Biographical constructions and transformations: using biographical methods for studying transcultural identities

Abstract

In this paper, the fruitfulness of the biographical narrative approach in studying fluid, transient and transcultural identities will be discussed. In the first part, we will bring out the theoretical and methodological principles shared by the researchers working within the field of the biographical approach in relation to the notion of identity and to the modes for exploring it. In the second part we will attempt to use the biographical approach in order to explore the transformation of transcultural identity in the case of an Armenian-Greek/Pontic female immigrant coming to Greece from the ex-Soviet Republic of Armenia in 1991 after the collapse of the soviet regime.

Key words: biographical narrative approach; narrative identity; biographical work; biographical resources; positioning; ethnic identity; cosmopolitan self.