ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces a range of approaches to discussing and presenting methodological work. It offers just one approach or account of using a method and provides a jumping off point for further inquiry. The book is concerned with ethics, project design, collecting and composing life narratives, analysing life narratives, selection and decision-making, and various modes of collaboration. It examines a great variety of methodologies, including generous and ethical reading practices, archival work, interviewing, and methods for reviewing particular life narrative forms such as social media texts, letters, and diaries. Though auto/biographical research shared many methods with its primary parent, English literary studies, when it comes to methods, auto/biography has grown, even rebelled, from its disciplinary origins.
