Project Lead: Dr. Louise Owusu-Kwarteng and Dr Ewa Sidorenko
‘Livin Our Best Lives’ Autobiographical Reflections of Life in Current Times was a symposium hosted by the Applied Sociology Research Group, on 24th May 2019. Students from the Hons Sociology and Combined Honours and Community Studies and Education degrees shared autobiographies through spoken word, conference papers, enactments and posters, which they worked closely with Dr. Louise Owusu-Kwarteng (Associate Professor in Applied Sociology) and Dr Ewa Sidorenko (Senior Lecturer in Education and Community Studies) to develop. These papers explored the increased pressures to navigate our lives in a more or less ‘linear’ fashion, achieve academic and socio-economic success in the face of increasing competition and social and political chaos. They also considered issues associated with making life look like it is a smooth journey, which is further enhanced by the social-media gaze, how they developed understandings of themselves and ‘live their best lives’. The autobiographies will form the basis of an autobiographical publication also entitled ‘Livin our best lives’’ Autobiographical Reflections of Life in Current Times.
