult circumstances which form the context of many peoples' experiences of mothering and being mothered.

Feminist scholars conducting research with non-feminist and anti-feminist women are confronted with a dilemma that is rarely articulated in feminist writing: how can we represent these women's lives as they experience them while at the same time challenging women's oppression? A related dilemma is whether a feminist researcher is justified in describing a woman as a feminist if that term is not one that the woman herself would select. The article surveys four strategies that are most commonly used when difference of gender consciousness becomes apparent in a research setting: (1) reliance on the concept of false consciousness, (2) the construction of research as a platform for `dialogue' culminating in the resolution of differences, (3) the redefinition of feminism, and (4) constructing gender and gender consciousness as a culturally and historically situated phenomenon. Drawing on interviews with a small group of old women, I discuss my own struggles with these and related issues.

In-depth interviews with 40 members of various underground oppositional organizations are drawn on to determine the efficacy of the former East German truth commission to bring about justice to wronged individuals & encourage forgiveness toward state actors. The East German situation raises numerous questions concerning the meaning & acceptance of forgiveness. Three aspects of an individual's responsibility to forgive are identified: facilitating self-healing, preserving humanity, & fulfilling the wishes of divine beings or the community. It is claimed that East German citizens' declining self-worth & desire to avoid responsibility have contributed to obstruct the forgiveness process. In addition, East German residents' beliefs that they have been persecuted by West German agencies must be addressed before the forgiveness process can be continued. Although the possibility of total forgiveness remains indeterminable, it is concluded that German society will remain fragmented unless both parties strive for justice & forgiveness. 41 References. J. W. Parker