Main Article Content

Abstract

In a historical moment characterised by uncertainty and concern about the future, autobiographical memories can be a source of inspiration for orientation and learning to change. In social work, this possibility becomes a necessity that cannot be postponed, especially where the usual patterns of action prove inadequate to deal with the problems generated by the crisis. Within the framework of a systemic epistemology and complexity, this contribution describes a cooperative inquiry involving some coordinators of disability services in Lombardy, Northern Italy. The re-enactment of autobiographical memories was used as a basis to explore themes related to the professional practices of these coordinators. The memories, recalled and re-signified within the training device, facilitated the opening to a complex thought, in which certainty and uncertainty and different ways of knowledge are connected. 

Keywords

social work uncertainty cooperative inquiry transformative learning autobiographical memories

Article Details

How to Cite
Cuppari, A. (2021). Autobiographical Memories as Islands of Certainty in an Ocean of Complexity: A Cooperative Enquiry on the Effects of the COVID-19 Emergency on Some Disability Services in Northern Italy. INSTED: Interdisciplinary Studies in Education & Society, 23(2(90), 89–104. https://doi.org/10.34862/tce/2021/09/01/47h7-st18

References

  1. Adams, T. E., Holman Jones, S., Ellis, C. (2015). Autoethnography. Understanding qualitative research. Oxford University Press.
  2. Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. University of Chicago Press.
  3. Bateson, G. (1979). Mind and nature. A necessary unity. E. P. Dutton.
  4. Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Pr.
  5. Brown, R.E. (2012). Epistemological modesty: critical on public relation thought. In Public Relations Inquiry, 1(1), 89-105. DOI: 10.1177/2046147X11422641
  6. Chang, H. (2008). Autoethnography as method. Left Coast Press, Inc.
  7. Damasio, A. (1999). The feeling of what happens. Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Harcourt Brace.
  8. Damasio, A. (2003). Feelings of emotion and self. In Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1001(1), 253-261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1196/annals.1279.014
  9. Fabbri, D., Munari, A. (2005). Strategie del sapere. Verso una psicologia culturale dell’individuo. Guerini Studio.
  10. Fabbri, D., Munari, A. (2010). Metafore della conoscenza. Corraini.
  11. Formenti, L. (2009). Attraversare la cura. Relazioni, contesti e pratiche della scrittura di sé. Erickson.
  12. Formenti, L. (2016). Learning to live. The pattern which connects education and dis/orientation. In Formenti, L., West, L. (edited by). Stories that make a difference – exploring the collective, social and political potential of narratives in adult education research (pp. 234-241). Pensa Multimedia.
  13. Formenti, L. (2017). Formazione e trasformazione – Un modello complesso. Raffaello Cortina Editore.
  14. Formenti, L. (2018). Modelli contestuali e sistemi complessi nella ricerca in educazione. In Federighi, P. (a cura di), Educazione in età adulta – ricerche, politiche, luoghi e professioni (pp. 61-68). University Press.
  15. Formenti, L., West, L. (2018). Transforming perspectives in lifelong learning and adult education – A dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan.
  16. Heron, J. (1992). Feeling and personhood: Psychology in another key. SAGE Publications.
  17. Heron, J. (1996). Co-operative inquiry: research into the human condition. SAGE Publications.
  18. Heron, J., Reason, P. (2001). The practice of co-operative inquiry: research with rather than on people. In Reason, P.; Bradbury, H. (eds), Handbook of action research – first edition (pp. 179-188). SAGE Publications.
  19. Jessor, R., Colby, A., Shweder, R.A. (1996). The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on mental health and development. Ethnography and human development: Context and meaning in social inquiry (Eds.). The University of Chicago Press.
  20. Keeney, B.P. (1983). Aesthetics of change. The Guilford Press.
  21. Lave, J., Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
  22. Maturana, H.R., Varela, F.J. (1980). Autopoiesis and cognition. The realization of the living. D. Reidel Pub. Co.
  23. Maxwell, J.A. (2005). Qualitative research design: an interactive approach. Thousand. SAGE Publications.
  24. Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. Jossey-Bass.
  25. Mezirow, J. (2012). Learning to think like an adult: core concepts of transformation theory. In Taylor, E.W., Cranton, P. (edited by). The handbook of transformative learning: theory, research, and practice (pp.73-96). Jossey-Bass.
  26. Morin, E. (1977). La Méthode 1. La nature de la nature. Seuil, Paris.
  27. Morin, E. (1999). Les sept savoirs nécessaires à l'éducation du futur. Paris, UNESCO.
  28. Morin, E. (2017). La sfida della complessità - Le défi de la complexité . Le Lettere.
  29. Morin, E. (2019). La Fraternité, pourquoi? Actes Sud.
  30. Morin, E. (2020). Changeons de voie. Les leçon du coronavirus. Editions Denoël.
  31. Shapiro, S.A., Wasserman, I.L., Gallegos, P.V. (2012). Group work and dialogue: spaces and processes for transformative learning in relationships. In Taylor, E. W., Cranton, P. (eds), The handbook of transformative learning – theory, research, and practice (pp. 355-372). San Francisco (CA): Jossey-Bass.
  32. Varela, F. (1984). Living ways of sense-making: A middle path for neuroscience. In Livingstone, P. (Ed.), Order and Disorder: Proceedings of the Stanford International Symposium (pp. 208–224). Anma Libri.
  33. Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. The MIT Press.
  34. Von Foester, H. (1982). Observing systems. Intersystems Publications.
  35. Yorks, L., Kasl, E. (2006). I know more than I can say – A taxonomy for using expressing ways of knowing to foster transformative learning. Journal of Transformative Education, 4, 43-64. DOI: 10.1177/1541344605283151