Oral Presentation The Institute of Australian Geographers Conference 2023

Autobiography as a mode of social and political expression (18194)

Nazanin Hosseinpour 1
  1. UNSW Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Narrative fiction is a powerful tool in the hands of geography, providing readers with a unique lens through which to understand the social conditions that shape our lives. By illuminating the human experience through the power of storytelling, geography can help us connect with the world around us. Autobiography, too, is a rich resource for geographers seeking to link epistemology, ontology, and methodology. This approach involves individuals reflecting on and writing about their own life experiences, a method that has been increasingly used in literary geography by scholars like Sheila Hones, Andrew Thacker, and Marc Brosseau, who have explored the relationship between literature and space. In this study, the researcher employs the use of autobiography illustrate the lived experiences of women in Iran, an Islamic country. Given her personal background and upbringing in Iran, the author uses this literary approach to express the social barriers and political situation in Islamic societies. Autobiography as a mode of political expression can help to make a powerful connection between the reader and other people’s experiences and promote understanding and empathy across cultural divides. The primary focus of this research is to explore the distinctions between autobiography and storytelling and whether a definitive boundary can be established between the two, as well as the impact that this has on our broader understanding of the ways in which we communicate personal experiences.