‘Using Lives 2008’was the third annual postgraduate workshop in biography, jointly supported by the Research School of Humanities, the Australian Dictionary of Biography and the History Program, Research School of Social Sciences, ANU. Since 2007 the workshop has also been supported by the Centre for Historical Research, National Museum of Australia, and has been held at the Museum.
Twenty-eight students were selected from over seventy applications for participation in 2008. They came from around Australian (all states except Tasmania) for a week-long residential program of presentations, including a session with this year’s Seymour Lecturer at the National Library of Australia, Professor Richard Holmes.
The objectives of the workshop was;
- to generate discussion and reflection on issues of biographical enquiry;
- to enable students to develop networks to assist in their research and development;
- to explore opportunities for the presentation of biographically-informed work using diverse resources and the media.
The workshop was structured around morning sessions, in which practitioners reflected on questions of biographical form, method and contribution, and afternoon sessions where students presented and discussed their own work. The focus throughout is on ‘problem-solving’ in relation to biographical or biographically-informed research rather than content or work-in-progress reporting. In addition to the Seymour Lecture, the students also attended an evening reception with senior curators from the National Library, which provided them with a much valued opportunity to explore those areas in which NLA collections could assist their work.
Academically, the workshop was highly successful in exploring both the vitality and the limitations of contemporary biographical practice. There was extended critical discussion of the reasons for biography’s popularity, the value of biographical perspectives, and the challenges of biographical approaches in the context of academic and especially higher degree research. The museum context, and several presentations by NMA curators, stimulated extended reflection on the opportunities to present research in mixed formats, and to deal with material culture.
Practitioners canvassed approaches ranging from cross-cultural memoir to collective biography, from issues of dramatization to the adoption of transnational comparisons. They included Mary Besemeres, Nicholas Brown, Desley Deacon, Michelle Hetherington, Sophie Jensen, Ross McMullin, Melanie Nolan, Mark Peel, Paul Pickering, Peter Read, Amanda Reynolds, Peter Stanley and Carolyn Strange.
Students’ work was similarly broad in coverage, including studies of single subjects to the consideration of biographical perspectives on issues of institutionalization, disability and social mobility. They represented disciplines including anthropology, art history, creative writing, history, law, literary studies, political science, music, and sociology. Their evaluations of the week were overwhelming positive, highlighting the importance of understanding the diversity of biographical approaches and the baggage they carry. The workshop fostered a cooperative partnership that has continued in emails and seems sure to support the completion of stronger theses.
Administratively, the workshop was run in well-equipped facilities at the National Museum of Australia – and supported by the NMA’s excellent and responsive technical staff. The NMA also provided varied catering each day throughout the week. Accommodation was in shared, self-catering apartments in the Liversidge Courtt complex, ANU, which students found comfortable and flexible. The workshop was mainly advertised though the RSH mailing list, which proved effective in reaching a wide range of eligible scholars. There was no registration fee for the workshop; students were required only to arrange their transport to Canberra.
Nicholas Brown
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Historical Research, NMA
Australian Dictionary of Biography, ANU
