Exhibiting Lives

This paper examines some of the dilemmas that accompany the emergence of the personal voice in scholarly work, by taking a close, grounded look at the way in which these unfolded in a specific academic course. As part of the course, entitled “A cultural approach to the life cycle”, students were asked to participate in a group exhibition in which they were to display their life stories using a variety of texts, objects and photographs. The paper reflects upon a number of questions evoked by the exhibition: What made this event so powerful, moving and pleasurable for those involved? How, if at all, did the women choose to engage in dialogue with broader social, cultural and political contexts in the display of their life stories? What common identities, if any, emerged in the group exhibition and, in this process, what particular identities were put aside? What was made possible by the use of a wide variety of media in the presentation of life stories? Finally, what were some of the broader pedagogical implications that emerge out of this experiment in teaching?