Collective biography in education research: exploring feminist, decolonial, poststructuralist, and posthumanist perspectives

Collective biography is a collaborative approach to memory work that focuses on memories as sites of subject formation. Rather than centering psychological or individual subjects, collective biography examines how subjectivities are shaped through discourses, practices, and socio-material, more-than-human relations. This method brings groups together to explore collective memories of everyday life, offering insights into processes of subjectification. In educational research, childhood memories often illuminate broader themes, including educational practices and experiences, which are particularly generative for adult educators. This chapter traces the origins, methodologies, and theoretical influences of collective biography, particularly in post-structuralist, feminist, decolonial, and post-humanist frameworks. Drawing on prior research, we explore its applications to academic lives, teacher education, postsocialist childhoods, and children’s relations with more-than-human worlds.