Doing Life Histories

And Biography
Research
Studying history is always focused
on the history of nations and different
collectives.
What is Life
History?
Life History is an off-neglected subdiscipline of
history because it is seen as trivial to larger
narratives of nations, societies, and civilizations.

However, students history should realize

are significant
of thatcontributors to
historical
individu breakthroughs
various across periods
als
of time.
 Doing Life Histories
m a k e shall be accompanied
i d u a l s
In d i v s by locating the life of
c i e t i e
upso ual the individual and the
a ni vdi d larger social life.
ind nsuse
accant i oc a
e -o c i a l
l
c aar lge s
s g e
cha n
What is Biography
Research
It is the collective interpretation of "personal" or
human documents.
Biographical research is concerned with the
reconstruction of life histories and the constitution
of meaning based on biographical narratives and
documents.
Individuals' influence can span centuries and generations. An
individual can also influence large spaces and many
places.
Examples:
Jose Rizal influenced many
generations of Filipinos and
his novels inspired radical
Filipino to fight colonizers.
And his death was seen as
the tipping point of the
revolution.
However, his influence
was limited to the
Jesus Christ as an inndividual,
influenced the whole world. The
faith and religion that he
started also launched wars,
created civilization, lasted for
many centuries, and persist up
to the present.
W hy is it important to study life histories
and biography research?

Understanding these seemingly

aspects of an individual’s life mundane
historians
would insightful information that willprovide
allow
them, not just to simply state facts about the
individual but also to make sense of these
facts and establish connections about
aspects of different
understand
the the person thatlife
individual’s he has
in order to
become.