Life Narrative Futures:
An International Auto/Biography Association (IABA) networking event for graduate students and early-career researchers
Sponsored by the IABA SNS, and the IABA regional chapters
Friday 29th October, 2021 (Australian CST)
In their special issue of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies “What’s Next? The Futures of Auto/Biography Studies” (2017) Ricia Anne Chansky and Emily Hipchen aimed to give “established and emerging scholars from multiple disciplines the time and space to enter into lively discourse on our possible futures.” The result was an incredibly timely multivocal, interdisciplinary conversation about where we are heading as a discipline.
Such conversations seem even more important now. 2020/2021 were especially challenging periods for graduate students and ECRs. Travel restrictions have affected networking opportunities, and IABA acknowledged this by organising this event aimed at supporting and celebrating emerging scholars.
Format: Via Zoom conferencing, graduate students/ECRs were placed in small groups and made short, informal presentations about their projects. Each group contained an established IABA scholar who acted as a mentor in offering feedback on the projects in their small group.
Mentors were:
Professor Ricia Chansky
Professor Leigh Gilmore
Professor Craig Howes
Professor Claire Lynch
Professor Julie Rak
Professor Nicole Stamant
Professor Gillian Whitlock
Participants were:
Edith Hill (Flinders University, Australia)
Sreekala. K.B (Central University, Kerala, India)
Hannah Jakobsen (Utrech, Netherlands)
Rachel Wilson (Michigan, USA)
Karolina Zlámalová (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
Penny Busetto (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Li Shan Chan (Hawaii, USA)
Marina Deller (Flinders University, Australia)
Libby King (Flinders University)
Gemma Nisbet (UWA, Australia)
Cheryl O’Byrne (Sydney, Australia)
Megan Perram (Alberta, Canada)
Henrik Bönner (Rostock, Germany)
Rajesh Krishnamuti (ECU, Australia)
Elisa Russian (Berkley, USA)
Shannon Sandford (Flinders, Australia)
Melissa Schuh (CAU Kiel, Germany)
Hannes Koberg (Bochum, Germany)
Naida Roberts (Adelaide, Australia)
Ana Roncero-Bellido (Lewis, USA)
Tara Saldanha (Indian Institute of Tech)
Melanie Wieschalla (Bochum, Germany)
Afri Wita (Padjadjaran, Indonesia)
Roz Bellamy (LaTrobe, Australia)
Vanessa Berry (Sydney, Australia)
Katerina Bryant (Flinders, Australia)
Henry Martin (NCAD, Ireland)
Lydia Trethewey (Curtin, Australia)
Janine Irvine (Massey, New Zealand)
Gabriella Marie Kelly Davies (Sydney, Australia)
Lisandra Linde (Flinders, Australia)
Alayne Moody (Flinders, Australia)
Betty O’Neill (UTS, Australia)
Loretta Tolnai (Curtin, Australia)
IABA Asia-Pacific 