ABSTRACT
The writing of this chapter has come at a time when other aspects of my work have also caused me to reflect on my life history. Firstly, I have recently completed my thesis and I used a piece of my life history to introduce my thesis and make connections between my research and my life. Secondly, I had been asked to teach the Life Histories course of the MA in Women’s Studies at the University of Sussex. Although, during my teaching and research, I have read many biographies, autobiographies, diaries and oral histories and read much theory concerning these sources, I had not thought too seriously about writing about my own life. I have from time to time kept a journal but I’ve always thrown it away. I am ambivalent about such an exercise. On the one hand, as a historian I know the importance of texts which deal with ordinary lives; on the other hand, it seems arrogant to think that anyone would want to read about my life. However, as the students on the Life History course were expected to reflect on their own lives, it was unreasonable to expect them to reveal themselves to the group if I was not prepared to do the same.
