THE POTENTIALITIES OF THE (AUTO)BIOGRAPHIC APPROACH AND THE CHALLENGES REGARDING ITS THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL VALIDATION

Abstract

This article aims to problematize the potential of the (auto)biographical approach in research, as well as the challenges it still faces regarding its theoretical-methodological validation. Bibliographic discussions are held and the following potentialities of the (auto)biographical approach are highlighted: its insertion in hermeneutic investigation, giving meaning and understanding the lived and narrated experience; the production of empirical data in accordance with the formation of trajectories guided by experiences; the understanding that the narrative is the place where humans take shape, elaborate and experience the story of their life in text structure; that the human has a biographical body, singular-plural, which is a subject of formation that makes awareness a strategy to (trans)form oneself. As for the challenges, the following stand out: avoiding attempts to bring it closer to survey research methods; avoid translating data as a series of fragmentary information, an illustration and even statistical representation; prevent epistemological impoverishment by sacralizing or even romanticizing narratives.